Coach Stacy McGehee&8217;s hard luck appears to have followed him from Jefferson Christian to Vincent when he took over the Yellow Jackets&8217; program this season.

McGehee, who has yet to capture an area title as a coach, watched as his Yellow Jackets rallied from a 10-6 first quarter deficit to take a 30-22 lead into halftime, only to see it slip away in the end, losing to Shades Mountain Christian 48-46.

&8220;I&8217;ve been here before. It just happens,&8221; McGehee said. &8220;This just makes the road a little bit tougher. It&8217;s going to be a tough road now having to go to the No. 1 team in the state. These guys have bounced back in some tough games, so this will just be one more big game for us.&8221;

Shades Mountain regrouped at halftime to switch from a zone defense to man defense, exactly what Vincent hoped for.

&8220;They were in a zone in the first half and really slowed the tempo down. We were hoping to get them out of zone and execute our man-offense, but they did a very good job executing their man-defense on us,&8221; McGehee said.

Justin Peterson led the way with 19 points, while Josh Kelley added 12 and Octavious Looney had 10.

The Yellow Jackets will travel to No. 1 Lanett (27-1) Friday. McGehee will look for an upset in hopes to relive his 2004-05 post-season trip from area runner-up to state champion.