This was a tough game. Ferrum had their chances to win this one. It was hard to watch as a fan, but I expected a close game, and that is what we got. What happened to have it end like this cannot be attributed to any one play or player. It just did not work out in the Panthers' favor.
The game, which was originally supposed to kick off at 2 p.m., was moved up to 11:00 a.m. That was a good decision, as the weather forecast showed that it would start raining just after 2 p.m. — and it did.
I don't really want to go over every play, but it is fair to say that Shaw has some talent. The Bears jumped out to a 13-0 lead, but Ferrum did not fold. The Panthers battled back, took the lead, lost it, and then came back to take the lead again.
There was improvement in this game, particularly on offense. After rushing for a combined 101 yards in the first two games, Ferrum ran for 258 yards against Shaw. That is a significant improvement and gave the Panthers much better balance offensively.
One thing I mentioned before the game was that Ferrum needed to find ways to get the ball into the hands of Omarza Gray. They did, and Gray responded with a big day. He caught eight passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned two punts for 63 yards and two kickoffs for 66 yards, giving him 240 all-purpose yards.
His biggest catch came late. Ferrum put together a nine-play, 81-yard drive, with Gray catching a 17-yard touchdown pass from Eli Foutz to give the Panthers a 28-25 lead with 1:10 remaining.
At that point, it looked like Ferrum might have done enough.
Shaw took over at its own 25 and moved the ball down the field. The Bears eventually completed a pass for a first down at the Ferrum 17, and that is where things became confusing.
The clock initially showed all zeros, and the Shaw announcers first indicated that the game was over. They quickly recognized, however, that there may have been one second remaining when the receiver was down. After reviewing the replay, I believe there was one second remaining.
With Shaw out of timeouts, the Bears hurried their offense to the line. The ball was made ready for play, the clock started and the play began. The officials then blew the play dead.
After some discussion, the officials instructed that two seconds be placed on the clock. The stoppage also gave Shaw the opportunity to get its field-goal unit onto the field. Benjamin Turner then kicked a 33-yard field goal to tie the game at 28 and send it to overtime.
I have watched the replay, and I still don't understand why two seconds were put on the clock. There was one second showing when the receiver was down on the previous play. In my opinion, stopping the next play after it had begun and then putting two seconds on the clock was poor judgment. It turned out to be a very important decision.
It would be easy to point to that sequence and say it determined the outcome, but football games are not that simple. To win, a team has to be solid in all three phases — offense, defense and special teams. Ferrum showed improvement Saturday, but there is still work to be done.
In overtime, Ferrum was unable to score on its possession. Shaw then got the ball and quarterback Alexander Marsh scored on a three-yard run to give the Bears the 34-28 win.
The loss is frustrating, but there were positives. Ferrum fell behind 13-0 on the road and fought its way back. The Panthers took the lead, lost it, and took it again. They finished with 424 yards of offense, 258 of those on the ground, and had 28 first downs.
There are no moral victories, and Ferrum is still looking for its first win. But there is a difference between losing a game in which you never really had a chance, and losing one that you had several opportunities to win.
This one was there.
Ferrum just couldn't quite finish it.
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