Ryan Shipley ran for two touchdowns and threw for 325 yards and another score and the Panthers escaped with a win when Jonathan Juarez’s 30-yard field goal with four seconds to play sailed wide.
“We hung in there and we battled. I’m real proud of our kids,” Cumberland Gap coach Neal Pucciarelli said. “It was a big ball game away from home that we needed to have.”
The Panthers were nearly buffaloed by the Buffaloes. They were flagged for six false starts, many of them questionable. Cumberland Gap had a 3rd & 3 from the West Greene 33 with about three minutes left in the game. A first down would have just about sealed the win.
Trying to draw the Buffalo defense off sides — the hard count has been an effective weapon for the Panthers all season — CHGS was called for consecutive false start penalties. Ryan Warren got tangled up with a West Greene defender and fell down on the third down pass, but no penalty was thrown.
“We run freeze all year and this was the worst we’ve ever run the freeze play. They were negative plays for us and we thought going in they would be positives,” was all Pucciarelli had to say about the penalties.
West took over at their own 22 and drove all the way down to the Panther 8 in the game’s final few minutes. They were helped along the way by a roughing the passer call — Cumberland Gap earned that one — that wiped out an interception by Warren.
Juarez’s first attempted a 25-yard field goal that was blocked, but the play was blown dead on a false start by West Greene. His 30-yard try had plenty of leg, but stayed wide right.
And the Panthers were able to celebrate the victory for a third time.
West jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.
A Shipley pass was tipped high in the air at the line and intercepted to give the Buffaloes a short field and Jordan Ward capped a 23-yard drive with a 3-yard run. Juarez’s kick made it 7-0.
Shipley faced a heavy rush through most of the first half and was sacked to end the second Cumberland Gap possession.
West Greene’s Matt McCravey scored on a 24-yard pass from Justin Evans to make it 13-0 with 3:34 to play in the first.
The Panthers answered right back as Warren hauled in a deep ball down the left sideline for a 43-yard gain to the West 22. Byron Johnson made a nice one-handed grab over the middle to set up a first and goal. One play later Shipley ran in from 4 yards out to cut the lead to 13-6.
Cumberland Gap converted two fourth downs on their next possession as they drove down the Buffalo 4. They tried another, but Shipley’s pass into the end zone was knocked away.
Warren came up with an interception and returned it 24 yards to the West 23. After an incomplete pass, Whitt Willis took a reverse around the left end and went 23-yards to the end zone. The two-point conversion run was short.
The Buffaloes went back up by seven as Ward found a seam up the middle and went 76 yards for a TD.
Cumberland Gap lost fumbles on their final two drives of the half and West took the 19-12 lead into the half.
“We made some really good adjustments at halftime,” Pucciarelli said. “We struggled in the first half and came out and won the third quarter. . . We were able to pick up the stunts that just baffled us in the first half. We found some routes and some running plays that we were successful with (and) defensively we made some adjustments that helped get it off to a good start.”
Shipley passed to Warren for 58 yards and Willis took another reverse down to the Buffalo 4. Shipley ran in from there on a keeper, then passed to Johnson for the two-point conversion as Panthers took their first lead, 20-19, and would never trail again.
“Ryan Warren had a great game on offense and Shipley played real well, too,” Pucciarelli said. “Ryan threw the deep ball pretty well tonight. They took away a lot of stuff that we like to do and we found other things that worked.”
Cumberland Gap forced a rare 3-and-out and then marched back down the field. Willis made an acrobatic catch in the end zone on an 8-yard pass from Shipley and Gustavo Barros’ kick made it 27-19 with 5:03 to play in the third quarter.
Willis injured his shoulder late in the third quarter, but came back in to pick up two big first downs in the fourth.
“With Whitt a little down because of his shoulder, different kids picked us up,” the coach added.
Nathan Clark scored from 10 yards out late in the third quarter to bring West back within 27-25.
Cumberland Gap sophomore Sean Frost took a screen pass for 17 yards convert a 3rd down and Johnson hauled in a deep pass down the right sideline for 36 yards to give the Panthers a 1st down at the 16. Willis went up and caught a pass from Shipley to set up a 1st & goal at the 4.
Shipley was injured after picking up two yards on a keeper, but Frost came and scored on a quarterback draw. The kick was no good so the Panthers led by eight, 33-25 with 9:34 to play in the game.
Shipley came back on the field to kick off and made a touchdown saving tackle on the return. But Clark got free on a misdirection play and took it 31 yards for a touchdown. Cumberland Gap stopped Ward on the conversion try and held a 33-31 lead with 5:58 to play.
Willis on a short pass and a long run, Shipley on a draw play and Jeremy Jones on a screen pass all picked up first downs for the Panthers as they worked the clock down under three minutes, but the penalties stalled the drive and set up the late drama.
Shipley competed 23-of-34 passes for 325 yards and a touchdown. Willis had four catches for 57 yards and gained 36 on three rushing attempts. Warren caught three passes for 111 yards while Johnson had five catches for 85 and Jones five for 28 and ran for 32 on 11 carries.
Senior linebacker Hunter Hassler led the defense with 14 tackles and five assists Ryan Shipley was in on 10 stops while Jon Shipley had a hand in nine.
West Greene (5-5, 3-3 in Region 1-AA) was led by Ward with 201 yards on 30 carries.
Cumberland Gap finishes the regular season 7-3 (4-2). It’s the first time the program has had back-to-back winning seasons.
“For this senior class it’s 30 wins in their career, which is about seven and a half a year which I’m thrilled with and I’m sure they are too,” Pucciarelli said. “It gives us some good momentum going in to the playoffs. I think this would be a real downer for our kids going in if we would have lost.
A rule change this year keeps teams from the same region from playing in the first round, so the Panthers will likely be playing at either Loudon or Alcoa. They’ll find out for sure Saturday morning.
“We’ve got to get healthy — this time of year that’s tough because you’re going to have some bumps and bruises — and we’ve got to figure out who we’re going to play,” Pucciarelli said. “Whoever we draw, we’ve just got to get prepared the best we can.”
Above: Panther junior receiver Whitt Willis juggles the ball in the end zone before hauling in the 8-yard TD pass from Ryan Shipley. The score put Cumberland Gap up 27-19 in the third quarter and they held on to win 33-31. Cumberland Gap will play Friday at Alcoa in the first round of the playoffs. (JAY COMPTON/Middlesboro Daily News)
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