SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Springfield found itself in a two-touchdown hole Friday night before flipping the game with a furious second-half comeback.
The Wildcats scored the final 18 points to rally past Springboro, 24-20, improving to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the GWOC.
Springboro (3-3, 1-2) carried a 14-6 lead into halftime before freshman quarterback Cooper Murdock connected with Noah Bilinski for a 12-yard touchdown on a 10-play drive to open the second half. The extra point was blocked, but the Panthers had stretched their advantage to 20-6.
That’s when Springfield came alive.
The Wildcats reached into the playbook for their first score of the comeback. Quarterback CJ Wallace threw a lateral to Braylon Keyes, who found Timmothy Thompson for a 46-yard touchdown.
Springfield’s defense then came up with a fourth-down stop, and Amileo Norvell Jr. scored from the goal line to cut the deficit to 20-18.
Another defensive stop quickly gave Springfield the ball back at its own 10 with 3:44 remaining. Wallace engineered a 90-yard game-winning drive, converting a fourth-and-5 with a completion to Thompson before connecting with Keyes three straight times late in the possession.
The last was a 7-yard touchdown pass to Keyes with 1:27 remaining, giving Springfield its first lead since the opening half.
Springboro had one final opportunity, but Davionatae Mitchell made the tackle on a fourth-down completion two yards short of the line to gain to seal the comeback.
Wallace finished 19-of-27 for 225 yards. Thompson caught 10 passes for 156 yards, while Keyes had seven receptions for 99 yards and the game-winning touchdown in addition to throwing the 46-yard TD pass.
Murdock finished 20-of-26 for 147 yards and two touchdowns for Springboro, while Brandon Birdsong rushed for 133 yards on 24 carries.
Springfield has now won three straight and remains unbeaten in conference play heading into a Week 7 showdown with Wayne.
SCORING BY QUARTERS
Springboro: 7-7-6-0-20
Springfield: 6-0-6-12-24
RECORDS: Springfield (4-1, 3-0 GWOC); Springboro (3-3, 1-2 GWOC)
UP NEXT: Springfield vs. Wayne; Springboro vs. Beavercreek
Get the complete scores from all of this week’s action on the Underground Sports Shop Scoreboard at TriStateFootball.com/scores.
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