HAGERSTOWN — Allegany was in complete control at Saint James, until it wasn’t.
The Campers pushed their lead to 33-25 with 9:59 to play following a dizzying 32-yard touchdown run by Khiante Bible. They never trailed up to that point, using a ground attack that racked up 385 yards — Jackson Resh accounted for 200 of them.
But Saint James stole a victory with a pair of touchdowns in the last seven minutes. The final, a one-yard scamper by Jayden Yates with 41 seconds left, gave the Saints the lead for good.
Yates threw for 212 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 115 more to lead Saint James to a stunning 37-33 comeback win over No. 5 Allegany on Thursday at Turner Field.
“Rough one man,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “The first half, when we fumbled the ball up eight with about four minutes left. … That would’ve been huge.”
Until the fourth quarter, the only team that could stop Allegany’s power running attack was itself.
With the exception of a turnover on downs on the Campers’ second series of the second half, they found the end zone on every drive that they didn’t fumble the ball away.
A 10-play, 80-yard series, capped by a six-yard Resh touchdown run, put Allegany ahead a game-high 27-18 with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
From that point onward, Allegany’s pass defense let it down.
A missed tackle on a short pass to Calvin Moss resulted in a 70-yard catch-and-run touchdown to bring the Saint James (4-2) deficit to 27-25 after three periods, and a 25-yard pass from Yates to Moss with 6:19 left in the fourth again made it a two-point game.
The Campers (1-4) committed a pass interference penalty on a ball that seemed uncatchable during the drive.
“You have a lot of kids that are playing two ways,” Hansel said of the pass coverage. “We’re drilling it hard in man-to-man coverage, but we still want to peak at the quarterback. … If you’re looking in and you don’t see the receiver, you don’t know where he is. We continue to peak.
“We have to play man at times to try and get pressure. We weren’t getting pressure on the quarterback on the front four. We tried to bring five, six, sometimes seven, and we just didn’t play well in man coverage.”
Allegany stopped the tying two-point try to remain ahead 33-31, giving it the opportunity to run the clock out with a long drive.
Resh rushed for a first down, but a false start on a 2nd-and-8 on its own 40 killed the drive and Allegany was forced to punt the ball away — its only punt of the game.
Those little mistakes late in the game were reminiscent of a penalty and a fumbled snap late in Allegany’s 24-21 defeat to Mountain Ridge.
“It killed the drive,” Hansel said of the false start. “I don’t know what it is. We’ve increased some discipline things with the kids. They’ve followed suit and are doing everything right (in practice).”
St. James returned the punt to the Allegany 33-yard line, and a block in the back on the Campers’ punt coverage put just 23 yards between the Saints and their first lead.
Yates, whose legs scrambling around in the backfield were Saint James’ only rush offense in the second half, completed the comeback with a one-yard plunge for six.
Allegany advanced near the 40-yard line but the game ended on a sack.
“They’re just very resilient kids,” Saint James head coach John Root said. “It’s weird. I didn’t have any doubt. Obviously the outcome is in question because Allegany is trying, but I knew our kids weren’t going to quit. They just keep battling.
“It’s a shame somebody had to lose that game, but they got us last year, we got them this year.”
Allegany had an opportunity to garner separation in the second quarter following a nine-yard Bible touchdown run for a 15-7 lead and a defensive stand.
Taking over on its own 20 with 4:43 to play in the half, Allegany fumbled on its second play, and Saint James’ William Taffe came up with his second recovery of the game.
Taffe ended the Campers’ second series with a recovery, but Saint James gave it right back.
Amanni Blowe and Kason Sims recovered fumbles for Allegany.
Resh led Allegany with 200 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries. Bible rushed for 92 and two scores on 12 gives, and Aidyn Mckenzie added 89 yards and a score on 12 totes.
Quarterback Sebastian Stewart completed one pass, a 38-yarder to Bible on a play action.
Mckenzie scored the game’s first touchdown on a five-yard run with 5:04 left in the first quarter, and Yates hit Marcello Anderson on a 10-yard TD pass with 2:02 on the clock for a 7-7 tie after a period.
Liam Hall answered Bible’s first touchdown with a three-yard TD run, and Yates ran in the two-point try for a 15-all score.
Allegany drove 80 yards on five plays — the biggest a 54-yard Mckenzie scamper — to lead 21-15 at the half. Resh capped the series with a four-yard TD run.
Saint James notched the first points of the second half when Jorge Diaz-Nicolas buried a 53-yard field goal with 10:16 left in the third quarter.
The kick had plenty of leg and was good from another 10 yards.
“His leg just seems limitless,” Root said of his place-kicker, a Catoctin transfer who originally is from Spain. “He doesn’t have (a college offer). Kickers are kind of neglected a little bit. If he doesn’t get one I’m going to be shocked.”
Yates completed 12 of 18 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Moss hauled in four passes for 110 yards and two scores, and Xavier Colbert made four grabs for 51 yards.
Despite the letdown, Allegany still has much to play for if it wants a chance at a winning campaign.
The Campers will look to build momentum at Southern (1-3) next Friday night before a stretch of facing Keyser, Northern and Fort Hill to close out the regular season.
“We just have to keep working,” Hansel said. “I’m not a quitter. This staff, these kids don’t quit. We’re not going to mail it in. We have to get a win. We need one bad.”