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Raider Repellent: Rattan's late field goal helps Poteet squash Wylie East rally
By DEVIN HASSON, dhasson@starlocalnews.com
ROCKWALL-There is nothing easy about winning in the football playoffs this time of the year.
So even after Poteet took a 35-14 lead in the first half against Wylie East on Friday, they knew their work was far from over.
The Raiders scratched and clawed from that point and finally drew even at 49-49 with 3:11 left.
The senior booted a 31-yard field goal with 48 seconds left to play and Poteet survived one final, crazy, Wylie East charge to hold on for a 52-49 victory in a Class 4A Division II Region II semifinal game at Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium.
The Pirates (11-2) advance to the regional championship game for the second time in three years and will face former district rival Lancaster on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Allen's Eagle Stadium.
The Raiders, who finished the year at 9-4, pulled one last trick in an effort to save their season.
Facing fourth-and-10 from its own 26, quarterback Garrett McCain rolled right and threw a lateral across the field to tight end Jesse Brubaker, who then threw the ball deep. Despite double coverage, the ball was tipped into the air and Marcell Ateman not only brought it down but took it all the way to the Poteet 8-yard line.
However, the Raiders were flagged for an ineligible man down field and their next Hail Mary effort was knocked down at midfield to secure the victory.
"I just thought, they are so explosive with those receivers, I never felt comfortable until I saw three zeroes (on the clock)," Poteet head coach Randy Jackson said. "Lineman down field is something that does not get called enough, but I thought they made the right call."
The final result made Rattan one of the many heroes on the night. After Wylie East had tied the game at 49-49 on Jabari Anderson's fourth touchdown of the night with 3:11 left, the Pirates went back to work.
They got helped by two penalties to get into Raider territory, and then moved forward while at the same time taking time of the clock. Despite a touchdown run by Rodney Douglas being negated by a holding penalty, the Pirates were in good shape after moving down to the 14-yard line.
Against Highland Park earlier in the season, Poteet was in a similar position late in the game when they opted to go for it on fourth down with a seven-point lead. They came up short and the Scots quickly moved down the field to pull out a stunning 20-19 victory.
This time, Jackson turned to his kicker, and Rattan came through in the clutch.
"I wanted to get it up there close for him," Jackson said. "That kid has just performed all year long. I didn't do it against Highland Park and I wanted to tonight and I feel real good about it."
While the ball sailed through the uprights, there were some tense moments both before and during the kick. Rattan has been kicking for several years and he said this was the third time he had been in this situation with a late attempt and the game on the line.
Rattan made the first two and he sure wasn't going to let that streak end in one of the most important games of his career.
"You just have to block everything out. I've been doing this since the sixth grade and over the years I've gotten better and better at doing that, but to be honest I was super nervous," Rattan said. "They actually tipped it, I didn't know that, but I was able to kick it hard enough that it went all the way through."
Douglas' touchdown on the final drive was called back, but the electric senior had already left his imprint on the game.
He had a pair of 46-yard touchdown catches and a 27-yard scoring run in the first half as the Pirates built their lead. Douglas, who finished with three catches for 120 yards and 11 carries for 100 yards, became the focus on the Wylie East defense and Poteet took advantage of that when Buck Rodges was wide-open on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Tanner Ramsey on the opening play of the fourth quarter that gave them a 49-35 lead.
"A big play was when we faked it to him (Douglas) and threw the ball to Rodges for a touchdown," Jackson said. "Speed kills and he is a big-time weapon. They have to game plan for him if they are going to find any way to stop him."
Ramsey also had a huge game, throwing for 214 yards and four touchdowns, while adding 106 yards and a score on the ground. Poteet finished with 471 yards of total offense.
The Pirates wasted little time, moving 56 yards on the game's opening drive, with Ramsey scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run.
After a quick three-and-out, Douglas made a leaping catch over a Wylie East defender on a 46-yard score to make it 14-0.
The Raiders did get on the scoreboard late in the first quarter on a short touchdown by McCain, but Poteet, which scored touchdowns on its first five drives, went right back to work.
Ramsey found Nathaniel Gaines for a 14-yard scoring pass to push the lead back to 21-7.
Anderson had a 75-yard touchdown run on Wylie East's next offensive play, but two plays later, Douglas turned a short pass into a 46-yard score to make it 28-14 as the two teams combined for three touchdowns in a span of 25 seconds.
Douglas extended the lead to 35-14 with a 27-yard touchdown run with 7:59 left in the first half that seemingly put the Pirates in control.
But Wylie East showed why it had averaged 66.5 points per game in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Poteet suffered a blow when playmaking sophomore linebacker Malik Jefferson left the game with an injury and they lost another defender on an ejection early in the third.
That helped the Raiders get into a rhythm behind Anderson, who had a monster game with 35 carries for 314 yards and four touchdowns.
After Poteet missed a field goal, Anderson helped Wylie East power the ball down the field and that led to a 21-yard touchdown pass from McCain to Brubaker to close to within 35-21 at halftime.
That momentum carried over, as Anderson capped the first drive of the second half with a 4-yard run to make it a one-score game at 35-28.
Poteet maintained the advantage, as Ramsey broke free for a 27-yard run, but McCain hooked up with Ateman just four minutes later.
The Pirates again pushed the lead to two scores when Ramsey found Rodges all alone for the 26-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
But Anderson scored on a 7-yard run midway through the period and added a 17-yard burst to tie the game in the final minutes.
In a game full of huge plays that featured 14 touchdowns, though, it was Rattan's field goal that provided the final difference.
"It is great, I'm a senior, so it feels great to keep it going," Rattan said. "I know last year was tough, but we want to keep it going and hopefully go to state."
Two years ago, Poteet became the talk of the state after turning a 0-10 season into a trip to the state semifinals in Jackson's first year as head coach.
Last season, the Pirates were nosed out of the playoffs by a tiebreaker and the motivation that was derived from that pain has not been lost on a group that is hoping this season does not end for another three weeks.
"That's what makes me feel so good is that last year we didn't get in and the first day of offseason I called the seniors in and talked to them and they looked me in the eye and said 'Coach, it won't happen again'," Jackson said. "I'm just proud of them. It's a good bunch, and it is special getting to make this run and hopefully we're not done yet."
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