Entering its regular season finale, the Henry A. Wise High School football team had a flawless 9-0 mark and a Maryland state record streak of eight consecutive shutouts. Against Charles H. Flowers on Saturday, the Pumas were not only gunning for a perfect regular season, but a Senior Day victory as well.
None of this mattered to Flowers.
The Jaguars snapped Wise's shutout streak by scoring more points than the Pumas had conceded all season, and Flowers secured home field advantage in the first round of next week's 4A South Region playoffs with a 14-12 victory.
"People were more worried about whether we would get shut out than if we could win the game," said Flowers coach Mike Mayo, whose team improved to 9-1. "These kids played their hearts out after nobody gave them a shot."
The victory was particularly satisfying to a Flowers team that fell 28-0 to the Pumas in last year's regional title game.
The Jaguars ultimately fell one-tenth of a point shy of leapfrogging Wise for the top seed in the playoff points standings. Wise will play at home next Saturday against a No. 4 Roosevelt team it defeated 6-0 on Sept. 25. Flowers, meanwhile, secured a rematch with the third-seeded Suitland team that handed the Jaguars their only loss during a 21-20 overtime thriller on Oct. 10.
Flowers defeated Wise thanks to running back Reggie Woods' 6-yard touchdown run that tied the game with 6 minutes, 34 seconds remaining and Raymone Wilson's two-point conversion plunge that put the Jaguars ahead.
"I put my life on that," said Wilson, who finished with 99 yards on 23 carries. "I was going to get to the end zone no matter what."
Although a blocked punt gave Wise the ball at Flowers' 41-yard line inside the two-minute mark, the Pumas' last drive ended when quarterback DeAndre Smith lost a fumble two plays later.
Flowers amassed 202 yards rushing against the typically stingy Wise defense. The Jaguars, meanwhile, held Smith to -1 yard passing as he went 1 for 9 with an interception. Wise's luck on the ground was also limited, as running backs Jabril Baldwin, Deontre Johnson and Rahsaan Moore combined for 88 yards on 20 rushes.
Wise took an early 6-0 lead on Johnson's 5-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter. Flowers, however, responded with a 14-play, 65-yard march on the next possession. Tailback Christopher Gregory, who Mayo said worked his way into the rotation in recent weeks while Woods and Wilson both were recovering from injuries, scored on a 1-yard run. It was the first time the Pumas had surrendered a point since the second quarter of their 14-7 win against Suitland on Sept. 5 a span of 62 days and 35 scoreless quarters.
"I love [sharing carries] because everyone can stay healthy and not get banged up over the course of the season," Woods said of the running-back-by-committee approach. "It doesn't matter with us if somebody goes down."
Both defenses succeeded in limiting big plays. Aside from Wise's 33-yard halfback option pass from Justin Coles to Trevon Butler, neither team had a play from scrimmage go longer than 16 yards.
After the teams entered halftime deadlocked at 6-6, Wise went ahead thanks to a Flowers special teams miscue. Jaguars' returner John Clark muffed a punt, and Pumas' linebacker Brandon Cruise fell on the loose ball at Flowers' 14-yard line. Moore scored on a 4-yard run two plays later, but Flowers kept the score at 12-6 by stuffing Moore's two-point conversion try.
Flowers countered by pounding the ball with Wilson, Gregory, Clark and Woods. Following a fourth-down conversion earlier in the possession, Flowers' quarterback Thomas Lawrence hit Clark for an 8-yard gain on a fourth-and-3 from Wise's 14-yard line.
Woods ran into the end zone on the next play, and Wilson gave Flowers its first lead of the game with the two-point conversion. The drive lasted 17 plays and went 71 yards.
A turnover on downs stymied Wise's next possession before Smith's lost fumble sealed the win for Flowers.
"We had opportunities to win the game, as both teams did," said Wise coach DaLawn Parrish. "But the kids played hard, so I'm definitely proud of my team's effort."