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The Henry A. Wise High School football team could not forget a gut-wrenching 24-22 loss last month at the hands of County 4A League power Eleanor Roosevelt.

Saturday afternoon was time for the Pumas to face up to their shortcomings as they met the Raiders again, albeit with much more on the line.

Though the performance was sometimes ugly, made so by rainy, windy conditions, Wise notched the biggest win in the program's three-year history, taking down the previously undefeated Raiders, 14-6, in two overtimes to advance to the 4A South Region final.

The Pumas (8-3) will visit Charles H. Flowers at 1 p.m. Saturday in the region final after the Jaguars (10-1) defeated Suitland, 29-6, in the other semifinal on Monday.

Wise coach DaLawn Parrish said the thriller against Roosevelt was the best game he's ever been involved in.

"The kids believed," Parrish said. "The first time we played [Roosevelt], we learned a lot. And ever since that game we just kept getting better and better. To us, we've been in the playoffs the last three weeks so we were battle tested."

Roosevelt broke a scoreless tie on a 90-yard touchdown run from senior tailback Stephon Morris with 6 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Wise appeared headed for defeat when junior wide receiver Titus Till fumbled on the Pumas' ensuing possession inside Wise territory.

But the Pumas' defense forced the Raiders to punt and took over on their own 11-yard line with just over three minutes remaining. After a short run, Wise tried to run a trick play. Lumbus Burrell received a handoff from sophomore quarterback Deandre Smith and then threw a cross-field pass back to Smith. Roosevelt defended the play well, and initially it resulted in a 5-yard loss.

But a roughing the passer penalty against the Raiders gave the Pumas new life. Smith connected with junior receiver Thomas Tabbs on consecutive pass plays of 37 and 19 yards. Two plays later, Smith ran up the middle to tie the score at 6-6 with 39 seconds remaining.

Both defenses held in the first round of overtime. On the Pumas' second possession of OT, senior tailback Anthony Wright ran 7 yards for a touchdown and added a two-point conversion put the Pumas on top, 14-6. Pumas' senior middle linebacker Derron Tapp intercepted Raiders' quarterback Mike Thomas on the next possession to seal the victory.

Thomas fumbled three times, once at the goal line as he tried to stretch the ball into the end zone on a play that could have given the Raiders an early lead.

Roosevelt coach Tom Green was not pleased with his team's performance.

"We've been very undisciplined at times this season and it came back to haunt us," said Green, whose team ended the season at 10-1. "We had the ball inside their 10 [yard line] and couldn't capitalize. We let them score with 30 seconds to go. Wise played a great game, though. [Our players] know it was things that we didn't do as a team this week."

"It hurts," said Roosevelt senior linebacker Isaiah Ross. "I think we could have worked harder even though we had a heck of a season. We're still the best team in the state. It was just mental mistakes that hurt us."

E-mail Terron Hampton at thampton@gazette.net.