Tigers ousted from playoffs

RANDLEMAN — There were a lot of similarities with last Friday night’s second-round state 2-A playoff battle between Randleman and Forest Hills and last year’s second round battle between the same two teams.

And that wasn’t positive for the Randleman Tigers.

The fourth-seeded Tigers battled the No. 13 seeded Yellow Jackets for the first half last Friday night, much like they did in last year’s playoff game. 

And just like last year’s playoff game, Forest Hills’ speedy and pass-happy offense combined with a tough pass defense to spark the visitors to a victory as the Tigers saw their season come to an end after a 38-21 setback.

Last year, the Tigers and Yellow Jackets were tied at halftime before Forest Hills scored three touchdowns while shutting the Tigers out in the final half. Friday night, the Tigers trailed by a slim 24-21 margin at the break before Forest Hills scored the only points of the second half to advance. Forest Hills improved to 9-3 with the win while the Tigers finished 9-3.

RHS had trouble getting the Yellow Jackets’ offense off the field as Forest Hills registered points on four of their first five drives in the first half.

“Our kids did what we asked them to do, they had some guys who were just good and made plays and had speed,” RHS coach Shane Timmons said. “They were able to maintain possession and just wear you down. 

“We made them drive the football. It comes down to you just can’t get behind schedule. Forest Hills is a good football team.”

The Yellow Jackets converted eight times on third down to keep drives alive and they were able to finish off drives, while the Tigers had trouble finishing drives to put points on the board.

“We ran the ball, threw the ball some and did some things,” Timmons said. “Just couldn’t put it together in the right order.”

The Yellow Jackets were sparked by a passing game led by senior quarterback Zach Dillworth. 

Dillworth, who came into the game with 1,884 yards and 20 touchdowns, was 25-for-36 for 347 yards and three scores, including a short 2-yard flip pass on an end around to speedster Je’rel Bolder for the final touchdown with 6:08 left to play in the game.

“There’s a lot of people that say speed kills,” Timmons said. “Some of it was that (playing well off a receiver) and some was we were supposed to bang a different guy and didn’t get there. And there were at least two or three opportunities where the ball was fluttering and could have maybe picked them off, but we couldn’t quite make a play.”

RHS fumbled on its first possession and Forest Hills cashed in with a field goal. A beautiful 36-yard scoring pass from RHS’ John Kirkpatrick to Chase Farlow pushed the Tigers into the lead with 7:34 left in the first quarter, but touchdown passes of 54 yards and 28 yards gave the Yellow Jackets a 17-7 lead after one quarter.

Micah Thurston scored on a 13-yard run to cut the RHS deficit to 17-14 before the teams traded scores with Tyshaun Goldston hauling in a 15-yard pass for a touchdown with 25 seconds left in the half.

Forest Hills opened the second half with a 93-yard drive for a score and added another midway through the fourth.

Thurston finished with 119 yards on the ground on 21 carries for the Tigers. 

“We just couldn’t get the ball in the end zone,” Timmons said. “We were so close to hitting, we just couldn’t get home.”  

Kirkpatrick was 11-for-22 passing for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Goldston had five receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown and Farlow had three receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown.