Red team scores in final seconds to win J-Day, 15-14 (Highlights)

 The Red team scored with eight seconds remaining and converted the two-point conversion to down the White team 15-14 in Jacksonville State’s annual J-Day Spring Game on Thursday night.

With Red trailing 14-7 and the clock running down, Bryant Horn found Demontez Terry from six yards out to cut White’s lead to a point. The two connected again on the two-point conversion to end the game and Red’s thrilling comeback in dramatic fashion.

The spring game was played on Thursday night for the first time and in front of an estimated crowd of 3,000 fans. Those fans stayed in their seats until the end of the game, which ended in less than two hours because of a running clock, and got some late fireworks in a game that featured plenty of big plays.

The White team controlled the game for almost the entire time, out-gaining its Red counterparts 275-159, including 71 yards on the game winning drive.  White team quarterback Kendrick Doss was 8-for-10 passing with 52 yards, while Red team signal caller Horn had 67 yards and a score on a 6-for-14 passing night.

White scored on a 46-yard run from Roc Thomas on its first possession, one of two huge carries for the rising senior from Oxford. The 2016 First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference back had just two carries in the game, running for 56 on his second carry to give him 102 yards and a score in the game.

The Red team’s rushing attack was led by sophomore Tyus Flakes, whose 63 yards came on just five carries.

Red fumbled the ensuing kickoff after Thomas’ touchdown run but turned it into points anyway. Sophomore Matravious Williams picked off Doss at the 19-yard line and returned it 81 yards for a score that tied the game midway through the first quarter.

White looked to take control of the game to open the third quarter, when Siran Neal took the opening kickoff 100 yards to the end zone before it was negated by a flag on the other side of the field.

They would eventually get the lead back later in the quarter, thanks to a 66-yard throw-and-catch from Will Pyburn to Landon Smith, who hauled the pass in and made a move on the sideline to get free and score.

That 14-7 score stood until Red’s final drive, one that took 10 plays and was extended by two pass interference calls, one after a fourth-and-15 pass fell incomplete.

Horn found Terry across the middle on both the touchdown pass and the conversion attempt to win the game.

Terry finished the game with two catches for 35 yards, while Smith led the White team receivers with 72 yards on two catches.

Leander Burrowes ran nine times for 34 yards for the White squad, while Doss had 20 yards on seven rushes.

Defensively, Jalen Choice and Jonathan Hagler led the Red team with five stops apiece, and both had a sack in the game. Montrez Lang also had a sack for Red and added three tackles for a loss.

The White team saw Justin Thomas-Thornton record two sacks and force a fumble, while Freddie Montgomery added a pair of tackles in the backfield.