LAURINBURG — Scotland may have come out of their last nonconference game of the season against the Jack Britt Buccaneers as the winning team — but the result felt much different than that for head coach Richard Bailey.
Multiple penalties, 331 total yards allowed by Scotland’s defense, and linebacker Keyshaun McQueen being ejected embittered a 40-35 victory over the Buccaneers Friday night.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Bailey said. “Our defense played horrible. They (Jack Britt) were running the ball at us. And I told everybody that would listen that they’re a lot better than what their record was. We’ve got to learn to control our emotions. It’s so disappointing. They (Scotland) embarrassed themselves tonight and their families. I apologize to our fan base.”
McQueen was ejected in the third quarter for throwing a punch, but Bailey said it was appealed and overturned Saturday morning, meaning McQueen won’t miss next week’s game.
Despite all that went wrong for the Scots (4-0), it wasn’t a completely damper night. They had a receiver, Quatavius Everette, eclipse the century mark for the first time this season, with Everette getting 102 yards on six receptions, and a four-touchdown performance by quarterback Ji’San McPhatter.
“I feel like I played well; always room for improvement,” McPhatter said. “I feel like our O-line blocked well. We had our ups and downs, but we got it done.”
One of those “ups” happened with 3:11 remaining in the fourth quarter when Everette went in on defense as a defensive back and intercepted Jack Britt QB Jackson Powell’s pass that was intended for WR Javonte Brooks at the Scotland 2-yard line. Scotland ran the clock out after Everette’s play to hold on for the win.
“I worked on it in practice,” Everette said. “I saw him (Brooks) come out, so I just backpedaled the whole time and watched the ball. And I made the play.”
Moments before that interception, running back Zay Jones scored a 1-yard TD with 5:35 left to regain the lead for Scotland, but wide receiver Shylan Harrell’s run out of a Wildcat formation on the two-point try was no good. Jack Britt (0-3) took a 35-34 lead — their first of the night — nearly three minutes before that with a 54-yard TD reception by Brooks and a successful two-point conversion catch by WR Darcy Davis Jr.
Both teams were tied at 27 apiece at the end of the third quarter, but on a fourth-and-6 from the Jack Britt 6-yard line with 10:01 to go in the fourth, McPhatter scrambled around and found Jones for his fourth TD pass of the night to put Scotland ahead 34-27.
“They (Jack Britt) came up, I stepped up in the pocket, and he was wide open,” McPhatter said. “The O-line blocked good right there.”
McPhatter’s first TD pass came two plays from scrimmage into the first quarter when he went play-action and found wide receiver Dajuan Gibson for a 50-yard TD pass to put Scotland up 7-0.
“We worked on that hard in practice,” McPhatter said about the play. “Every day we went through it, and he (Gibson) came open like he did in practice.”
Jack Britt, which hadn’t scored a point coming into the game, waltzed down the field on their first drive and scored on a fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line with a run from RB Keith Tillett II to even the score at 7-7.
Scotland decided to match Jack Britt’s fourth-down TD with one of their own with 2:30 to go in the first quarter. On fourth-and-12 from Jack Britt’s 22-yard line, Everette caught a pass from McPhatter to make it 14-7. McPhatter and Everette replicated that connection on Scotland’s next scoring drive with 8:30 left in the second quarter on a 48-yard TD to make the Scotland lead 21-7.
The Bucs scored with 1:02 remaining before halftime on a 10-yard run by Tillett II, but the extra point attempt was blocked.
Scotland extended their lead to 27-13 almost three minutes into the second half when Jones rushed in for an 11-yard score, and the extra point attempt went below the crossbar before Powell’s 2-yard rushing TD on the next Jack Britt drive made it 27-20. Brooks had a 22-yard TD reception with 2:40 to go in the third to tie the game.
McPhatter was 9-of-15 passing for 199 yards for Scotland. Jones had 32 carries for 215 yards — his third game this year with over 200 rushing yards — and Gibson had two receptions for 91 yards.
Powell finished 17-of-25 passing for 211 yards and had 45 yards rushing for the Bucs. Tillett II had 19 carries for 38 yards, Brooks had eight catches for 135 yards, and Davis Jr. had five grabs for 41 yards.
Scotland heads to Hoke County next week to open Sandhills Athletic Conference play.