The Forestburg Longhorns did not have a happy homecoming, falling short in their remarkable comeback attempt against Vernon Northside.
The Indians held on to win 50-43 as the teams combined to score three touchdowns in the final minute of the game.
The Longhorns were coming into the game following their first win of the season that had Coach Greg Roller hoping they were turning a corner.
While Forestburg lost last year’s game against Vernon Northside, it was two years ago the teams were a part of an epic seven overtime game that many seniors hold up as the most memorable win in the last four seasons.
The game started off competitive with two defensive stands before the Longhorns struck first. On fourth down, Jesus Sanchez threw underneath to Jeremiah Perez who broke a few tackles on his way to a 61-yard touchdown catch and run. Forestburg led 8-0 after the first quarter ended.
The Indians scored on a pass under pressure on their next drive, but trailed 8-6 due to the missed extra point. The Longhorns upped their lead to 14-6 when Sanchez found Will Johnson open for a 15-yard touchdown.
Northside scored on its next two drives in while also stopping Forestburg on defense. The Indians led 18-14.
Then the Longhorns got a boost on special teams when Kayden Dill turned on the jets to reverse his field and scored on a 70-yard kick-off return. Forestburg led 22-18 at halftime.
In the third quarter Northside grabbed control of the game. After scoring on a 35-yard run to retake the lead, an interception on defense followed later by an 11-yard scoring run gave the Indians a 32-22 lead.
After another stop on defense right before the third quarter ended, Northside scored to begin the fourth quarter on a short pass in the red zone.
Rinse and repeat the sequence with the Indians scoring on a short run and Forestburg was down 44-22 with 6:30 left in the game.
The two teams exchanged defensive stops with the Longhorns getting the ball back with 3:06 left to play and down three touchdowns.
Forestburg broke out of the offensive rut and Sanchez found Johnson on a 24-yard touchdown pitch and catch to cut the lead to 44-30.
Northside got the ball back and ran nearly two minutes off the clock before Forestburg got the stop on defense to get the ball back.
The Longhorns then scored as Sanchez hit Perez on a 34-yard wheel route up the left sideline for a touchdown. The score cut the lead to 44-37 with 50 seconds left and Forestburg needed to recover the onside kick with no timeouts left.
The Indians not only recovered the kick, but their player took it back for a touchdown to seemingly ice the game with Northside up 50-37 with less than a minute to play.
Instead, the Longhorns somehow conjured some special team’s magic as well. Kyler Willett recovered the onside kick and the big guy was doing all he could to drag as many Indian defenders with him before he was going to go down.
In the struggle, he fumbled the ball and who picked it up but teammate Perez, who had no one in front of him as he scooped and scored. Forestburg again had cut the lead to one score and was in the same situation with 38 seconds left in the game.
Unfortunately, the magic was out for the Longhorns. Northside recovered the onside kick and kneeled the ball for the win as Forestburg lost 50-43.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.