The Gold-Burg Bears won their bi-district playoff game against Woodson on Thursday night and it came down to the wire.
The Bears held on to win 64-62 in a game where they led for most of it, but just could not get the Cowboys to leave them alone.
Gold-Burg came in as favorites despite both teams coming in with 6-4 records. The Bears’ schedule was considered slightly harder, they had won their district’s championship and were on a 6-1 run to end the season after a tough start.
Still, Woodson would prove it had several different weapons on offense which allowed it to hang with Gold-Burg and a never say die attitude that kept the team fighting until the very end.
The first play of the game saw the Cowboys try a trick play that went for a long touchdown run, but it was called back due to an alignment penalty. The Bears bounced back by forcing and recovering a fumble. Jayton Epperson, who recovered the fumble, a short-time later ran in an 18-yard touchdown to put Gold-Burg up 8-0 early.
Woodson bounced back with a play that would prove lethal throughout the night as its quarterback found Peyton Malcuit for a 34-yard touchdown pass in single coverage to tie the score at 8-8.
The Bears drove down the field and Epperson scored on a short run to go up 14-6. Gold-Burg tried to dial up the pressure to not allow the deep throw and it worked as it turned the Cowboys over on downs to get the ball back.
Unfortunately, the first offensive play saw the Bears fumble the ball and Woodson recovered it around midfield. Then the Cowboy’s Nico Romo burst threw for a 40-yard touchdown run. It put his team up 16-14.
The lead did not last long. On Gold-Burg’s first offensive play of the next drive, Jayton Epperson scrambled before dumping it down to Keelyn Case. Case took the pass up the sideline for a 45-yard touchdown catch. The Bears led 22-16.
Gold-Burg’s defense then repeated its tactic from its last drive to get the ball back. At the start of the second quarter, Levi Hellinger found Case for a 23-yard touchdown pass to put the Bears up 28-16.
It seemed like at this point Gold-Burg was about to pull away. Its defense seemed to have figured out Woodson’s offense, with the two touchdowns being two fluke big plays. The only way the Bears offense could be stopped is if they turned the ball over. The momentum seemed like it was all on Gold-Burg’s side.
Then Woodson hit Malcuit over the top again for a 39-yard touchdown and it was a one-score game again. The Cowboy’s trailed 28-24 and Gold-Burg needed to keep scoring.
The Bears answered with a good drive that took some time and ended with Epperson scoring on a 17-yard run to make it 34-24.
Woodson followed with a quick drive and Romo found room to burst open for a 27-yard touchdown to again cut the lead to one score as Gold-Burg led 34-32.
The Bears scored on their next drive when Epperson found Paul Jones for a 29-yard catch and run touchdown. Gold-Burg led 40-32.
The Bears’ defense got a stop on Woodson’s next drive when Jones recovered a fumble. With 38 seconds left before halftime, Gold-Burg tried to score once more since it was also receiving the ball to start the second half.
The Bears came up short and went into halftime up 40-32.
Gold-Burg started the second half with the ball and took advantage as it drove down to score with Caleb Epperson pounding his way in on a short run. The Bears led 48-32.
The Cowboys answered by driving down the field and scoring on a 12-yard pass play which again cut the lead down to one score 48-40.
Then a big traumatic sequence paused the action as Gold-Burg’s Caleb Epperson went down with a head injury that caused the ambulance on sight to stretcher him off the field. There was emotion from those on the team along with some family and friends that came onto the field. Afterwards the two teams came together to pray before getting back to the game.
Playing with renewed spirit, Gold-Burg scored shortly after as his brother Jayton scored on a seven-yard run to put the Bears up 56-40.
Despite that, Woodson just would not roll over. Again the Cowboys found Malcuit open for a 37-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 56-48.
Tensions boiled on the Bear’s sideline when the offense fumbled the ball away in Woodson’s red zone area. Gold-Burg’s defense stepped up and forced a turnover on downs, but then the Bear’s gave the ball right back when a high snap was again recovered by the Cowboys.
This time Woodson would take advantage. The first play of the fourth quarter saw the Cowboys find Malcuit for a short touchdown pass that tied the game at 56-56.
With Gold-Burg feeling down after several bad sequences on both sides of the ball, the Bears needed a big play to not just get back the lead but pick up everyone spirits about the game.
They got it when Zander Crawford aggressively scooped up the attempted onside kick and returned it 45 yards for a special teams touchdown. It put Gold-Burg back up 64-56 and gave the team its swagger back.
The Bears tried to make some coverage adjustments on defense and it paid off a short time later when Jayton Epperson intercepted a pass near their own goal line.
Gold-Burg failed to move the ball and backed up, the Bears made the rare call to punt the ball away.
It paid off because on the next play Gold-Burg’s defense forced a turnover as Eli Freeland recovered a fumble near midfield.
The Bears’ objective on its next drive was to run some clock since it seemed like everything was harder on offense, with their top playmakers fatigued and beat up from playing all game.
Gold-Burg ran more than five minutes off the clock before disappointingly turning the ball over on downs at Woodson’s 20-yard line with 2:22 left in the game.
It seemed like the Bears had the Cowboys figured out now that it was putting extra people in coverage on Malcuit. Still, the Cowboys found a way as they found Hagen Miller on a deep 50-yard touchdown pass with 1:23 left in the game.
Woodson had not missed an extra point all game and needed to make it to tie the score. Instead, Gold-Burg came up with another big special teams play as several players got back to block the extra point attempt.
The Bears still led 64-62.
The game was not over, Gold-Burg had to recover the onside kick and get at least one first down since Woodson had all three of its timeouts left.
The Bears recovered the onside kick. Still Gold-Burg did not have much offensive success since the traumatic injury in the third quarter and were struggling again to execute.
Facing a fourth down with seven yards to go, the Bears gave the ball to Jones who fought his way for eight yards. The first down iced the game and Gold-Burg was able to fall on the ball to run out the clock to secure the 64-62 win.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870518&T=1