Crest High School football rallies to beat West Charlotte in third round of NC 3A playoffs
With Crest High School trailing by 16 points after three quarters, few would have given the Chargers a chance to come back against a tough West Charlotte team.
Count Crest quarterback Ny’Tavious Huskey among those who believed.
Huskey led his Chargers to a 30-29 overtime win over the Lions in the third round of the NCHSAA 3A football playoffs Friday night.
“We fight through adversity,” Huskey said. “We’re a second half team and we showed it tonight.”
Huskey, whose 3-yard touchdown was Crest’s only score through three quarters, threw three touchdown passes, ran for a two-pointer and fired a two-point pass to A.J. Adams for the winning points in overtime.
“We’ve got high character kids, faith in our offense and we never panicked,” Crest coach Jim Sosebee said.
After tying the visiting Lions at 22, Crest had to survive by blocking a 22-yard field goal with 1:07 left in regulation. The Chargers then yielded a touchdown and extra point in overtime to trail again, 29-22.
But Huskey found Javarius Green for a 10-yard TD pass on Crest’s first play in overtime, then found Adams just inside the pylon on the two-point play by rolling right on a run-pass option play.
“We trust Ny’Tavious to make plays,” said Sosebee, who called a timeout before the winning two-point play. “Obviously I trusted him with our season on that play.”
West Charlotte had taken control of the game behind sophomore quarterback K.D. Smith, senior running back Scottie Cooper and a ball-hawking defense that frustrated Crest’s high-scoring defense until the fourth quarter.
Smith hit Davion Jones for a 53-yard touchdown, Cooper scored on an 11-yard run, and Smith a 15-yard run to help West Charlotte build its 22-6 lead.
But Huskey found Adams on a 56-yard pass with 11:17 to play and ran in the two-pointer to cut the lead to 22-14.
Then, after Crest forced a West Charlotte punt, the Chargers needed 11 plays to drive 48 yards to knot the score as Huskey hit Aiden Carson for a 16-yard TD pass and Green took a pitch from Huskey and hit Adams for a two-point pass to knot the score with 4:02 left in regulation.
Three who made a difference
Crest QB Ny’Tavious Huskey: Completed 14 of 27 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 12 times for 49 yards and one touchdown.
West Charlotte RB Scottie Cooper: Rushed 22 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
West Charlotte QB K.D. Smith: Completed four of eight passes for 75 yards and one touchdown and rushed 18 times for 99 yards and one touchdown.
Worth mentioning
▪ It was a homecoming visit for West Charlotte assistant coach Chris Coleman, a 1995 Crest High graduate who was a record-setting receiver for the Chargers when they won the 1994 N.C. 4A state title. The championship run included a 20-13 Crest victory over West Charlotte..
What’s next
West Charlotte’s season ends at 9-4; Crest (13-0) hosts Greensboro Dudley next Friday in the Western N.C. 4A semifinals.
Scoring summary
West Charlotte 0 7 15 0 7 — 29
Crest 0 6 0 16 8 — 30
C — Ny’Tavious Huskey 3 run (Kick failed)
WC — Davion Jones 53 pass from K.D. Smith (Deng Chengkuach kick)
WC — Scottie Cooper 11 run (Cooper run)
WC — Smith 15 run (Chengkuach kick)
C — A.J. Adams 56 pass from Huskey (Huskey run)
C — Aiden Carson 16 pass from Huskey (Adams pass from Javarius Green)
WC — Cooper 5 run (Chuenkuach kick)
C — Green 10 pass from Huskey (Adams pass from Huskey)
