For most of the U16 NCAFA A-Cup championship game between the Cumberland Panthers and Gloucester South Raiders, the two teams were locked in battle that could have easily gone either way until the Panthers pulled off a last second victory in a wild finish for the ages.
With 38 seconds left in the game and the score tied 14-14, the Raiders needed just a yard to pick up a first down and have a shot at either winning the contest with a single, or sending it to overtime. Instead, they turmed the ball over on the 31-yard line, to give the Panthers one last shot at winning the game themselves. The only problem was that there was only 22 seconds left on the clock and the end zone was 79 yards away.
Most teams in that situation would have run out the clock and taken their chances in overtime, rather than risk a potential turnover going the other way. But most teams don't have a quarterback like Vincent Anderson who can make up ground in bunches with both his feet or his arm.
Up until that point, Anderson already had a stellar game, completing 9 of 19 passes for 96 yards and running the ball six times for 38 yards and two touchdowns.
Fortunately for the Panthers, Anderson saved his best for last 22 seconds, starting with an 18 yard scamper down the sideline to the 50-yard line. Then with only 14 seconds left, he found Kayden Dayal with a pass down the middle and into double coverage that covered 33 yards and gave his team a first down on the 27.
After the Raiders called a timeout with a eight seconds left, the Panthers sent kicker Nathan Melsness on to the field to attempt a 34-yard field goal, or score a single point by preventing the Raiders from returning the ball out of the end zone.
As fate would have it, the kick went wide left and bounced past the Raiders return man who managed to recover just in time to prevent the ball from going out the back of the end zone. After recovering the ball, he ran five yards before realizing his best bet was to kick the ball out of the end zone. Unfortunately, his kick went straight into the hands of Donovan Belisle who was standing on the one yard line and managed to carry it in for the game winning touchdown.
For a number of the second year players on the team like Anderson, Belisle, Blais and Gavin Poirier, who had a strong game as well, running the ball 14 times for 65 yards, it was their third A-Cup title in as many years. They won the peewee A-Cup in 2022 and the bantam A-Cup last year.
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