Fred T. Foard’s players ran back to their sideline, helmets in hand, celebrating what hadn’t been felt in years.

The state’s longest losing streak is no more.

With a stop on a two-point conversion, Fred T. Foard defeated West Iredell 53-52 in overtime, ending the season on a high note after 43 consecutive losses.

Foard (1-9, 1-6) trailed 24-23 at halftime but worked its way into a 43-31 lead after a 9-yard touchdown run by Deontae McIlwain with 9:35 in the fourth quarter. Two penalties on West Iredell (2-8, 0-7) put the extra point try inside the 1-yard line, so Foard elected to go for two and was stopped on a run.

Blowing the lead

That failed two-point try seemed to kick off a series of misfortunes that put the Tigers behind in no time.

West Iredell scored on the next drive on a 15-yard screen pass from Sebastian Bridges to receiver Jermaine Cornelius to make it 43-38 with 3:02 left.

Foard, somehow, signaled for a fair catch on the ensuing kickoff and had the ball at its own 4.

On its first play, somehow, it fumbled the ball on a handoff that was tossed forward above the defensive line and was recovered by the Warriors at the 9.

One play later, West Iredell had the lead on a 9-yard run by Amario Spence, who broke four tackles. Bridges did a QB sneak from the 3 for the two-point conversion and led 46-43 with 2:49 left.

The Warriors had scored 15 points in 13 seconds.

Moment of truth

Foard’s last drive began on its own 28 with 2:40 to go, down three.

Four straight runs got the ball into threatening territory before an incompletion stopped the clock with 53.0 seconds at the West Iredell 40. A double pass trick play got a receiver wide open, but the pass was too far in front, and there were 46.1 seconds left, and now Foard faced a fourth-and-4.

A screen pass from Dawson Mace to McIlwain picked up the first down and then some, getting the ball to the 22 with 36.6 left. Mace then scrambled to the 11 with 26.5 seconds left.

McIlwain’s carry got the ball to the 5 with 19.6 seconds left, still trailing by three. The next two plays were incomplete passes, setting up a 4th-and-4 on the 5 with 11.7 seconds left. Mace — also the team’s kicker, made a 21-yarder to tie it up with 7.3 seconds to go. The ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, and West Iredell ran one play before overtime began.

Overtime

In high school overtime, both teams take turns getting the ball at the 10.

Foard got the ball first and got down to the 1 in two plays. A dive from 1 yard out on third down by McIlwain put the Tigers ahead, 53-46 after Mace’s extra point.

West Iredell ran five yards on its first play and two more on its second and two more on the third. That set up 4th-and-goal at the 1.

Foard had 12 players on the field, but one ran off to give the Tigers 11. But after that, another player, a lineman, mistakenly thought he was the 12th player and also ran off the field as West Iredell broke the huddle, and Foard had just 10 on the field as West Iredell scored easily. Bridges ran in the 1-yard sneak into the area the player had vacated.

West Iredell, however, went for two and the win.

Bridges tried again to sneak it, this time from the 3, and was stood up and denied.

Foard was in the win column for the first time since the Covid-shortened season of 2020 that was played in the spring of 2021. Foard’s last win was that season’s opener, on Feb. 25, 2021, against Patton. It went 1-5 that year, followed by 0-9, 0-10, 0-10, and now 1-9.

But the “1” is what matters the most.