By Alaina Denean Deshazo
The Selma Times-Journal

Fort Dale went for two and the win Friday night against Morgan Academy and it paid off in a big way.

The Eagles (6-1) were successful on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime and stunned the Senators (5-3) 29-28.

“This one hurts pretty bad,” said Morgan coach Josh Thacker. “It hurt for out guys because they worked so hard to get there.”

Fort Dale tied the game at 21 late in the fourth to take the game into overtime.

“They are so down right now, they are so hurt because they laid their heart out there,” Thacker said. “Somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose. … We’ll come back Monday and get after it.”

Morgan got on the board first on a 4-yard run from Sam Brackin early in the second quarter to make the score 6-0 after a missed point after.

Fort Dale answered shortly after with 1-yard quarterback keeper from Luke Taylor with 6:23 left in the second quarter. The extra point put the Eagles up 7-0 for their only lead of the first half.

The Senators wouldn’t stay down long.

Brackin ran the kickoff return 85 yards for a Morgan touchdown. Brayton Brown tacked on a two-point conversion to bring the score to 14-7 with 6:10 left in the second.

Taylor ran a 45-yard quarterback keeper for his second score of the game with 3:34 left in the first half. An extra point tied the game at 14.

Brackin was the first one to score in the second half with a 22-yard run. An extra point with 6:30 left in the third quarter brought the game to 21-14 Senators.

Taylor scored his last touchdown of the game with a 2-yard quarterback keeper into the end zone. After a made extra point, the game was again tied at 21 with 7:00 left in regulation.

With 1:45 left in the game, Morgan fumbled on its own 24-yard line to give the ball to Fort Dale. The Eagles drove the ball inside Morgan’s 20 but missed a field goal with 1.2 second left, sending the game into overtime.

Morgan was the first to score in overtime, when Brackin ran the ball in from 6 yards out. An extra point put the Senators up to 28-21.

Fort Dale’s Andrew Salter scored on a two-yard run to set the Eagles up for their game winning two-point conversion.

The Eagles lined up for an extra point after touchdown, but the Senators jumped offside and the penalty moved the ball to the 1-yard line.

“We actually had a fake on the kick, if he had not jumped off sides, we would have went for two anyway,” said Fort Dale coach James Sampley.

“I just felt like we didn’t need to all put it on the kicker at the end, because I didn’t want him to feel bad about it. We were going to take it and man up and do what we had to do.”

Fort Dale lined up for the two-point and ended the game with a final score of 29-28.

“It’s a shame Morgan lost this football game. Nobody should lose a game like that. It’s hard on them,” Sampley said. “I’m very proud of their kids, they played extremely hard. I thought the coaches did a wonderful job. It was a good, clean football game, no mess, no penalties like it’s supposed to be.”