Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Perkins-Tryon Ends Heritage Hall's 92-Game District Win Streak, 42-41

Perkins-Tryon talked about it all week, in two words: Beat the Streak. On Friday night at Pop Murray Field in Oklahoma City, the Demons did it, rallying past Heritage Hall 42-41 to end the Chargers' 92-game winning streak in district games.

The streak covered all 12 years of coach Brett Bogert's tenure at the Oklahoma City private school, and it ended with 38 seconds left. Heritage Hall had just scored on Porter England's 89-yard run off a lateral to pull within 42-41. The Chargers lined up for the tying extra point kick, but an offside penalty moved the ball to the 1-yard line. The coaching staff chose to go for two points and the win. Quarterback Teagan Lawson's pass sailed over the outstretched arms of two receivers and out of the end zone. Heritage Hall then tried an onside kick, and the ball bounced out of bounds.

Heritage Hall (6-3, 5-1 in District 3A-3) looked ready to extend the streak early, taking a 21-0 lead in the first quarter before an estimated 2,000 fans. Perkins-Tryon (7-2, 5-1) ran only 16 offensive plays to Heritage Hall's 39 in the first half, but a successful onside kick and 102 penalty yards against the Chargers helped the Demons close to 28-14 by halftime.

Gibson and Mendoza lead the comeback

Quarterback Jerett Gibson accounted for four Perkins-Tryon touchdowns, scoring on a pair of 3-yard runs and throwing touchdown passes of 42 and 70 yards to Ricardo Mendoza. Mendoza, a senior who also plays strong safety, gave the Demons a 42-28 lead when he returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown with 8:16 left in the game.

Heritage Hall answered twice. Lawson threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Max Everett with 6:50 remaining, and England followed with the 89-yard score. Lawson completed 24 of 37 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns, and Heritage Hall outgained Perkins-Tryon 481 yards to 332. Westin Atkinson led Perkins-Tryon on the ground with a game-best 146 rushing yards and one touchdown.

What the result means for the district

"We're in a lot better position to win it now than we were when we started tonight," Perkins-Tryon coach Dawayne Hudson said. The No. 3-ranked Demons can clinch the district title on Nov. 6 with a win against Inola combined with a Heritage Hall victory over Verdigris, and they can deny No. 6 Heritage Hall the league title for the first time since 2013. "There's still a few odd scenarios where it can go down to (district) points, so nothing is guaranteed right now," Hudson said.

Bogert put the loss on his own staff and on the penalties. "It's one of those deals, when you do dumb stuff, you're going to lose. But that's on us. Our coaching staff didn't do our job getting our guys ready," he said. He credited Lawson for keeping the Chargers close: "We wouldn't have been anywhere close to being in the game if we didn't have No. 10 (Lawson). He played really well. He's been steady all season for us." News 9 in Oklahoma City featured the matchup as its Game of the Week, and both teams had entered the night with 6-2 records.