This past Sunday, the NFL’s Detroit Lions snapped a 19-game losing streak. Two days prior, another 19-game streak was snapped but this was a winning streak. The 19-game winning streak for the Leeds Green Wave came to a halt last Friday as the St. Clair County Saints beat the defending Class 3A state champions 19-14.

Trailing 14-13 early in the fourth quarter, SCCHS quarterback Jervontez Goldsby hooked up with receiver Dee Franklin for a 50-yard touchdown that turned out to the winning score.

“I split the defenders,” Franklin said of his game-winning reception. “I just outran them to the end zone. It felt great.”

The two teams opened the game getting a feel of each other and they traded punts.

On SCCHS’s second possessions, Sequoah Humes fumbled and William Blaylock recovered at the Saint 19.

On the very next play, Dedrick Forsythe scored from 19 yards out. The PAT by Keaton Glass was good and with 7:59 left in the first quarter, Leeds was up 7-0.

Following another St. Clair punt, Leeds moved the ball from its own 35 to the Saint 8. The key play in the drive was a 35-yard run by Ladarius Rodgers. On the seventh play of the drive, Leeds quarterback Rush Perkins was sacked. He fumbled the ball and Hunter Wallace scooped up the loose ball and raced over 50 yards to the Leeds 22.

Seven plays later, on fourth down and goal, Deviche Spann threw a 6-yard halfback pass to Humes for the tying touchdown with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Logan Hudson added the extra point to make it 7-7.

The Leeds offense took over on its 15-yard line and over the next 18 plays, moved the ball to the Saint 13-yard line and used up over 10 minutes off the clock. On fourth down and 5, Glass attempted a 30-yard field goal but it was wide left.

St. Clair got the ball at the 20-yard line and four plays later, Goldsby found Damian Lee down the right sideline. Lee caught the ball near midfield and outran the Leeds defender the rest of the way for a 69-yard touchdown with 17 seconds remaining before halftime. The PAT was no good and the score at intermission was 13-6 in favor of SCCHS.

Leeds took the second half kick-off and marched 71 yards in 11 plays. The touchdown came on a 12-yard run by Forsythe with 6:42 left in the third quarter. The PAT by Glass was good as the Green Wave regained the lead at 14-13.

The two teams traded punts and then both turned the ball over on downs. That’s when the Saints scored the winning touchdown. Humes gained 7 and 8 yards on two running plays before Goldsby and Franklin hooked up for the winning score. The two-point conversion was no good and the score was 19-14.

Leeds had the ball three more times but the Saint defense rose to the occasion forcing them to punt and turn the ball on downs twice.

SCCHS head coach Charlie Boren said it was a big win for his team in more ways than one.

“Not only did we beat our cross-town rival and end their winning streak, this gives us a chance to right the ship,” Boren said. “Things had not gone very good for us the past couple of weeks and this is exactly what we needed to get our confidence back. This was huge and maybe we can take it, build from it and finish strong.”

Boren said they were able to hang around close during the course of the game and when Leeds made a couple of mistakes, they took advantage of the mistakes.

St. Clair, 3-2 on the season, did not have long to celebrate the victory as they are now preparing to host undefeated Cherokee County.

“They are the best looking team I have seen in the past five years,” Boren said. “They were in the title game last year and they look better this year than they did last year. We are just going to have to take care of what we do and eliminate mistakes.”

Leeds, 5-1, travels to Pleasant Valley tomorrow.