Caldwell County’s game against Murray on Friday night had several frantic “finishes.” The last one belonged to Murray, which held Caldwell out of the end zone on 4th down from the 2 in overtime to get out of Princeton with a 41-34 victory in Class 2A 1st District action.
Murray (4-2 overall, 1-0 district) appeared to have the game won when Rowdy Sokolowski scored on a 4-yard run with just 1:11 left in regulation.
However, a missed extra point left Murray with just a three-point lead at 34-31.
Caldwell (2-3, 1-2) then tied the game in unlikely fashion.
With just 5 seconds left and Caldwell at the Murray 35-yard line, Caldwell eschewed a 52-yard field goal attempt. Instead, Tate VanHooser heaved a pass downfield, which was caught by Tripp Branch at the 13 as time expired.
However, a roughing-the-passer penalty on the play not only gave Caldwell an extra untimed down, but moved the ball half the distance to the goal line as well.
That made things a little easier on Blake Vivrette, who booted a 23-yard field goal to knot the game at 34-34 and send the contest to overtime.
It was the second field goal of the final 6:06 for Vivrette, who split the uprights from 22 yards out earlier to give Caldwell a 31-28 advantage.
Vivrette’s second kick tied the game for a fifth time. The contest was knotted 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 28-28 and 34-34.
In overtime, Caldwell won the coin toss and elected to go on defense first.
Murray scored when Sokolowski went 3 yards on 3rd down. Caden Cain to kick the extra point to make it 41-34.
Caldwell ran the ball three times to get to the 2 on 4th down. Caldwell then ran a sweep to Baron Wells, who tried to turn the corner near the sideline.
Wells crawled over a Murray defender to try to get the ball over the goal line and inside the pylon, but officials ruled that he stepped out of bounds at the 1 to end the game.
Sokolowski was the offensive star for Murray. The junior quarterback ran the ball 30 times for 130 yards and three touchdowns while also throwing for 146 yards and two more scores.
Caldwell outgained Murray 394 yards to 358.
Russ Beshear passed for 258 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a team-high 68 yards and another TD.
Wells caught eight passes for 172 yards, including first-quarter scoring grabs of 65 and 60 yards.
Caldwell goes to Madisonville-North Hopkins next week.
Murray could earn the No. 1 seed in the district next week, but would have to beat Mayfield in Murray to do so.
