Last year, the Dragons earned the Region 8-5A championship on the last play of the regular season against the Whitehaven Tigers with a huge defensive stand to thwart a two-point conversion and earn a 33-32 win.

Though, not the last game of the season, the Dragons knew that their work was cut out for them to keep their 2005 playoff hopes alive. The Tigers (3-5, 2-3) came into the 2005 game having beaten Germantown and losing two region games to Wooddale and White Station by 1 and 2 points respectively. Additionally, one of the Tiger’s season losses was to perennial powerhouse, Melrose, by only 6 points.

This year, the Dragons (6-2, 3-2) clinched their win over Whitehaven on the next to last play of the game with another outstanding defensive stand that held off the Tigers and sealed the 21-13 Dragon road victory.

Senior QB Jason Smith led the Dragon attack with 22 rushes for 117 yards and one touchdown and also tossed 9 completions on 12 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Senior wide receivers Chris Collins and Lane Maynard hauled in key TD passes of 55 and 8 yards, respectively.

The offensive line played an outstanding game. Smith concurred, “I couldn’t do anything without my line, they were incredible tonight”.

On their second offensive play of the game, the speedy Tigers struck first with electrifying 74 yard run by Whitehaven’s Curtis Marks. The PAT was good and Whitehaven took a 7-0 lead with 9:39 left in the first quarter. The talented Marks would finish the game with 257 yards rushing for the Whitehaven Tigers.

But the explosive Whitehaven attack was contained for the majority of the night by the Dragon defense. While there were hints of potential game-breakers, the heady Collierville defense fought back all challenges. “The defense did an outstanding job tonight”, stated Coach Paul Cox.

The next two Dragon offensive series were impressive but did not result in any points. The Dragons elected to play for 6 points rather than 3 and were stopped on fourth down plays in both series to turn the ball over to the Tigers at their own 1 and 29 yard lines.

On what appeared to be the last offensive series of the half, the Dragon defense rose to the occasion as Lane Maynard snagged an interception at the Dragon 17 yard line.

On first down, Jason Smith recognized a defense that left WR Joe Crabtree uncovered. In an apparent automatic read, Smith hit Crabtree on a “Go” route that moved the ball down to the Whitehaven 38 yard line. With two called penalties against the Dragons in three plays it appeared that the offense would bog down. With time running out, the Dragons were faced with third and 27 from their own 45. QB Jason Smith hit Sr Chris Collins on a wide receiver screen which he sprung loose to burn the Whitehaven defense for in an electrifying 55 yard touchdown reception to put the Dragons on the board with eight seconds left in the first half. Maynard’s PAT, on Matt Clark’s snap and Josh McMillon’s hold, was good and the score was knotted 7-7 at halftime.

The following kick-off found the Dragons hustling down the field chasing Maynard’s grounder that resulted in a hit and fumble recovery for the Dragons by Soph Nathan Ring as the half ended.

Both teams had two second half possessions before it appeared the Dragons would march into the end zone.

Taking possession at the 47, Smith and the Dragon offense set up in shotgun formation. Taking the snap, Smith faked the FB Draw and scampered around left end on a QB keeper all the way down to the Whitehaven 24. The same play to the left side garnered seven more yards. A loss on the next play put the forced the Dragons into passing mode where Smith hit Lane Maynard who made a juggling act catch and held on after getting smashed on the tackle. A poor spot by the official, as vocally noted by the fans, forced the Dragons in a fourth and inches play to keep the drive alive. Smith hustled his squad to line and called a quick QB Keeper. Smith went over two yards past the line of scrimmage before the defenders realized what had happened and drove him back.

On an unbelievably poor fourth down spot, the Dragons again turned the ball over on downs at the Whitehaven 14 yard line.

The Tigers appeared to stun the Dragons again when Curtis Marks took the pitch and proceeded to sprint unchallenged to the endzone 63 yards away….until Chris Collins caught made up over 12 yards on Marks and caught him from behind at the 5 yard line.

The surprised Tigers regained their composure and two plays later punched in a 4 yard TD with 11:56 remaining in the 4th quarter to take a 13-7 lead. The PAT snap was high and the subsequent pass by the holder was intercepted by Dragon LB Noel Moyes to open a window of opportunity for the Dragons.

Though the Tigers had scored, “never say die” plays from Chris Collins, Eric Burrus, and Noel Moyes enabled the Dragon defense to maintain intangible momentum.

Following the Whitehaven kick-off, the Dragons ran their offense almost exclusively out of the shotgun set. Casey Shockey, Lane Maynard and Jason Smith contributed big offensive plays behind outstanding line blocking from Grant Hall, Laine Halfacre, Collin Ring, Joe White, Taylor Krag, DeJuan Sharp, and Tyler Hammers. The Dragons marched 69 yards in nine plays and scored on Jason Smith’s six yard TD run with 8:05 left in the game. With assistance from long-snapper Matt Clark and holder Josh McMillon, Maynard’s PAT was good and the Dragon’s took their first lead of the night, 14-13.

Following the Dragon kick-off, the Whitehaven offense quickly moved the ball out to the 50 yard line before the Dragon defense again rose to the occasion. Jr DB Garrett Bizzell intercepted a Tiger pass at the Dragon 29 and returned it back to the Whitehaven 42 yard line.

After overcoming a holding call on first down, the Dragons engineered a 10 play drive that resulted in an 8 yard TD strike from Jason Smith to Lane Maynard. Maynard’s PAT was true and the Dragon lead was extended to 8 points, 21-13, with 1:59 left to play.

Following the Dragon kick-off, Whitehaven’s offense put the ball in play at the 25 yard line where they moved the ball out to the 36. Facing fourth and eight, with 31 seconds left on the clock, Dragon defenders Grant Hall, Chris Bossert and Eric Burrus whipped their men and forced an errant pass by the Tiger quarterback to give the Dragons the ball on downs. After one snap by Dragon center Joe White, Jason Smith took a knee and another hard-fought victory was in the books for the Dragons.

The victory over Whitehaven put the Dragons in a three-way tie for second place in Region 8 with two games remaining in the regular season. Germantown and Wooddale share the lead with 4-1 records followed by Collierville, Houston, and White Station sporting 3-2 records. Each of the top five teams must still play at least one of the other region leaders with Wooddale set to play both Germantown and Collierville to complete their season. Again, it appears that the four Region 8 play-off spots will be determined by the last game of the season, if not the last play of the season for one of these teams.

Collierville next travels to Kirby and then hosts Wooddale at home to end their regular season slate. Come out and support the Dragons as they make their final push into the play-offs.