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The Houston County Lions may have pulled off the largest comeback in Alabama high school football history. The Lions trailed Cottonwood 43-8 in the second half of their game against Cottonwood before making a miraculous comeback to pull out the victory.            The Lions scored 36 points in the fourth quarter, which is likely another state record, to defeat Cottonwood 52-50 on Sep. 12, 2008 at L.F. Tillery Field in Columbia. The game-winning score came on a 95-yard touchdown pass on a third and 48 play with less than two minutes remaining in the game.            The Cottonwood Bears led 43-16 as the teams entered the fourth quarter before being outscored 36-7 and losing on the long pass play. The Bears led 37-8 as the teams entered the locker room at the half.                        Houston County quarterback, Desmond Warren was named the ASWA offensive player of the week for efforts in directing the comeback. Warren completed 13-of-21 passes for 372 yards and three touchdowns, including a 95-yarder with less than two minutes to go for the go-ahead score. He also rushed for 27 yards on four carries and one touchdown. Warren completed passes of 42, 29, 38, 64, 69 and 95 yards in the second half alone.            Edward Robinson caught five passes for 155 yards including touchdowns of 64 and 69 yards. He also rushed for 117 yards on nine carries with a 63-yard TD run and returned an interception 32 yards for another score. Jazeric Peterson finished with five catches for 183 yards and the winning score.            The Lions had 10 yards passing at the half and 372 for the game. The comeback began when Warren scored on a 13-yard run on fourth down to pull the Lions within 43-16 with three minutes remaining in the third. Darnell Robinson got a touchdown on a 4-yard run and a two point conversion made the score 43-25 early in the fourth quarter.           Edward Robinson intercepted a pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown to cut the Bears' lead to 43-32. Cottonwood came back to add a touchdown before Robinson scored on a 64-yard pass from Warren and the Lions led 50-39.            A few minutes later Robinson repeated the trick with a 69-yard touchdown reception to cut the lead to 50-46 with five minutes left. Cottonwood faced a fourth and four near midfield needing a first down to run out the clock for a win. The Lions made a stop and gave their offense a chance.            Houston County gained possession on their own 43-yard line but proceeded to go backwards. Two penalties and a snap over Warren's head placed the football back at the 5-yard line. The Lions faced a 3rd and 48 play with about two minutes remaining.            Peterson caught the pass from Warren and outraced the defenders on his way to a 95-yard scoring play. Houston County still had to stop Cottonwood one last time. The Lions' defense was up to the task and held the Bears.            The Lions rolled up 521 yards of offense, while Cottonwood rang up 495 yards. For the Bears, Andrew Cain completed 14-of-18 passes for 137 yards. He three two touchdown passes and ran for another. Brett Moore ran for 145 yards on 15 carries while Desmond Dubose rushed for 81 yards and scored two touchdowns.            The Lions gained 380 yards in the second half on just 19 offensive plays. They scored 44 second-half points, including 36 in the final quarter to pull out a most amazing win.
Houston County 2008 8/28 12 Ashford . . . . . . . . . . . 31 9/5 14 Houston Academy . . . . 35 9/12 52 Cottonwood . . . . . . . . 50 9/19 0 Barbour County . . . . . 14 9/26 41 Abbeville . . . . . . . . . 30 10/3 34 Samson . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 10/10 35 G.W. Long . . . . . . . . . 21 10/17 26 New Brockton . . . . . . 28 10/24 12 Elba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 10/31 18 Headland . . . . . . . . . . 24 244 4-6 261 * Playoff game	Cottonwood 2008 8/28 26 Slocomb . . . . . . . . . . . 20 9/5 0 Elba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 9/12 50 Houston County . . . . . 52 9/19 41 New Brockton . . . . . . 7 9/26 15 Geneva County . . . . . 7 10/3 6 Houston Academy . . . . 20 10/10 30 Samson . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 10/17 6 Barbour County . . . . . 20 10/24 25 G.W. Long . . . . . . . . . 7 10/31 20 Dale County . . . . . . . 15 219 6-4 179 * Playoff game

  The Memorable Games, a series on the important and memorable games in high school football history

David Parker
  AHSFHS.org
  dparker@ahsfhs.org

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