SPRINGFIELD, Ga. — Effingham County watched a 16-point second-half lead disintegrate in a heartbreaking 34-33 loss to Clarke Central in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament Friday night at The Griff.

The Gladiators’ Tristan Thomas hauled in a 55-yard touchdown pass with 3:04 remaining, and quarterback Kamron Lawrence followed with a two-point conversion run to end the Rebels’ season.

It marked the fifth straight first-round playoff exit for ECHS in the last five seasons.

But this one hurt more than most.

“It’s terrible. You don’t get this time in your life back,” senior linebacker Duff Davis said. “I didn’t know tonight would be the last time taking off the pads, but you have to cherish it and enjoy every moment you get a chance to play.”

The Rebels (8-3), the No. 2 seed from Region 1, had every reason to believe another game awaited them. Even after Clarke Central rallied to tie the game in the fourth quarter, ECHS surged back in front, 33-26, on Jmere Doe-Davis’ 9-yard touchdown run with 3:41 left.

Doe-Davis finished with 194 yards on 26 carries. He handled the ball 11 times on the Rebels’ 12-play, 89-yard go-ahead drive.

But 37 seconds later, ECHS was behind for good.

“It’s a team loss. We played our hearts out. We just didn’t get the outcome we wanted,” Doe-Davis said. “We just didn’t execute at the same level we did at the beginning of the game. We came out flat in the second half.”

Rebels dominate late first half

After taking a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter, the game quickly slipped away from the Gladiators. Doe-Davis and the Rebels pounded Clarke Central’s three-man front for 78 rushing yards on the next possession — all but one yard from Doe-Davis — setting up Jackson Wilhoite’s second field goal, a 29-yarder, to cut the deficit to 7-6.

ECHS appeared to force a punt from the Gladiators’ 23 with less than three minutes left in the half. Central showed a fake but called timeout.

The Gladiators returned with the same fake — and this time were stopped. Collin McIntosh was dropped for a three-yard loss, giving the Rebels the ball at the 20.

Two plays later, quarterback Tucker Perkins found Noah Reese for a 14-yard touchdown, and Wilhoite’s PAT pushed ECHS ahead 13-7.

Things only worsened for Clarke Central. Lawrence fumbled on the next possession, and linebacker John Baker recovered at the Central 29.

Six plays later, Jernard Albright scored on a 2-yard run out of the wildcat with eight seconds left in the half, giving the Rebels a 19-7 lead.

Clarke Central mounts a furious comeback

Clarke Central opened the second-half scoring with a field goal, but ECHS responded with Perkins’ 19-yard touchdown pass to Malik Letman to build a 26-10 advantage.

Perkins completed 20 of 28 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

But the Gladiators kept swinging. Two touchdown runs by Nuhsi Valenti and a pair of two-point conversions pulled Clarke Central even. The second conversion came on a halfback reverse and throwback to Lawrence to tie the game at 26.

“They made adjustments. We were ready for it, but we didn’t execute like we should have,” Davis said.