MARTINSVILLE, Ind — The Class 4A No. 6 Martinsville Artesians kept their perfect season safe and upset the Class 5A No. 2 Decatur Central Hawks with an incredible 32-point rally in the second half during Friday night's game.
It was a matchup of two Mid-State Conference rivals with both teams fighting for a chance at the top spot. The Hawks struck first, scoring twice in quick succession with a 47-yard touchdown pass followed by a 33-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 in favor of Decatur Central early in the first quarter.
As time ticked down, Decatur Central came up big again, blocking a punt and taking it 22 yards to the house to go up 21-0 with around six minutes to play in the first quarter.
With a 21-0 lead at the end of one, the Hawks kept the pressure on Martinsville by tossing a 46-yard touchdown to make it 28-0 midway through the second quarter. As the Artesians re-took possession on the ensuing kickoff, Decatur Central continued their early dominance as their defense came up big with a pick-six to make it 35-0.
Finally, after wearing down the Hawks defense, Martinsville scored on a 4-yard touchdown pass to head into the locker room at halftime trailing 35-7.
The Artesians received the second half kickoff trailing by four touchdowns. Making matters worse, Decatur Central scored on a field goal midway through the third quarter to push the score to 38-7.
However, that was the last time the Hawks would score.
With just two minutes to play in the third quarter, Martinsville started a rally. Senior quarterback AJ Reynolds started things off with a 1-yard run. A successful onside kick saw Martinsville then take over at the Hawks' 42-yard line. From there, Austin Pryor punched it in to make it 38-20 after a failed two-point conversion.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Martinsville still trailed by 18, but the Artesians never gave up.
Hunter Stroud caught a 25-yard pass from AJ Reynolds to make it 38-27 just minutes into the final quarter. After getting the ball back a short time later, Reynolds tossed a 13-yard TD to Joshua Jones to make it 38-33 with just under seven minutes to play.
The Martinsville defense held Decatur Central to another punt with less than three minutes to play and then drove their way downfield and into the red zone with just seconds left on the clock.
With just 27 seconds to play and on third-and-goal, Reynolds found Stroud in the end zone to complete a remarkable 32-point comeback and save the Artesians' perfect season.
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