Controversial ending to high school football game

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What a wacky ending to a high school football game at the Georgia Dome this weekend.

With seven seconds left in regulation, McEachern’s Nicholas St. Germain booted a clutch 47-yard field goal to tie Peachtree Ridge at 24-24 and send the game into overtime.

But wait a minute.

While McEachern was celebrating on the sidelines, the Peachtree Ridge defense didn’t budge from the field as the referees huddled. Ut oh, never a good sign if your team just made a big play.

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Then the points were waved off the scoreboard.

The refs said Peachtree Ridge had called a timeout before the game-tying kick.

There were jeers from the McEachern fans which quickly turned to cheers as the special teams ran onto the field to do it all over again, with three seconds left.

St. Germain took a good look at the crossbars, bowed his head and launched another kick — this time it was wide left. Several McEachern players dropped to the ground in disappointment as Peachtree Ridge celebrated wildly for the 24-21 win.

“There was a lot of joy and getting ready for overtime,” McEachern coach Kyle Hockman said. “Nobody saw the guy blowing the whistle or waving his hands. But that’s how life goes sometimes.

How did the refs explain it to McEachern? “They said they called a timeout before they kicked it. I don’t know how that happened and no one knew it. But that’s part of the game.”

Peachtree Ridge coach Bill Ballard said he called a timeout before the first kick, organizing his defense, and telling the sideline referee that he wanted to call another timeout “as soon as the center puts his hands on the ball.”

“I told the official exactly what we wanted to do and had him come stand by me,” Ballard said. “As soon as the center put his hands on the ball, the ref starts waving his hands and everything, but the [lead official] in the white hat wasn’t looking at him. No one was looking at him.

“The ref starts running out there, and they still hadn’t snapped the ball. Finally, they snapped the ball and it was good. The official did the right thing by telling the rest of the crew that we had called the timeout. We made them kick it again and they missed it. Justin Watts did a great job putting pressure on the kicker for that second attempt.”

Now it’s YOUR turn. What was your version of events for the final seconds? You make the call. Please post below.

RELATED: Tribute to slain McEachern player Rajaan Bennett (click here)

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