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A back-and-forth affair between the Helena Huskies and McAdory Yellow Jackets went down to the wire, but a late Helena touchdown and missed McAdory field goal sealed the Huskies’ season-opening win. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By STEPHEN DAWKINS | Special to the Reporter

McCALLA – Helena survived a back-and-forth affair on Friday, Aug. 30 for a 29-28 win at McAdory in the Huskies’ season opener that went down to the final play.

After storming back from a two-score deficit in the first half, the Huskies took a 29-28 lead on a long pass from Nate Ferguson to Torrey Ward, the Helena defense had to make one final stand in a back-and-forth battle.

McAdory, who seemingly had answers all night, got the ball back was able to get into field goal range due to a Helena penalty and a long pass with 10 seconds left.

The game-winning field goal attempt as time expired, however, fell short, giving Helena the one-point road win to start the season.

“It’s such a new team—we replaced so many starters—that we just didn’t know what to expect,” Helena coach Richie Busby said. “We made some mistakes on both sides of the ball, but like we told them before the game: I was excited to see them compete and see how they would deal with adverse situations. This is my seventh season and we’ve won a lot of games late, but this has to be one of the top ones for me, for them to battle like that against a very good football team.”

In the early-going, McAdory came out like a team with a game of preparation already under its belt, taking an early 13-0 lead, but Helena fought its way back as they have so many times in previous years to claim a 14-13 edge.

Dom Santiago added the team’s first score of the night on a touchdown run to trim the deficit to 13-7, which became the halftime score.

Then, early in the second half, the Huskies grabbed the lead after a bad snap on a punt set up Helena with great field position, leading to a short touchdown run from Jeremy Spratling to give the Huskies their first lead at 14-13.

McAdory responded with a score near the end of the quarter, but a failed 2-point conversion attempt left the lead at five points, a point that became key at the end of the night.

The connection of Ferguson and Ward continued to heat up for Helena heading into the fourth quarter as they connected on a big pass play once again to set up a 1-yard touchdown run from Spratling to put Helena back in front 22-19.

McAdory’s ensuing drive started deep in its own territory, but a pass interference and a long pass play helped them get out of danger and threaten a go-ahead score. Ultimately, the Jackets punched it in shortly after to gather a 25-22 lead midway through the final quarter, but another missed PAT, left another key point off the board.

Helena was then quickly forced to punt the ball away on the ensuing drive, and to make matters worse, the punt was blocked, setting up the Yellow Jackets with a chance to put the game away.

The Huskies, however, stood tall and forced a field goal, and while made, it left Helena in the game, trailing 28-22 in the final three minutes.

Then, the connection of Ferguson and Ward got together once again, with another key pass play ending in a touchdown. After the successful PAT, Helena took the one-point advantage and made one final defensive stand by forcing the missed field goal as time expired.

Jeremy Spratling powered the Helena offense with 26 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

Domynyck Santiago added 36 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

Torrey Ward had three catches for 64 yards and a score as quarterback Nate Ferguson completed six passes in 11 attempts for 95 yards and a TD.

Busby also gave kudos to the kicking game, as Austin Lewis sent all but one kickoff into the end zone and also flipped field position with his punts.

The Huskies now hold a 3-2 lead over McAdory in the all-time series between the teams.

Helena will begin Class 6A, Region 3 play with a visit to Chilton County on Sept. 6. HHS won last year’s matchup, 37-10.

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