ABINGDON, Va. – William Seymore’s ankle was throbbing with pain and his mind was racing with excitement, but the smile on the face of the Abingdon senior was an expression of pure joy.
One year after missing most of the season with a knee injury, Seymore scored the winning touchdown Friday night with a 23-yard run in a 36-30 overtime win over the previously unbeaten Ridgeview Wolfpack at Falcon Field.
“My nerves are shot, but this is the best night of my life,” Seymore said.
Seymore appeared to score on almost the same play seconds before on first down, but the sequence was nullified by a holding penalty. There was no stopping Seymore on the second attempt.
“The only difference between the two plays was that I cut back after I saw an opening on the second run,” Seymore said. “I got a great block by Jake Crosswhite, and then just took the ball in.”
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With Ridgeview clinging to a 30-27 lead, the Falcons were able to drive from their own 31-yard line with 5:23 left. Running low, following his blockers and blocking out pain in the final minute, Seymore helped set up the game-tying 24-yard field goal by junior Graham Griffith with 15 seconds remaining.
“I heard my ankle pop three times after a running play, but I just had to put that out of my head and help my team get this win,” said Seymore, who finished with 96 yards rushing.
After having the ball at the AHS 5-yard line in overtime, the Wolfpack ended up missing a 38-yard field goal attempt.
That set the stage for Seymore.
“Because of the atmosphere here tonight, this win tops the victory over Richlands a couple years ago for me,” Seymore said. “We love our coaches and fans.”
First-year AHS head coach Garrett Amburgey was eager to share the love.
“That was an amazing high school football game with both teams battling,” Amburgey said. “I can’t say enough about our offensive line and our running backs in Martin Lucas and William Seymore.
“Our defense bowed up in overtime, and Seymore took it over from there.”
The AHS line crew featured Major Cook (6-3, 280), Gage Bassham (6-4, 290), Spencer Buddington (6-4, 210) and Dylan Hale (6-1, 235).
Abingdon (6-2) is now 4-0 in Mountain 7 play, while Ridgeview (7-1) is 5-1 and has completed its district schedule. The Falcons travel to Union next week and will close out the regular season with a home game against district foe Lee High.
Behind the power running of the 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore Lucas, Abingdon controlled the ball early and opened a 14-3 lead with 7:18 left in the second quarter.
Lucas accounted for 136 yards rushing on 20 carries in the first. After some halftime adjustment by veteran Ridgeview head coach Rick Mullins, Lucas managed just 10 yards in the second half.
The game’s other star sophomore running back, Trenton Adkins, was held to negative yardage on six carries in the first half. Adkins finished with 89 yards on 19 carries.
The man responsible for slowing Adkins was Seymore.
“The coaches told me to key on [Adkins] every play,” Seymore said. “I got that assignment two weeks ago and I loved the challenge of playing against a Division I prospect. That’s what I focused on in practice and film study.
“[Adkins] broke a couple runs on me, but I just tried to stay in front of him, break down and don’t get juked out.”
With senior quarterback Tyler O’Quin finding a groove on the passing attack, the Wolfpack displayed balance en route to taking a 30-20 lead with 11:55 left in the game.
“We had something going in the second half, and I thought we played much better,” Mullins said. “We were able to make adjustments. We moved the ball pretty well and played better defense.”
Mullins praised the tenacity of his players for mounting a rally in a marquee game that featured a near-capacity crowd.
“I guess this was kind of a tale of two halves,” Mullins said. “We came up a little short on the scoreboard, but we kind of showed what we were made of in the second half.”
O’Quin completed 12 of 18 passes for 104 yards and two scores.
“We had to mix up the run and pass,” Mullins said. “And I thought our defense came up big in the second half. [Abingdon] is one of the better teams we’ve seen. The [Abingdon] kid just made a good run on the final score.”
Amburgey said he enjoyed the coaching chess game.
“We hurt them in the first half with the run game and some formations, and we knew Coach Mullins was going to have adjustments,” Amburgey said.
“He gave us some trouble in the second half, but we were able to get some momentum on some huge catches by Holt Dotson and throws by Gabe Boothe. Then we held on for a big win.”
Ridgeview 3 7 14 6—30
Abingdon 7 7 6 16—36
Scoring Summary
R – Meggison 21 FG
AHS – Seymore 10 run (Griffith kick)
AHS – Thayer 17 pass from G. Boothe (Griffith kick)
R – Hensley 91 kickoff return (Meggison kick)
AHS – G. Boothe 1 run (kick blocked)
R – Hess 4 pass from O’Quin (Meggison kick)
R – Adkins 7 run (Meggison kick)
R – M. Sproles 4 pass from O’Quin (kick failed)
AHS– Dotson 24 pass from G. Boothe (Griffith kick)
AHS – Griffifth 24 FG
AHS - Seymore 23 run (no attempt)
Team Stats
First Downs: R 10, AHS 24; Rushes-Yards: R 28-95, AHS 54-256; Passing Yards: R 104, AHS 174; Comp.-Att.-Int: R 12-18-0, AHS 11-21-2; Fumbles-Lost: R 3-2, AHS 2-0; Penalties-Yards: R 6-45, AHS 12-94; Punts-Average: R 4-33, AHS 3-33.