MONTICELLO— A great comeback fell a foot short.

With a little over eight minutes left, Warren Central was looking at a second-straight lopsided loss.

But an inspired effort led by senior quarterback Beau Wallace almost ended in a thrilling comeback.

Shon Jackson’s two-point conversion run with 1:29 left fell a foot short and Lawrence County was able to escape with a 29-27 win.

Wallace said the Vikings (0-2) finally got something going in the fourth quarter. He had three touchdown passes in the second half, from 65, 11 and 12 yards out, to key the comeback.

“I got some things cleared up with the offensive line and things got kicked in,” Wallace said. “Our defense did wonderful in getting us some turnovers and getting us back in it.”

First-year Viking coach Josh Morgan was also happy with the no-quit attitude, but was upset about not getting a road victory.

“Absolutely, I was glad to see we showed some heart, some character. We were 10 times better than we were last week. The more we made plays, the looser we seemed to get. We were too uptight in the first half. Once we got in our two-minute drill, we were able to execute it well,” Morgan said.

Lawrence County (1-1) got a big second half from tailback Alexander Montgomery, who had 166 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns on runs of 5, 30 and 19 yards.

“I ran with anger. I didn’t get to play but one carry in the first half. I hurt my shoulder two weeks ago, so maybe coach thought I was still hurt. But my O-line showed out,” Montgomery said.

WC did little in the first half, gaining just three first downs. The defense stopped two Cougar drives inside the red zone without any points. The Cougars got a 16-yard TD run off a broken scramble by Nicholas McDonald on the first play in the second quarter. The Vikings were called twice in a row for roughing the kicker and the Cougars finally opted for the two-point conversion run by Glenn Russell to make it 8-0.

Montgomery got his first TD from five yards after ripping off a 75-yard run to set it up. WC earned its first score of the year when Wallace hit Malcom Grant on a 65-yard TD pass with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Devon Bell’s kick made it 15-7.

Montgomery appeared to have the Cougars on the way to an easy win after scoring two touchdowns in a two-minute span in the fourth quarter. The latter score was set up after WC botched a punt snap and Montgomery’s 19-yard run made it 29-7 with 7:15 left.

Back came the Vikings.

Wallace led a 57-yard drive, thanks in part to a 35-yard hookup with Grant. He hit Jackson later on an 11-yard screen for the score. The try for two failed.

The third of four Cougar fumbles set up the next Viking score. Tyler Comans’ recovery at the LC 44 was utilized as Wallace hit Grant on a 12-yard TD pass. Wallace hit Louis Carson later for the conversion to make it 29-21 with 3:25 left. The Cougars fumbled it again on their next play from scrimmage. Three plays later, Jackson scored on an 8-yard run before falling short on the conversion.