All night long, Vicksburg High’s defense came up with stops to keep the team in the game against Harrison Central. The one time it faltered, the offense swooped in to save the day.

Sophomore quarterback Joe Johnson engineered a game-winning drive in the last two minutes, scrambling twice for first downs before tossing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Raheam Moore with 51 seconds left to lead the Gators to a thrilling 14-13 win over Harrison Central in the Red Carpet Bowl.

The winning score was Johnson’s second touchdown pass of the night, and came after Harrison Central had taken the lead on a 50-yard pass from Tavis Williams to Malik Blackston with 1:46 remaining.

“I told the kids yesterday, at the end of the day it’s not going to be perfect. We’re going to have to battle some adversity,” Vicksburg coach Marcus Rogers said. “If we go down, let’s not be the old Vicksburg. Let’s not hang our heads. Let’s pick our heads up and see what we can do to make it better.”

The late offensive fireworks created an exciting conclusion to a game that otherwise was dominated by defense.

Harrison Central held Vicksburg to 181 yards of total offense, 96 of which came on Johnson’s final touchdown pass and a 73-yard scoring strike to Tedarius Brown late in the third quarter that gave the Gators an 8-7 lead.

Vicksburg’s defense, meanwhile, held Harrison Central scoreless on six of seven trips inside the 30-yard line. The Gators also recorded a safety, sacked Williams three times and forced three turnovers.

Of the seven trips inside the 30, only one went past the 20-yard line. That was in the first quarter, when Ronald Garvin scored on a 1-yard run to put the Red Rebels ahead 7-0.

The Gators also got a great performance from sophomore punter Greg Hayden. After his first punt only went 5 yards, Hayden averaged 42 yards on his next nine punts. He had a 58-yarder downed at the 1-yard line to set up the safety.

“I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but I figured if we limited our mistakes and forced turnovers, and executed just enough, that our defense would keep us in it,” Rogers said. “We’re going to hang our hat on our defense this year and run the ball. We stayed with it, and stayed pretty consistent with it, and live with the results.”

The defensive stalemate continued until the final moments, when both teams turned on the offensive jets.

Harrison Central got the ball at midfield following a punt, and on the first play of the drive Williams hit a streaking Blackston down the left sideline for a 50-yard touchdown and the 13-8 lead.

A two-point conversion was no good, and Brown returned the ensuing kickoff 41 yards to midfield to set the Gators up for the winning drive. Johnson scrambled for 14 and 11 yards on the first two plays to move the ball to the Harrison Central 24.

On third down, Johnson lofted a jump ball to the back right corner of the end zone. The 6-foot-2 Moore went up and over defensive back Dee White to make the catch and tapped his left foot down on the turf for the touchdown. Moore then sprinted to the sideline and the awaiting arms of his adoring teammates.

“It was relieving, because I had dropped the first one so I had to make it up to my team,” said Moore, who had dropped a potential TD pass at the goal line in the first half. “

Johnson also felt a sense of redemption. He completed just 5 of 19 passes for 119 yards and was briefly knocked out of the game with a hip injury after being sacked in the second quarter. It wasn’t the greatest debut for the sophomore tabbed as the Gators’ quarterback of the future, but the final outcome was all that mattered.

“It’s just a sense of relief. It was tough going the whole game, but we just got a spark and that was all we needed. If we blew them out or it’s a close game, it’s a ‘W’ and we’ll move on to the next one,” Johnson said. “I wanted to play in this game my whole life, and I’ll remember this for the rest of my life. It’s a great night.”