With 21 seconds left in the game, the Leeds defense put a final dagger in the hearts of Moody by breaking up a desperation hook-and-lateral as time ran out to preserve a 14-13 victory Friday night.

The Green Wave’s defense came up big time and time again in this matchup between the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in Class 5A. Defensive linemen Kavion Henderson and Chris Burge combined for five sacks on the night and the entire front kept Moody quarterback Cole McCarty contained for most of the night, stopping the Blue Devils on five fourth-down attempts.

“They kept the quarterback in the pocket pretty good,” Leeds coach Jerry Hood said. “He’s a great player and, man those kids were huge. I was proud as heck of them.”

Jeremiah Hunter put No. 2 Leeds (8-0, 6-0) up 6-0 with an 18-yard touchdown run with 5:24 left in the first quarter and the Green Wave rolled to another score when Conner Nelson went in from 2 yards out with 18 seconds left in the first half. Nelson rolled into the end zone on a two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

The Leeds defense held a potent Moody (8-1, 5-1) offensive attack to no points in the first half.

“They were mirroring us for real, so we were just getting off the line quick,” said Henderson, who had three sacks. “They have two great tackles and a great defensive line overall. We just knew we had to keep Cole McCarty in front of us because he’s a great athlete.”

The second half was a different story. While the Green Wave was able to contain McCarty for the most part, that didn’t stop him from finding Davion Dozier twice, first for a 17-yard score with 29 seconds left in the third quarter, and again with 2:05 left in the game on an 18-yard pass.

That’s when disaster struck for the Blue Devils as the extra point was unsuccessful in what looked like a botched two-point conversion. However, Blue Devils coach Jake Ganus said that wasn’t the case, and that it was a miscommunication that led to the botched PAT.

“Coach (Nick) Saban says never waste a failure” Ganus said. “So what can we learn from being in that situation? I will never point the finger at a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kid. That is on me.”

Moody’s defense stopped Leeds again on the Green Wave’s final possession and had a chance to take the lead in the final minute, but the Green Wave would not be denied.

Play of the Game: Connor Nelson’s plunge over the goal line with 18 seconds left before the first half expired gave the Green Wave the sliver of advantage they needed to escape with the victory.

By the Numbers: 5 — That’s the number of sacks that Henderson and Burge combined for against the Blue Devils, and it’s also the number of times Moody went for it on fourth down in the game — and they were unsuccessful each time.

They said it: “It was a weird first half. I thought we played lights-out defensively in the first half, got the two scores we needed, and coach (Chris) Wall and his staff did a great job of holding it up.” — Jerry Hood

“We staggered a little bit, but then we got the ball and then we got it going. I think that’s really our identity.” — Leeds senior quarterback Jarod Latta, who is now 3-0 against Moody as a starter

“I feel like all of that stuff was self-inflicted wounds, but credit goes to them. They had a great game plan.” — Jake Ganus

“We came out in the second half and shut them out, but that wasn’t enough tonight. We’re gonna learn from this and not let it happen again.” —Carson Dillashaw, Moody defender