After having a 17-point lead evaporate into a 10-point deficit with less than four minutes left in Friday's football game, things looked bleak for the Wolverines.
But they didn't look bleak to the Wolverines.
"We don't quit," Western Hills senior Darius Reed said. "If we're down 50 we don't quit."
"We weren't worried," WHHS center Christian Wilkins said. "We just got fired up."
And the fired up Western Hills football team rallied from a 34-24 deficit with 3:50 left in the game to a 38-34 victory over district foe Henry County at WHHS.
"That's one thing that's impressed me most about this year," WHHS coach Don Miller said. "We've gotten behind in a couple of games but we've fought back, fought through adversity. We never give up."
And they didn't Friday.
After playing a stellar first half that saw them take a 17-7 lead at halftime and extend that advantage to 24-7 early in the third quarter, the Wolverines watched Henry County come right back.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the second half on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Luke Magness to Cody Miracle with 3:58 remaining. That put Henry County ahead 27-24, and eight seconds later Matt Long returned an interception up the right side for another Wildcat touchdown, making the score 34-24.
"I go from almost blowing the game for my team to us winning," WHHS quarterback Dylan Curry said. "I felt bad (after the interception). I told them at halftime to jump on my shoulders and I'd carry them to victory."
But things turned in Western Hills' favor right after Henry County scored its last touchdown.
WHHS drove 68 yards for a touchdown in just over two minutes. During the drive Curry passed for 63 yards to six different receivers " Cody Hecker, Josh Bell, Cam Lee, Justin Wright, Reed and Josh Preston.
Wright finished off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, and Lee's point-after kick made the score 34-31 with 1:16 remaining.
"Our offensive line did a tremendous job," Curry said. "I was only sacked once tonight. It was tough after that interception, but the team kept its composure, the whole team, and we drove the ball down and scored."
On the kickoff Lee did just what everyone expected, going with the onside kick. The ball went just past 10 yards, bounced off a Henry County player and was recovered by WHHS at the HCHS 45-yard line.
"We work on going left in practice," Lee said about the onside kick. "I'm more comfortable from that side, but we wanted to go towards our sideline. It would be to our advantage so we went right. They tipped the ball up, and we recovered it."
"It was beautiful," Miller said of the onside kick. "It was just about picture perfect."
WHHS went 45 yards in just about a minute, with the touchdown coming on a 9-yard pass from Curry to Reed with 18 seconds left. The big play of the drive was a 21-yard pass to Lee that took the Wolverines from the 36 to the 15-yard line.
"I thought we could pull it out," Reed said of the victory. "All we needed was a big break."
But the game wasn't quite over. Henry County's Justin Hartlage returned the kickoff to midfield, and the Wildcats went with a deep halfback pass on first down that was broken up by WHHS' Chris Pugh.
"It was a pretty good pass," Pugh said. "It had me faked out a little bit, but coach (Tim) Reed says to feel a body, so I felt a body and jumped up and was able to knock it down. It was the scariest play of my life."
Another incomplete pass ended the game and completed WHHS' comeback.
"Never give up," Pugh said. "Every second half we've come back, and it takes heart to come back."
Early on it looked as if the Wolverines wouldn't need a comeback.
WHHS struck first with a 25-yard field goal by Lee with 10:04 left in the second quarter. Henry County took a 7-3 lead on a 24-yard touchdown run by Miracle and point-after kick by Patrick Mahoney with 6:27 remaining.
The Wolverines scored on their next possession with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Curry to Reed. During the drive Preston had a run of 19 yards, and Bell had one for 13 yards.
With just 16 seconds left before halftime, Curry hit Lee with an 11-yard touchdown pass. Lee kicked the extra point after both touchdowns.
Less than two minutes into the second half Pugh put WHHS ahead 23-7 with a 14-yard touchdown run, his first touchdown of the season, and Lee kicked the extra point.
"I didn't think I'd get there because they were big," Pugh said, "but I got inside the 10 and turned it up. I saw one blocker, so I turned it back up."
WHHS wouldn't score again until less than two minutes remained in the game.
Henry County cut the lead to 24-14 with a 9-yard pass from Magness to Hayden Yancey with 4:59 left in the third quarter, and a 10-yard pass from Magness to Cody Hinkel made the score 24-20 with 9:38 left in the game. Mahoney's kick was blocked, leaving the score at 24-20.
"In the first half we came out fired up," Reed said. "In the second half we scored and thought we'd roll over them, but we got our butts kicked until we picked it up."
WHHS is now 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the district while Henry County falls to 5-2, 0-2.
Western Hills steps out of district play Friday with a game at Frankfort High.