Game of the Year

BAINBRIDGE — Mike Stubbs stretched his arms to the sky and pumped his first in the air, shouting “Thank You God!”

He meant it.

“Give it all to God,” said Stubbs, who scored the winning touchdown late Friday night to lift Herald No. 2 Bainbridge past No. 1 Lee County, 49-42, in the wildest game of the season — a game that must have felt heaven-sent to the Bearcats, who somehow found a way to regroup and win after Lee County staged a comeback for the ages.

In Stubbs’ case, he got to play hero during the only time he touched the ball all night. In fact, Stubbs, who had an ankle injury, hadn’t been in a game in three weeks, but there he was, standing in the right corner of the end zone after a 33-yard pitch-and-run that proved to be the difference in a showdown they will be talking about for years.

After it was finally over, and as Lee County coach Dean Fabrizio walked up to be interviewed by The Herald, the coach didn’t wait to be asked a question. He just said: “Have you ever seen anything like that?”

Fabrizio’s kids, who trailed, 28-0, early on and were still down, 42-7, with under a minute left in the first half, scored 35 inspiring points to knot things up at 42-42 with 8:59 left in the game. But the Bearcats, who had done almost nothing right in the second half, had one scoring drive left in them — and they let Damian Bouie take over.

Bainbridge had to play without Herald Dynamite Dozen tailback Terry Lewis, who has gained 1,049 yards and scored a dozen touchdowns in nine games this season, but he sat out with a knee injury.

It didn