Quarterback Colton Perkins fights forward for yards during the Badgers’ last-second victory at Manor. Lampasas won the season-opener when the senior scored his third touchdown of the game on fourth and goal from less than a yard away with time expiring. PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE It was not a shock Joey McQueen went for it on fourth down.

It was not surprising his team converted, either.

With two seconds remaining in the season-opener at Manor, Lampasas sat less than a foot away from victory.

Just like five other fourth-down situations the Badgers encountered, they found a way to convert.

None, however, was as dramatic as the game-winning touchdown by Colton Perkins with time expiring to give Lampasas the narrow 27-26 victory.

After falling behind 26-21 with a little over eight minutes left on the clock, the Badgers embarked on a grueling 19-play, 83-yard drive and avoided three potential outcomealtering fourth downs to survive a wild second half against the Mustangs.

“I’ve got a friend of mine who told me he goes for three, three and three [yards on first, second and third downs],” McQueen said. “I said, ‘That’s nine yards,’ and he said, ‘No, we go for it on fourth down.’

“Our kids stepped it up and overcame two other fourth-down situations [on the final drive] because they listened to the coaching staff, and they are a disciplined team.”

The madness began in the tail end of the third quarter, when Manor reclaimed the lead on senior’s LaDarrien Williams’ touchdown, The score completed a 12-0 run and gave the Mustangs an 18-14 advantage.

Lampasas responded with a 61- yard drive capped off by Perkins’ second score of the evening to move back ahead 21-18.

The Mustangs immediately retaliated by returning the ensuing kickoff to the Badgers’ 16-yard line. One play later, Manor was back in control following Corey Richardson’s run.

Left: Junior safety Tanner Swinford picks off a Manor pass early in the second quarter. Above: Running back Julian DelaCruz (25) finds a hole while full back Blaine White (6) looks to deliver a block. A successful two-point conversion gave the Mustangs a 26-21 lead.

But Manor did not touch the ball again.

“We could have given up after they scored,” McQueen said. “It is just a testament to those kids with how they responded after Manor scored.

“We had an eight-minute drive, and that is what we wanted to do.”

After the Mustangs’ kickoff, the Badgers began the game’s final drive at their own 17-yard line following a holding penalty.

It did not take long before the Badgers found themselves in the first fourth-down situation of the drive.

Three runs garnered just seven yards, but Lampasas showed its allor nothing mentality by picking up four yards on fourth down.

With less than 90 seconds left, Lampasas needed two yards to stay alive as it faced fourth down for the second time during the drive.

Once again, the Badgers earned the yardage. This time, Blaine White collected the six-yard first down to set up the game-winning push and Perkins’ third touchdown of the game, which came on a colossal collision of bodies at the goal line.

“We owe it all to the offensive line,” the senior quarterback said. “It was all of our force [on the final play], and we just overpowered them.

“It was just the greatest feeling of all time, and I’ve never loved my lineman any more than now.”

After trading fruitless drives for the majority of the first quarter, Manor took the game’s initial lead when quarterback Reginald Middleton scored on an eight-yard run with 2:47 in the period. A botched extra-point attempt kept the score at 6-0.

Lampasas wrestled away the advantage when full back Secody Howard punctuated the next drive with a one-yard touchdown run.

On the second play of the second quarter, junior safety Tanner Swinford picked off a pass to trigger a 17-play drive that stayed alive when Manor was penalized for roughing the kicker on a punt.

Even if it was unintentional, it was the Badgers’ first successful fourthdown conversion of the game.

Lampasas went on to score on a Perkins run and took a 14-6 lead into halftime.

Right before the break, however, the Badgers began converting fourth downs in earnest when sophomore Marcus Kehoe ran six yards on fourth and one.

Middleton opened the second-half scoring on a touchdown run that brought the Mustangs within two points at 14-12, but the team could not score a game-tying two-point conversion.

The Badgers went three and out on their next possession, and the Mustangs capitalized on the opportunity by driving 70 yards in just five plays to go up 18-14 with 2:54 left in the third quarter.

White ran the ball for three yards on a fourth and two near midfield on the Badgers’ go-ahead drive before the Mustangs’ kickoff return nearly spoiled the evening.

But three plays into the final drive, McQueen was ready to gamble.

“It was fourth and three on our 24- yard line and if we punted it, I didn’t know if we would get it back or not,” the coach said. “If we did get it back, they might be up on us by 12 points.

“I knew that was the time to do it. If it didn’t work, I’d look stupid, but it worked.”