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Miami Central (4-0, 1-0) will head into its showdown against Booker T. Washington without a loss.
The Rockets escaped with a 29-27 win against Miami Norland (3-2, 0-1) on Friday night.
The Rockets face Booker T. next week; BTW was ranked No. 2 in the Super 25 last week before losing to Jackson.
A field goal, a defensive stand and a Willie Davis touchdown run in the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter lifted the Rockets to victory despite a late score from Norland.
With eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, an Isaac Addison interception off a screen pass gave Central the ball in Norland territory. The Rockets quickly moved to first-and-goal from the Norland 7-yard line but settled for a 20-yard field goal for a 23-20 lead.
Norland took over at its own 28-yard line and then struggled with a sack, incomplete pass, penalty and then another incompletion and had to punt.
Moments later, Central got a 49-yard run for a touchdown from Davis, but missed the extra point to increase its lead to 29-20 with 3:52 remaining.
Norland drove the ball down and scored on a TD pass from Carr with 38 seconds remaining and then made the extra point to trim the lead to 29-27, but time was running out. Miami Central recovered an onside kick to end the game.
Central played without its starting quarterback who was serving a one-game suspension.
Just learned @Roc__Nation QB Tijuane Morten missed tonight's game serving a team mandated 1-game suspension. He'll be back next week for BTW
— J.T. Wilcox (@JTWilcoxSports) September 17, 2016
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Earlier, Norland reached the Central 5-yard line and then had to kick a field goal to tie the score 20-20 with three minutes left in the third quarter.
Central has taken the 20-17 lead with 8:24 left in the third quarter on a touchdown run by Seth McGill, but the extra point was blocked.
In the final 30 seconds before halftime, Norland took the lead 17-14 on a 12-yard run by Alex Carr. Norland benefited from a turnover that gave it the ball on the Central 31 with 50 seconds remaining.
Norland kicked a 29-yard field for the 14-10 lead with 1:03 remaining in the half.
Miami Central had a 6-0 lead after the first quarter before Carr answered with a TD pass for a 7-6 lead midway through the second quarter. Central answered with TD run by Kynlan Smith and the two-point conversion for a 14-7 lead.
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