Randleman Tigers make enough plays, escape at Lexington

Randleman players gather after defeating Lexington on Friday night. (Bob Sutton / Randolph Record)

LEXINGTON — Randleman’s big-play offense was on display for a few minutes against Lexington.

The Tigers’ defense showed up even more times in critical situations Friday night, helping Randleman to a 21-19 victory in Piedmont Athletic Conference football.

“Defense has kind of carried us this season,” first-year coach David Diamont said.

That group came through with a few second-half stops, including after Lexington regained possession with 2:56 remaining at its own 26-yard line. Randleman’s Kaden Beasley and Cayden Stamey combined for a fourth-down tackle that clinched the outcome.

“It’s different,” Stamey said. “It’s definitely still a great win even if it’s a tight game. It’s always an interesting game when it’s this tight.”

Randleman (4-2 overall, 2-0 PAC) scored all its points in the final 4½ minutes of the first half, wiping out a 13-0 deficit.

John Kirkpatrick threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns, completing 17 of 26 throws, and also led the team with 51 rushing yards and a touchdown run.

Diamont said the failure to score in the second half was unacceptable, but he liked the game’s result.

“The game is about players making plays,” he said. “We made a couple more than they did.”

Lexington feasted on third-down conversions, with Kamari McDonald making a pair of 19-yard leaping touchdown grabs in the end zone by outjumping Randleman defenders to snatch Colin Weeks’ passes.

Then it was the Tigers’ turn, with Kirkpatrick throwing for 67 yards and running for 12 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown rush, on an 80-yard scoring drive. That came with 4:21 left in the half.

Then as rain fell, Randleman was back in business when Kirkpatrick threaded a pass to Matthew Bowman for a 42-yard touchdown play. The Tigers were ahead 14-13 on Owen Leonard’s extra-point kick.

On its final possession of the half, Randleman needed to go 73 yards in short time. Kirkpatrick’s heave to Nazir Staton was caught as Staton tumbled to the turf for a 54-yard play.

“Just a couple of broken plays,” Kirkpatrick said of the long throws. “It’s just good when you’ve got athletes for receivers that trust you and are going to go make a play. I trust all my receivers, so broken plays are not really broken plays for us.

“That broken play where Naz went and made a play, that was awesome. It got us a good confidence boost. And then (Lincoln Lawson) going to make a play in the end zone.”

Two snaps later, Kirkpatrick fired a 7-yard touchdown strike to Lawson with 7.9 seconds to spare.

The Yellowjackets (3-2, 0-1) put together a third-quarter drive, scoring a touchdown in the final minute of the period. They opted to kick the extra point instead of a potential tying two-point play, and Tate Andrews blocked the attempt.

Later, the Tigers had to rely on more defense.

“We locked back in and got it back,” Stamey said.

Kirkpatrick said Randleman can count on the defense.

“They’re going to respond,” he said. “It’s awesome to be able to have trust in a defense like that.”

On offense, the Tigers gained 359 yards, but they would like more efficiency.

“When we protect and call the right play, we look really good,” Diamont said. “But we’ve got to put it all together for us to take that next step.”