South end zone magic: Ronald Pledger’s catch wins it for Phillips

Ronald Pledger managed to grab Antonio Brown’s 22-yard pass, then land with his feet in the back of the end zone on the final play of the game.

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Phillips’ Antonio Brown (8) reacts after scoring a touchdown against Lincoln-Way West.

Phillips’ Antonio Brown (8) reacts after scoring a touchdown against Lincoln-Way West.

Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

The south end zone at Gately Stadium is officially the spot for Phillips magic.

In 2017 the Wildcats staged a miraculous goal-line stand to beat mighty Loyola in a statement victory for the program.

Saturday that was the spot where Ronald Pledger somehow managed to grab Antonio Brown’s 22-yard pass and then land with his feet in the back of the end zone on the final play of the game.

“I couldn’t go home like this my senior year so I had to ice the game,” Pledger, who also had an interception, said. 

The grab gave Phillips a 30-24 win against Lincoln-Way West in the first round of the Class 7A state playoffs. It was the Wildcats’ first taste of 7A after winning two state titles in smaller classes.

“Our best player went up to make a play on the last play of the game,” Phillips coach Troy McAllister said. “This type of ballgame is the reason we wanted to come to 7A. Win or lose we wanted this type of game.”

Lincoln-Way West running back Billy Dozier gave the Wildcats everything they could handle. Dozier scored on a one-yard run in the third quarter and then tied the game at 24 with a 56-yard scoring run with 9:31 to play.

“This was kind of like our worst fear in a sense, with two weeks off getting a real competitive game in the fourth quarter,” McAllister said. “You worry about conditioning.”

Phillips (8-1) scored first when Terryon Thrower’s deflected pass landed in the hands of Jahnez Williams, who took it 77 yards for a touchdown.

The Wildcats grabbed a 16-3 lead on Brown’s one-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter, but the Warriors (5-5) responded well and set up the final drive heroics for Phillips.

“You can see we fell back a bit but then the last couple drives defensively we got stops,” McAllister said. “On offense we were just able to move the ball and we got lucky to have three timeouts and manage the clock.”

Phillips will host Normal in the second round of the playoffs next weekend.

Watch Pledgers’ grab in the video below...

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