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Click here to Listen Live! (during Friday games only) Firebirds eliminate Blue Devils in 3-A quarters By Kris Freeman A second half rally and defensive stalemate by the Pearl-Cohn Firebirds ended the season for the White House Blue Devils Friday night with a 14-7 victory at Dewey H. Whitson Stadium in the Class 3-A quarterfinals. Pearl-Cohn (11-2) moves on to the semifinals to rematch with Knoxville Fulton, who knocked them out of the postseason in the same round one year ago. White House lost to Pearl-Cohn in the second round in 2006 - and despite beating Pearl-Cohn in the regular season those campaigns, the Blue Devils are 0-2 against them in the playoffs. "It was a hard fought game that could have gone either way," said White House head coach Jeff Porter. "When you have two teams slugging it out like that, momentum is always critical and that was the story of our game, too." Kentucky-signee DeAunte Mason led his team back from a 7-0 deficit after White House scored on the opening drive of the game. The Firebirds drove eight plays and 64 yards on their first possession of the third quarter after a White House punt, and Mason rushed in from one yard on the quarterback sneak, but missed the extra point to leave WHHS ahead, 7-6. White House moved to midfield, but Matthew Gossett's punt was blocked by Chazary Lillard and he returned the kick to the White House 32, before fumbling the ball which was recovered by DeCarlos Knight. Mason moved to the one yard line on first and goal, but White House stymied the Firebirds to maintain the lead on four straight plays. The goalline stand came near the end of the third quarter and White House broke a huge run by Bryan Dixon to midfield, called back on a procedure penalty as the third period closed. "If we win the game, everyone is going to remember that goal-line stand for a long time," Porter explained. "That goal line stand should go down in history whether or not we win the game. Those four plays epitomize what this football team has been all year and they simply refused to give in." On 3rd-and-6, Trox Greenwade connected with Matt Parker for 54 yards and then Zack Duty converted another third down on a 13-yard screen completion. However, White House lined up to kick a 38-yard field goal and faked it, with William Johnson intercepting Aussie Light at the 10-yard line when the Firebirds brought heavy pressure. Johnson returned the pick 55 yards and seven plays later, Mason hit him in the endzone for a nine-yard pass and then found him again on the two-point conversion for a 14-7 edge with four minutes left. "Because of their lack of a kicking game, I never really considered kicking the field goal, it was more aimed at getting the first down or getting a touchdown," Porter said. "It could have been a huge momentum thing for us and didn't work out that way. "I thought Aussie did a great job of avoiding the first man and Trobaugh picked up the second guy to try and give Aussie some time to throw the ball." White House moved six plays and 68 yards to the Pearl-Cohn five, including a magnificent 41-yard, one-handed grab by Jeremy Barnes. But on fourth down at the five yard line, Greenwade's pass to Parker fell incomplete under double coverage in the corner of the endzone with one minute to play. "Even after falling behind, our kids still marched down the field," Porter said. "That kind of effort and determination really defines a football team and we're proud of our kids for giving us every chance all the way to the end." Mason was stopped on three rushes and forced to punt, but White House took over with 40 seconds left and no timeouts. Greenwade completed passes to Parker and Neal for 15 and 10 yards, but with 17 seconds left dropped back and was sacked to end the game, unable to stop the clock. "Our football team took it down to the last play of the season and not many years can you say you took it to the last play and had a chance and this team did," Porter said. "This team showed a lot of character and its strength of leadership from within the players." Senior linebacker Adam Wiss was the defensive leader with a season-high 17 tackles, the most for any player this year. White House held Mason to 5-of-11 passing for 71 yards with two interceptions by DeMarqus Payne, but Mason's legs provided 26 carries for 130 yards and a score. White House ran 51 plays for 277 yards, but was just 4-of-12 on third down and 0-for-3 on fourth down in the game, and scored on just 1-of-3 attempts in the red zone. DeMarqus Payne led the team with 56 yards on 17 carries and Dixon added 44 on 10 totes. Greenwade hit 9-of-15 passes for 156 yards and rushed seven times for 21 yards and a touchdown. White House finished the season 9-4 and played in the quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons for this senior class, who played 52 games in their career and were 5-1 at home in four years in the postseason. "To lose is difficult, but unless you win a state championship, your season is always going to end in a loss," Porter said. "Disappointment is difficult, but its important we look at it in a positive way and disappointment only occurs when you care so deeply for something and our kids cared deeply for this team this season and we as coaches cared very deeply for them as a team and as individual players."
Rivalry History
2003 - Pearl-Cohn 20, White House 10
Recap of Week Seven in Nashville, WH 14-12
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 Photo by Drew Christenson, The Bargain Browser White House fell to Pearl-Cohn in the playoffs for the second season in a row after losing in Nashville in 2006. More on Pearl-Cohn: Pearl-Cohn 2007 Roster Pearl-Cohn at The Tennessean 2007 Schedule Memphis East, W, 28-12 Maplewood, L, 20-0 Macon County, W, 38-12 Whites Creek, W, 28-6 Sycamore, W, 48-13 Stratford, W, 18-6 DeKalb County, W, 26-7 White House, L, 14-12 Greenbrier, 21-14 Station Camp, 20-3 Howard, 26-0 Station Camp, 13-7 
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