Local, Mauldin, Sports

Mavericks Win in Overtime Thriller 41-38 to Advance Mauldin Football to Take On Clover in Second Round

The Mauldin Mavericks will be on the road against Clover High School in the second round of the Class AAAAA football state playoffs Friday night November 15th

Clover (11-0, 4-0) chalked up a 48-14 first round win against Boiling Springs last Friday.

“Coach Lane is a friend of mine,” said Mauldin coach Harry Cabaniss. “I know that they will be well coached. 

Clover throws the ball all over the place. That is fine with us. 

Our guys have seen the spread a lot during the year. They have a good quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and their defensive line is pretty good. 

They run the spread on offense, which is very different than the Wing-T offense that we saw last week against TL Hanna. There are not a lot of teams that run the Wing-T. “

The Mavericks grabbed a thrilling 41-38 overtime victory in last Friday’s first round matchup against TL Hanna. 

“TL Hanna is traditionally a power,” Cabaniss said. “We are trying to build a program that is thought of like TL Hanna.”

Mauldin (7-5, 3-4) was led offensively by George Ford. 

“Our game plan was to get him the ball as much as possible,” said Cabaniss. “He was feeling it all week in practice and did great.” 

Ford rushed for two of his three touchdowns on the night early on to help Mauldin build a 21-0 lead with 11:00 to play in the second quarter.

TL Hanna cut the deficit to 28-14 with a score just before the end of the first half. 

Mauldin held a 35-28 lead with 6:00 to play. The Yellow Jackets went on a 92-yard drive to tie the ball game with just 40 seconds to play. 

“I was really shocked that they didn’t go for two because they had all of the momentum,” said Cabaniss. “Our kids and team are built for overtime. 

We were able to win a game this year in overtime. We practice our overtime plays in practice each week. Our kids were ready.”

TL Hanna hit a field goal on its possession in overtime.

“Our kids and coaches were really excited when they brought out their field goal unit,” Cabaniss said. “We knew we were going to score a touchdown.” 

Running back Jordon Franklin ran three yards for the winning touchdown. 

“Our kids were frustrated with the last game of the regular season, but they were excited to compete in the playoffs,” said Cabaniss. “We only had five guys on our roster that were on the team that played against Rock Hill in the playoffs two years ago.

The playoffs were new for a bunch of the guys. We tried to keep everything simple. 


We knew we had to play a near perfect game on the road. We had zero turnovers on offense.

Our kids were locked in, but we also focus on having a good time.”

Deuce Caldwell grabbed an interception for the Mavericks. Cabaniss said that linebacker Jonathan Snipes along with the entire Mavericks’ defensive line played well. 

“Our coaches and players did a great job against TL Hanna,” Cabaniss said. “We will be ready to play against Clover. 

As long as we can control the clock, I think we have a great chance.”

One Comment

  1. Great Read.

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