Lions bite Dolphins in overtime (See Homecoming Photos)

PANAMA CITY — Mosley and Leon are two young football teams for Class 4A schools that could be a lot of fun in the coming years.

That said, they’ll have to go a long way to duplicate the resilience and drama provided by the Lions’ 24-21 overtime victory over the Dolphins Thursday night at Tommy Oliver Stadium.

Fittingly, it was a sophomore who produced the winning points, Sean Allen, after Leon junior Dre Brown had come up with his second interception of the game to thwart Mosley’s overtime possession.

Lions coach Bill Ragans didn’t hesitate to trot out Allen on first down.

“He’s a calm and cool little rascal who’s done the job for us this season,” Ragans said. “It seems like I say it every week, but our kids fought and fought.”

Leon moved to 3-1, while dropping Mosley to the same record on the Dolphins’ Homecoming.

This is what the Dolphins had to overcome merely to force the extra session: They fumbled eight times, somewhat miraculously losing only one. They turned the ball over three times in the second half and overtime, committed four major penalties, and most of all had to rally from a 21-7 deficit with two fourth-quarter touchdown runs by junior fullback Jackson Platt.

The second came with 2:25 left in regulation, and when Mosley stuffed Leon tailback Eric Williams on fourth-and-1 at its 41 with 45 seconds to go, the Dolphins had a chance to cap a miraculous finish.

Platt gained 4 yards up the middle, then junior quarterback Chase Smith, who was 9 of 11 passing for 89 yards and a touchdown, found Dylan Black for 19 yards to Leon’s 36.

Smith wanted to throw long on the next snap, but wound up scrambling to the 30 while Mosley raced in place-kicker Graham Ball to try a 47-yarder as the seconds ticked away, the Dolphins out of timeouts.

The snap came a split second after the horn sounded, and Ball never really completed the boot. A Leon pl;ayer scooped it up and raced toward the opposite end zone, but the play was whistled dead, leading to Brown and Allen coming through in overtime.

Mosley coach Perry Brown lamented the mistakes, especially the fumbles, but found some upside.

“The defense played great, and the offense made plays when it had to,” he said.

Mosley opened the scoring when Smith handed the ball to Jabbar Manning on a sweep, and Manning lateraled back to Smith who pinpointed Sam Bland behind the secondary on a 32-yard scoring play.

Williams, who accounted for 131 yards, 127 of them rushing, tied it 7-7 on a 34-yard sprint. Ball missed field goals from 52 yards, and then 30 on the final play of the first half after Allen fumbled a punt snap and was hauled down on his 18.

Tavarres Allen set the tone as the Lions took over in the third quarter. First he picked up Platt’s fumble and returned 25 yards to score on Mosley’s opening possession of the second half.

Then he stopped Manning for a 2-yard loss when the Dolphins gambled on fourth-and-inches from inside their 30 on the next series.

It took the Lions eight plays to score, junior quarterback Raleigh DeVore passing 2 yards to fullback Darryl Sanders with 5:21 left in the third quarter.

“I was a little leery about punting,” Brown said of the gamble, Ball barely getting off Mosley’s only punt on a play that turned into a Mosley first down on a roughing call in the second quarter. “They were stacked up in the middle and I thought we could get wide on them, but we gave them good field position.”

The Dolphins drove to Leon’s 3 on its next possession, but Brown intercepted in the end zone and returned to the 31. Momentum finally shifted Mosley’s way when Black, a junior, sacked DeVore, forcing a fumble that was returned to the 15 by sophomore linebacker Mark Hicks.

Platt, who rushed for 112 hard-earned yards, crashed over from the 1 with 6:43 left, and Brown again gambled with an onside kick that Black recovered at Leon’s 41.

A pass interference call on Leon helped Mosley gain first-and-goal at the 9 where Platt was stripped on a first-down run. Sophomore center Corey Green alertly recovered, and on fourth-and-goal from the 1 Platt barged in behind linemen Colby Carinhas and Mike Turner.

Mosley had a distinct statistical advantage, running 62 plays from scrimmage to only 31 for the Lions. Two sacks and Allen’s big loss limited Leon to 111 total yards, despite Williams accounting for 20 more.

The Dolphins gained 294 total, while allowing only two first downs in the second half.

Mosley opens its District 2-4A schedule at state-power Niceville on Oct. 9.

• Leon       7 0 14 0 3 — 24
• Mosley   7 0 0 14 0 — 21
• First quarter
• MHS: Bland 32 pass from Smith (Ball kick)
• LHS: Williams 34 run (Allen kick)
• Third quarter
• LHS: Allen 25 fumble return (Allen kick)
• LHS: Sanders 2 pass from DeVore (Allen kick)
• Fourth quarter
• MHS: Platt 1 run (Ball kick)
• MHS: Platt 1 run (Ball kick)
• Overtime
• LHS: FG Allen 27
• INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
• RUSHING — LHS: Williams 17-127, Neloms 5-20, Vaughn 1-1, Allen 1-(-14), DeVore 2-(-23). MHS: Platt 20-112, Manning 12-37, Carter 8-28, Davis 5-23, Smith 2-10, Bland 1-8, team 1-(-3).
• PASSING — LHS: DeVore 3-5-0-6. MHS: Smith 9-11-2-89.
• RECEIVING — LHS: Williams 1-4, Sanders 1-2, Foxwell 1-0. MHS: Platt 2-12, Davis 2-8, Manning 2-6, Bland 1-32, Black 1-19, Carter 1-12.