The Long County Blue Tide flag football team continues to make history and on Monday, December 9, they finally got over another hump. They defeated the Redan Raiders 20-19 to advance to the team’s first ever semifinal round of the state playoffs, getting a game-saving stop on a one-point conversion try late in the game.

Long County will host Columbus, a 27-18 winner over Washington County, on Thursday for a spot in the state championship game.

“That defense has been with me since they were freshmen. Majority of them are seniors now and they are fierce. They do not give in,” Tide coach Paul Austin said. “They are always up to the challenge…I trust this defense more than anything. They are the best defense I have had in my entire career and that’s 18 years.”

Despite getting to first and goal at the Redan 2-yard line on the opening drive, a sack and a dropped snap thwarted the opportunity.

Redan took a 7-0 lead with 6:30 left in the first half, becoming the first team to score on the Tide at Veterans Stadium this year.

Long County answered right back as Miley Maulden found France Smith on a deep pass near the endzone. Smith made three tacklers miss as she got into the endzone on the 28-yard score. The conversion try failed, leaving the Tide down 7-6.

Kyndall Johnson picked off a Redan pass but the Tide could not convert the turnover into points, leaving them down 7-6 at the break.

The Tide forced a turnover on downs at the Raider 16-yard line and on third down from the Redan 3, Makinzie Moody took the direct snap and tossed it up to Ciara O’Brien from the score to give them a 13-7 after the one-point conversion. 

Late in the third quarter, Yuridia Sellars stepped in front of a Redan pass and nearly came up with a pick six as she returned it all the way to the Raider 1 yard line. 

Moody finished off the drive on a 1-yard run as the Tide went up 20-7 at the end of the third quarter. 

In the fourth, though, the Raiders went right down the field and scored in less than two minutes to make it 20-13 with 8:45 left in the game. 

The Lady Tide were forced to punt on their next drive, but a flag guarding call backed the Raiders up to their own 10 to start the next drive. 

The Raiders eventually found themselves in a goal-to-go situation from the 13, but Kelly Stokes came up with a big play as she intercepted a pass and the Tide took over from their own 5. 

It was the Tide’s turn on offense, but their goal was to run out the clock. However, on fourth and 4 from their own 16, they made a nearly disastrous mistake. 

Austin said his goal was to have Maulden run around and to take an intentional safety. 

This would have made the score 20-15 but backed the Raiders up to their own 14 with less than 90 seconds left on the clock. 

However, Maulden dropped the snap and gave the Raiders the ball at the Tide 5. The Raiders scored on the next play to make it 20-19 with 1:27 left. 

The Raiders opted for the 1-point conversion attempt to tie the game and possibly take it to overtime. Ta’maira Mallard came up with a huge play to stop the conversion at the 1 and preserve their lead. 

With no timeouts left for the Raiders, the Lady Tide ran out the clock. 

With the win, the Tide advance to the semifinals for the first time in team history and will host one final game at Veterans’ Stadium. Austin said that his goal was to build a team that “people could get excited about” in Ludowici. 

“I wanted to build a program that young girls could realize that this is a real sport, not powder puff, this is a real sport,” Austin said. “We go hard. We work hard and we play hard. I hold them to a very high standard and I tell them at the beginning of every year that this is where we are supposed to be.”

Austin also mentioned that Moody stepping up when they knew they wouldn’t be able to throw it much was huge for the team and was one of the biggest reasons the offense was able to move down the field so well. 

Long County advanced to the quarterfinals after a 20-0 win over Athens Academy in the first round and a 6-0 second-round win over Pike County.

The Lady Tide are the first Blue Tide team to advance to a state semifinals since the 1999 Blue Tide baseball team. Dodge County hosts Southeast Bulloch in the other semifinal.