DAMASCUS, Va. (Sept. 18, 2026) – With the home crowd on their feet, kicker Javier Sanchez-Medina, a foreign exchange student from Spain, drilled a 32-yard field goal with three seconds left, lifting Holston to a 43-41 Hogoheegee District victory over Honaker on Friday.
On the Cavaliers’ previous possession, Sanchez-Medina had missed a 27-yard field goal.
“He hasn’t played a whole lot of football,” said Holston coach Chris Akers. “We know he can kick, and the first one wasn’t his best. Then, to boot, we had our backup holder in there to kick the game-winner. Kudos to him. The kid’s pretty tough to come in there and do that in that situation.”
It was a dramatic finish to a seesaw battle that saw five lead changes. The Tigers had taken a 41-40 lead on the first play in the fourth quarter with a 4-yard touchdown run by quarterback Levi Honaker.
“It was wild,” Akers said. “I was a little apprehensive at the start of the game. I didn’t know what kind of team would show up for us, but I knew early in the first quarter that we came to play. Whoever had the ball last might have a chance to win this thing. We had some breaks, and they had some breaks.”
Clinging to a one-point lead, Honaker took over at their 20 after Holston missed a field goal with 7:27 to play. The Tigers methodically moved the ball down the field inside the Cavs’ 20. A holding penalty against Honaker put them in a tough spot, and they failed to convert on 4th-and-14, turning the ball over on downs.
Holston (3-2) took over with 1:44 remaining at their own 26. They moved the ball downfield, aided by three Honaker 15-yard penalties, two for pass interference.
“We beat ourselves,” dejected Honaker coach Aaron Lowe stated. “Very undisciplined. Too many mistakes. We had 14 penalties. We gave Holston every opportunity to win the game. It seemed like we made mistake after mistake. We had trouble stopping them. It just compounded on us at the end. A couple of big penalties on that last drive. They had to go 75 yards, and we just kinda sat back and took it, had a couple of penalties, and they beat us.”
The Honaker defense struggled to slow down Holston the entire game. Levi Honaker’s fumble recovery and Kam Beavers’ interception were the only Tiger stops.
“We didn’t stop them all night,” commented Lowe. “A lot of missed tackles, a lot of undisciplined play. Definitely not us. When you play like that, you get beat. Nine out of ten times, you’re coming out on the wrong side of the score. So, we definitely have a lot to fix.”
Holston quarterback Desmond Mickens and running back Eli Tweed were unstoppable.
“They’re tough,” declared Akers. “They’re both seniors. They both worked hard in the weight room over the spring and winter to get better, and they certainly did. I was proud of how they ran downhill tonight. In the first part of the season, we weren’t banging it up in there, and now we are. Kudos to our offensive line, too—they played a lot better.”
Mickens totaled 158 rushing yards with two TDs. Tweed rushed for 169 yards with three scores. Tweed also caught a 40-yard pass, and Brodie Richardson had a 51-yard TD reception.
The Tigers rushed for over 400 yards. Malachi Gilbert totaled 231 rushing yards with touchdowns from 54 and 46 yards out. Levi Honaker had 139 yards on the ground with two scores.
Kam Keen ran a reverse for a 36-yard touchdown. Brayden Justus caught a 21-yard TD pass from Levi Honaker for the first score of the game.
The Tigers were up 35-34 at the break and were held to one TD in the second half.
“We made some adjustments at halftime that I thought gave Honaker a slightly different look,” Akers stated. “They still ran the ball at will against us, but we made a play when we needed to on fourth down.”
Honaker (1-3) has lost its last two games by a combined total of three points.
“It’s a shame there has to be a loser in this game,” commented Akers. “Both teams left it all on the field and played hard. Both teams did, so kudos to Honaker. They’re a good football team. They’ll make a deep playoff run.”
Unofficially, Honaker is the ninth seed in the Region 1D playoff picture, but only eight teams qualify. Can they recover?
“We don’t have a choice,” coach Lowe said. “We got to get back to work Monday and try to fix some stuff. The most important thing is we got to fix ourselves. That’s the only thing that matters right now—us fixing ourselves. We let go of a lot of opportunities. It’s one of those games.”
Holston 43, Honaker 41
Honaker 14 21 0 6—41
Holston72763—43
First Quarter
HON—Justus 21 pass from Honaker (Beavers kick), 6:12.
HOL—Tweed 13 run (Sanchez-Medina kick), 0:27.
HON—Honaker 62 run (Beavers kick), 0:12.
Second Quarter
HOL—Tweed 40 run (Sanchez-Medina kick), 9:34.
HON—Gilbert 54 run (Beavers kick), 7:59.
HOL—Mickens 21 run (kick failed), 4:49.
HOL—Mickens 46 run (run failed), 4:32.
HON—Gilbert 46 run (kick failed), 2:13.
HON—Keen 36 run (Keen pass from Honaker), 0:39.
HOL—Richardson 51 pass from Mickens (Sanchez-Medina kick), 0:00.
Third Quarter
HOL—Tweed 61 run (run failed), 3:26.
Fourth Quarter
HON—Honaker 4 run (pass failed), 11:51.
HOL—FG Sanchez-Medina, 0:03.
HONHOL
First downs1721
Total Net Yards467418
Rushes-yards47-42942-327
Passing 3891
Comp-Att-Int2-6-02-6-2
Fumbles-Lost0-02-1
Penalties-Yards14-1415-52
Punts0-00-0
