Roughing the kicker, offsides, hands to the face, or too many men on the field are the only way Riverside should have regained possession of a third quarter punt that changed the game in Forrest’s 21-15 loss to Decatur County-Riverside in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A playoffs at the Murrey E. Holton Memorial Field in Chapel Hill Friday night.

That wasn’t the only botched call in the contest as Forrest recovered a Panther fumble when the runner looked like he was down in the first half, plus two terrible spots that would have given Forrest first downs.

The second referee blunder of a spot came at the most crucial moment in the contest on a Nick McClendon fourth-down run that would have moved the sticks to the Riverside 6-yard line with 52 seconds left in the game.

It was a heartbreaking way to end a great ballgame with maximum effort turned in by both squads on a rainy night and an even more devastating way for the season to end for the record breaking Rockets (12-1), who finished with the most wins in school history.

“These kids right here have accomplished something nobody has ever accomplished here at 12-1,” Forrest coach Eli Stephenson said. “They set the standard high for us, I just love this senior class.”

With the win, Riverside (8-5) advanced to the Class 2A semifinals and travels to top-ranked and unbeaten Peabody (13-0), who edged Fairley 29-28 at Trenton Friday night.

In the top half of the bracket, Meigs County (12-1) blasted Oneida 49-21 and Trousdale County (11-1) won 22-19 at Watertown (10-3).

Most of the offense on a challenging weather night at Forrest was on the ground as Riverside gained all 222 yards of their offense in the running game, while the Rockets ran for 181 yards and passed for just 18.

“This is football weather, we can’t blame it on the weather, our defense played great, we just had trouble moving the ball on offense,” Stephenson said. “If we score there at the end we win the ballgame.”

McClendon, a Class 2A Tennessee Titans Mr. Football semifinalist, finished his stellar career at Forrest with 24 carries for 108 yards.

“It’s been a pleasure coaching Nick, he is a competitor and comes to work every day,” Stephenson said. “He has a great work ethic and that is going to go a long way for him in life, we are going to dearly miss him here.”

Riverside senior running back Rylan Kennedy also turned in a great performance with 164 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns, including the eventual game winning score on a 38-yard TD jaunt on the next play after the Panthers regained possession on the botched punt return penalty with 10:53 remaining in the game.

The Rockets won the opening coin toss and elected to receive, but the Panther defense stopped them on a three-and-out went on an eight-play, 72-yard scoring drive, culminated on a two-yard run by quarterback Carson Hehe.

Riverside stopped the Rockets again, but Forrest punter Christian Hammond came up with a huge kicked that rolled to the Panthers’ 8-yard line.

Two plays later, Forrest got the ball right back when McCalister Wilson fell on a loose ball with 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

After three straight McClendon runs, the Rockets faced a fourth-and-goal from the two-yard line when Max Kirby took care of business with a sneak for the score.

Zoe Long’s extra point boot was true and the game was tied at 7-7 with 11:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Riverside gave the ball back to Forrest on a Joel Burton fumble recovery, but Forrest was unable to capitalize and had to punt.

The Rockets’ defense stiffened and stopped the Panthers on three plays before they gave the ball right back when Zack Wheatley fell on a Forrest fumble with 4:13 left in the first half.

The Panthers drove to the Forrest 35-yard line where the drive ended on a fourth down incomplete pass and the Rockets punted again to end the first half with game deadlocked at 7-7.

Riverside took the second half kickoff and marched all the way down the field, capping off a six-minute plus drive on a Kennedy 2-yard scoring plunge.

Levi Kapp kicked the extra point and the Panthers led 14-7 with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter.

Forrest responded the way they have all season when they took the ensuing kickoff at their own 25-yard yard line and handed the ball off four straight times to McClendon, who moved the Rockets to the Riverside 38-yard line.

Cole Villazon took it to the house from there and after an off sides call on the PAT attempt, the Rockets went for two and McClendon busted in to the end zone, giving Forrest their first lead of the game at 15-14 with 3:26 left in the third quarter.

The Forrest defense, buoyed by the score, stoned the Panthers to force a punt with 11:05 remaining in the game.

The kick bounced to the Forrest 15-yard where they were going to take over, but after a lengthy discussion at midfield by the officials, the ball was awarded back to Riverside after a blind side block by the Rockets on the return.

The questionable call was a game-changer when Kennedy scored from 37-yards out on the next snap and Kapp booted the PAT to make 21-15 with 10:53 left in the game.

Forrest’s next possession was halted on a fourth-down incomplete pass, but the defense got the ball back on a Riverside punt with 4:02 remaining in the contest.

Villazon came up with a nice punt return to the Riverside 38-yard line and the Rockets drove to the Panthers’ 11-yard line where they faced a fourth-and-five with one minute left in the game.

After a Rockets’ timeout, McClendon took the pitch from Kirby and ran to home boundary where he seemed to reach the ball past the down marker before stepping out of bounds.

Instead of marking the where the ball went out, the sideline referee mark the footprints in the mud and the Panthers took over.

The home crowd went insane over the bad call, but it was to no avail when after a couple of victory formation plays by Riverside, the magical season came to an excruciating end for the Rockets.

“This is really tough, I feel like the kids right now are devastated,” Stephenson said. “You put so much time in with these players and you come up two yards short.”

Riverside 7 0 7 7-21

Forrest 0 7 8 0-15

Scoring Plays

First Quarter

Riverside-Carson Hehe 2-yard run, Levi Kapp PAT, 5:24.

Second Quarter

Forrest-Max Kirby 2-yard run, Zoe Long PAT, 11:07.

Third Quarter

Riverside-Rylan Kennedy 5-yard run, Levi Kapp PAT, 5:38.

Forrest-Cole Villazon 38-yard run, Nick McClendon 2-point run, 3:26.

Fourth Quarter

Riverside-Rylan Kennedy 37-yard run, Levi Kapp PAT, Levi Kapp PAT, 10:53.

Total Yards: Riverside 222, Forrest 199.

Rushing: Riverside 222, Forrest 181.

Passing: Riverside 0, Forrest 18.

Penalties: Riverside 4-17, Forrest 6-82.

Turnovers: Riverside 2, Forrest 1.

Riverside Offense

Rushing: Rylan Kennedy 26-164-2TD, Carson Hehe 8-43-TD, Kyler Hall 4-19, Trent Smith 4-0, Weston Ward 1-(-4).

Passing: Carson Hehe 0-2-0-0-0.

Forrest Offense

Rushing: Nick McClendon 24-108, Cole Villazon 9-63-TD, Blaize Sweeney 3-7, Max Kirby 1-2-TD, Joseph Whitaker 1-1.

Passing: Max Kirby 3-8-18-0-0.

Receiving: Nick McClendon 2-15, Cole Villazon 1-3.