MESQUITE – Ke’Andre Street needed to make amends.

After missing the previous week’s game because of a violation of team rules, then running the wrong route on a critical fourth-down play in the fourth quarter, the John Tyler receiver had to do something.

What he did won’t soon be forgotten by those in attendance at Friday night’s game at E.H. Hanby Stadium.

Street outjumped three Mesquite Poteet defenders in the end zone, and pulled down the game-winning, 49-yard touchdown as time expired in John Tyler’s heart-stopping 48-44 win over Mesquite Poteet.

The catch set off a wild celebration on the John Tyler sideline as the play gave the Lions sole possession of first place in District 7-5A Division I with one week remaining in the regular season.

“It’s a dream come true,” Street said. “You always dream about it, and for it to (happen), that’s a blessing.”

Street, who is committed to the University of Houston, caught four touchdowns on the night, finishing with 243 yards on seven receptions.

“He’s the man,” John Tyler quarterback Devlen Woods said of Street. “I believe in him, and all my trust is into him. I was just like, ‘make it reach (the end zone), and he’s gonna make a play.’”

Street saved the day for the Lions (6-2, 5-0), who blew a 21-point lead and fell short on fourth down with 1:40 remaining in the game. That set the stage for a Poteet touchdown, which gave the Pirates (7-2, 4-1) their first lead at 44-41 with only 15 seconds to play.

“It goes back to a quote one of my coaches told me, (Bill Belichick),” said John Tyler coach Ricklan Holmes. “He said, ‘in championship games you’ve gotta make championship plays.’ So when I was going for that on (fourth down) it had everything to do with being a champion at that time.

“Our offense had been doing a great job and I didn’t really wanna put our defense back on the field because we had been giving up big plays. So you’ve gotta make a tough decision.”

John Tyler, armed with two timeouts, took over at its own 36, and quickly moved into Poteet territory with an 18-yard pass from Woods to Street with eight seconds remaining.

Following a Poteet sack, JT called its final timeout with just two seconds showing on the clock.

What followed was a play that will be remembered for years to come.

“Bad things are gonna happen,” Holmes said. “We didn’t get it on fourth, they go score … that’s bad. They get the two-point conversion … that’s even (worse). Now we know we have to go get in field-goal range to at least give ourselves a chance to continue to try to win this game in overtime. I trust my coaches, I trust my players. And at the end of the day it’s all about what they went out there and did.”

Woods finished the night by completing 15 of 20 passes for a season-high 328 yards with the four touchdowns to Street and an interception.

Lions senior running back Roderick Hawkins eclipsed the 200-yard mark for the second-consecutive game, going for 203, which included touchdown runs of 89 and 56 yards.

Poteet senior quarterback Dalton Dale threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns, while junior running back Seth McGowan had 159 yards and four touchdowns on 33 carries.

John Tyler took a 34-22 lead with 11:04 to play in the fourth on a 38-yard scoring toss from Woods to Street, but Poteet answered with a nine-play, 79-yard scoring drive that cut the deficit to 34-29 with 8:40 to play.

Each team threw interceptions on the next two series, and Hawkins’ 56-yard score gave the Lions a 41-29 advantage.

But the Pirates answered right back, going 75 yards in nine plays, scoring on a McGowan 2-yard run that trimmed John Tyler’s lead to 41-36 with 3:47 remaining.

JT recovered a squib-kick at its own 46, but an incomplete pass on fourth-and-4 gave Poteet the ball at its own 48 with 1:40 on the clock.

“If we lost the game I knew that was on me because (Woods) told me to run a fade on that fourth down,” Street said. “I was telling (Woods) I wanted to run a hitch because all we needed (was four yards). He was like, ‘it’s one-on-one. You can beat him, you’ve beaten him all game.’” I had to make up for it some kind of way.”

John Tyler ends its regular season next Friday night at home against Sherman (4-5, 3-2), while Poteet finishes Thursday at McKinney North (6-3, 3-2).

“These kids have a great opportunity ahead of themselves,” Holmes said. “If we continue to play hard and do what we’re coached to do and be great young men outside of football, it’s gonna be a special season in 2018 for John Tyler High School.”

John Tyler 48, Mesquite Poteet 44

At E.H. Hanby Stadium, Mesquite

John Tyler         21      6      0    21    –    48
Poteet                 0    15      7    22    –    44

First Quarter
JT—Roderick Hawkins 89 run (Frankie Sanchez kick), 11:42.
JT—Ke’Andre Street 34 pass from Devlen Woods (Sanchez kick), 8:03.
JT—Travion Ates 22 fumble return (Sanchez kick), :42.
Second Quarter
MP—Seth McGowan 7 run (Dylan Brown kick), 9:55.
MP—Devon Martin 48 pass from Dalton Dale (Chandler Davis pass from Dale), 7:03.
JT—Street 20 pass from Woods (kick failed), 2:10.
Third Quarter
MP—Cam Lampkin 22 pass from Dale (Brown kick), 2:35.
Fourth Quarter
JT—Street 38 pass from Woods (Sanchez kick), 11:04.
MP—McGowan 2 run (Brown kick), 8:40.
JT—Hawkins 56 run (Sanchez kick), 6:21.
MP—McGowan 2 run (Brown kick), 3:47.
MP—McGowan 1 run (McGowan run), :15.
JT—Street 49 pass from Woods (Sanchez kick), :00.

                                    JT                   MP
First Downs                   19                    24
Total Yards                    582                 521
Rushes-Yards          33-254            43-200
Passing Yards               328                 321
Comp.-Att.-Int.        15-21-2         13-24-1
Punts-Avg.                2-53.0            3-48.3
Fumbles-Lost                  1-0                2-1
Penalties-Yards           10-90              7-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—John Tyler, Roderick Hawkins 18-203, Devlen Woods 9-51, Cameron Grant 4-8, K’Lon Warren 2-(-8). Mesquite Poteet, Seth McGowan 33-159, Dalton Dale 8-21, Cam Lampkin 1-18, Devon Martin 1-2.
PASSING—John Tyler, Woods 15-20-1—328, Grant 0-1-1—0. Mesquite Poteet, Dale 13-24-1—321.
RECEIVING—John Tyler, Street 7-243, Michael Hogg Jr. 2-34, Hawkins 2-13, Grant 1-20, Ka’Darian Asbell 1-11, Warren 1-9, Anthony Miner 1-(-2). Mesquite Poteet, Lampkin 6-145, Martin 3-86, Tristan Golightly 2-51, Louis Moore 1-33, Kam Allen 1-6.

More From East Texas Sports Network