Pine Tree's Kalil Deckard and Carl Turner break up a pass attempt during Friday's area playoff game against Stafford at Bruce Field in Athens. (Les Hassell/Longview News-Journal Photo)

ATHENS — Despite a shutdown defensive performance, the Pine Tree Pirates’ impressive 2024 season came to an excruciating end with a 14-13 loss Friday to Stafford in a Class 4A Division I area playoff battle at Athens’ Bruce Field.

With 52 seconds remaining and Pine Tree protecting a 13-7 lead, the Pirates were forced to punt from their own 47-yard line. The snap to punter Alex Mireles was low, and, with the Spartans bringing a heavy punt block, Mireles was hit hard as he attempted to get the punt away. The ball traveled only a couple of yards where Stafford’s Kendrik Ytuarte scooped it up and returned it 40 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 42 seconds left.

Fernando Correa’s extra point was good to give the Spartans a 14-13 lead.

Now trailing by a point, the Pirates were unable to get within scoring range as Pine Tree quarterback Matt Cates was hit as he threw and Stafford’s Jeremiah Bazile came down with the game-sealing interception.

Pine Tree’s season ends at 10-2 while Stafford (8-4) advances to the third round of the playoffs where it will face Chapel Hill next week.

The Pirate defense held Stafford’s offense to zero points on the night. In addition to the game-winning touchdown on special teams, Stafford’s only other score was a defensive touchdown.

The Pirate defense held Stafford to 125 yards from scrimmage, six first downs and 0 for 7 on third down. Pine Tree’s offensive struggled mightily on third down as well: 1 for 12.

With Pine Tree mounting the first scoring threat of the night, Cates’ screen pass was read perfectly by Stafford’s Darius Sims, who stepped in front of the pass and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Spartan lead with 9:46 left in the second quarter.

In a game that defined defensive battle, the score remained 7-0 at halftime.

The Pirates started the second half with a bang as the Pine Tree defense forced Stafford into a three-and-out and a failed fake punt.

Pine Tree needed only two plays to tie it as Cates connected with Kalil Deckard for a 36-yard pass then L’Marion Hunter scored on a 21-yard run as the Pirates evened things up at 7-7 with 9:28 left in the third quarter.

A few possessions later, the Pirates were set up with a short field and Cates hit Jordan Taylor for a 29-yard gain down to the 1-yard line. But after two failed quarterback sneaks and a loss of 2 on another run, the Pirates had to settle for a Mireles 20-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead with 1:07 remaining in the third.

The next three possessions ended with turnovers, including turnovers on three consecutive plays. After the Spartans fumbled, Stafford’s Brian O’Neal came down with an interception but Pine Tree’s Anthony Anderson matched him with an interception on the next play.

Following the flurry of turnovers, the Pirates pushed the ball inside the 10 but had to settle for a 23-yard Mireles field goal and 13-7 lead with 7:58 to play.

Pine Tree’s defense continued shutting down Stafford’s offense as the Spartans just couldn’t figure out the Pirate defensive unit. Pine Tree forced Stafford into a pair of three-and-outs over its next two possessions with the Spartans in desperation mode trying to find the go-ahead score.

With 3:18 to play, Pine Tree took over at its own 45 looking to pick up one or two first downs to end the game in victory formation. On the first play of the drive, it appeared the Pirates fumbled and the Spartans had a 48-yard return for a touchdown, but the officials decided the Pirate ball carrier was ruled down.

Despite that break, Pine Tree still couldn’t get the necessary first down needed to run the clock out, which resulted in the disastrous punt in the final minute.

The Pirates managed only 179 yards of offense and seven first downs on the night. Pine Tree punted seven times while Stafford had six punts.