TUSCOLA — The season’s first Big Country Preps Game of the Week lived up to its billing on Friday, with Ballinger needing a late touchdown to knock off Jim Ned 20-14 in a matchup of two teams expecting to do postseason damage.
Reserve quarterback Carter Arrott led a game-winning touchdown drive and capped it with a 19-yard touchdown run with 3:42 to play to lead Ballinger (1-0), which held Jim Ned to just 219 total yards.
Jim Ned (0-1), which got 100 yards rushing and two scores from Xavier Wishert, led from the 6:31 mark of the second quarter until Arrott’s TD.