WOODVILLE — Through one quarter, it looked like the Wilkinson County Christian Rams might be able to pull out a huge upset over the top-ranked team in MPSA Class A.

Unfortunately, there were still three quarters to go.

The Rams had a 13-6 lead over No. 1-ranked Glenbrook early in the second quarter, but the Apaches scored the final 40 points of the game to take a 46-13 win.

“They’re a big team and an excellent team,” WCCA coach Sam Byrd IV said of Glenbrook. “They play hard and come to play every game. We played hard the first quarter and then kind of let up after that and didn’t execute.”

The Rams used the Davis-Gonda connection to take the lead early with quarterback George Davis hooking up with receiver Todd Gonda on two huge pass plays.

The first long play went for a 66-yard touchdown early in the first quarter.

Gonda made a juggling catch down the middle and broke two tackles on his way to the end zone.

After Glenbrook had tied the score on a Preston Wise touchdown run, a 67-yard pass from Davis to Gonda put the Rams right back in business inside the 20-yard-line.

Davis capped off the drive on the first play of the second quarter with a 1-yard plunge that gave the Rams the lead once again.

However, while the Rams were relying on long passes to score, Glenbrook was chewing up huge chunks of yardage with its running game.

Five consecutive Apache runs led to Glenbrook’s next score, with Jack Jiles streaking in the end zone from 27 yards out to tie the score.

Glenbrook took the lead for good a few minutes later when David Thompson broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and raced in for a 28-yard touchdown.

However, the backbreaker for the Rams came right before halftime.

With just 26 seconds to go before the break, Hunter Leppert hooked up with Jake Byrd on a 47-yard scoring pass to make the score 27-13 and give Glenbrook all the cushion it would need.

“They hit the out and up right before the half that really hurt us,” Byrd said. “We had worked on that but apparently we just forgot it on that one play.”

There may have been a reason for that. Thanks to Hurricane Gustav, the Rams had just one practice this week leading up to Friday’s game.

“We practiced just one day before (the game),” Byrd said. “The MPSA wanted us to stay on schedule the best we could so we did our best to get the field ready and playing, come as it may.”

Glenbrook added to its lead in the second half.

Giles scored from 1-yard away midway through the third quarter and Travis Campbell returned an interception 29 yards for another score early in the fourth quarter.

The final score came with just four seconds left, when backup running back Peter Wise broke open a 49-yard touchdown run against a tired WCCA defense.

It was the Rams’ second consecutive district loss and they find themselves in a must-win situation the remainder of the year if they hope to make the playoffs.

They were in the same situation last year, but got off the mat to make the playoffs.

“We’ve put our backs against the wall and now we’ve got to win out to make the playoffs,” Byrd said. “We did it last year and we can do it again.”