NATCHEZ — Don’t drop it.

That was the only thing going through Adams County Christian School receiver Shavarick Williams’ mind as the ball slowly floated to him off the hand of quarterback Carlos Woods.

Williams secured the catch and scampered into the end zone to complete the 37-yard touchdown play with just 20 seconds left in the game, which sealed a 40-39 ACCS victory against East Rankin Academy. The win also preserved the Rebels’ unblemished record and pushed it to 9-0.

“Coach (David) King wanted everybody to run go’s and told me to run straight to the goal line,” Williams said. “The ball just came to me, and I made a play.”

The fact that Williams had the opportunity to catch the game-winning touchdown seemed next to impossible just minutes before, though.

The Rebels played from behind most of the game, but head coach David King said his team stepped up to the challenge when things mattered the most — crunch time.

“I have to give it to my boys, at the end when they had their backs against the wall, they found a way,” King said. “I’m proud we didn’t quit. They had the chance to roll over, but they chose to man up.”

After jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Woods to George Scott, the Rebels wouldn’t have the lead until the end of the contest.

East Rankin tied the game late in the first quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run from quarterback Blaine Hill.

Early in the second quarter, Hill was in the end zone again giving East Rankin a 14-7 lead on a two-yard touchdown run.

ACCS was able to answer late in the half on a 2-yard run from Chisum Mardis, but the extra point was blocked, leaving the Rebels trailing 14-13. It was the first of two blocked extra points in the game for ACCS.

East Rankin tacked on another score with just 37 seconds left in the half, a 10-yard run from Seth Dearman, to take a 21-13 lead into halftime.

What was perhaps most alarming in the first half was the play of Woods, who struggled through the air, completing just five of his 14 passes.

“Carlos was about as shaken in the first three quarters as I’ve seen him, but at the end of the day, he was able to make plays,” King said. “That is what it is all about.”

East Rankin added a third-quarter touchdown, a 70-yard pass from Hill to Joseph Macon to take a commanding 28-13 lead entering the final quarter of play, but the fourth quarter belonged to ACCS.

Woods began picking apart the East Rankin defense with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Scott to bring ACCS within nine at 28-19.

The Patriots added a field goal to push the lead to 31-19, but Woods quickly responded with another touchdown pass, this time to Williams from 21 yards out to make the score 31-26.

On the first play of the ensuing East Rankin drive, the Rebels thought they were watching their undefeated season literally run away from them as Forrest Russell torched the defense for a 60-yard run to the ACCS five yard line and later capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, giving East Rankin a 39-26 lead with just 1:55 left to play.

The Rebels had other plans.

After a 25-yard run down to the East Rankin 25-yard line, King furiously shouted to his team to spike the ball in order to stop the clock.

Woods took the snap, made a downward motion with his arm, but didn’t let go of the ball.

Instead, he quickly rose up and hit a streaking George Scott for a 25-yard touchdown pass, bringing the Rebels within six at 39-33. It was the third time the tandem connected for a touchdown on the night, and Scott finished as the leading receiver with 117 yards on six catches.

However, time was a factor with just 1:11 on the clock.

After East Rankin recovered the attempted ACCS onside kick, the Rebels were in desperate need of a turnover, and senior Chisum Mardis answered the call of duty.

Mardis stripped the ball from an East Rankin ball carrier on the first play of the drive and recovered it himself, setting up the ACCS offense at the 50 yard line with just over a minute left in the game.

On the first play of the drive, Woods hit Richard Conn, who made multiple Patriot defenders miss him en route to getting to the East Rankin 39-yard line. The Rebels followed that play up with a 2-yard run.

Then, with just 30 seconds left on the clock, Woods took a shotgun snap, avoided multiple defenders in the backfield, scrambled to his left, and hit Williams for the game-winning touchdown.

“I saw my team wasn’t giving up, and I knew I we had to go out there and make plays,” Woods said.

Woods finished 14-of-26 for 218 yards and five touchdowns, four of which came in the fourth quarter. He also ran for 59 yards.

Despite getting the win, Woods said he knows this game was far from what he wanted.

“This is a win just for us to get our mind right,” he said. “We needed this win just to let us know we have to get better.”

But the win also had a deeper meaning to the senior quarterback.

“I didn’t want my season to end like it did last year,” Woods said. “Coach kept stressing 8-0, and I just went out there and made it 9-0.”