At the end of the third quarter, Palmetto Ridge’s offense had the ball at the Gulliver Prep 45. The Bears trailed by a touchdown. It appeared the game could go either way.

“In an effort to make sure all the players get to play,” Palmetto Ridge public address announcer Bob Topping told the crowd, “both teams will let their jayvee players play. The scoreboard will be set to zeros to start the fourth quarter.”

Only one part of that announcement held up. Because Friday’s preseason game was an FHSAA-sanctioned event, the varsity output for three quarters — Gulliver Prep 25, Palmetto Ridge 18 — couldn’t simply be wiped away. The score stayed the same.

And the Bears responded.

The Palmetto Ridge jayvee outscored Gulliver Prep’s by a 20-7 margin, capped by Gary Jackson’s 2-yard run up the middle with just 25 seconds to play.

That gave the Bears, officially, a 38-32 victory. That it was just the preseason and the game wouldn’t count in the win-loss column couldn’t keep the fans from cheering and the band from playing as Palmetto Ridge left the field.

Palmetto Ridge will now turn its focus to the regular season. It opens with crosstown rival Golden Gate in the “Battle for the Gate,” but the Bears will be hard-pressed to top Friday’s dramatics.

What a show it was, as the two teams combined for eight scores of 20 yards or more. It looked like a track meet from the first play from scrimmage, as Gulliver Prep running back Darrian Mallary broke loose for a 64-yard touchdown.

Torrey Campbell, the replacement for graduated feature back Chad Austile, went 62 yards for a Palmetto Ridge score later in the quarter. Mallary answered that with an 80-yard burst. Bears quarterback Mike Thomas then hit Sean Smikle on a short pass that the senior turned into a 65-yard score.

Smikle caught another pass from Thomas for a 21-yard touchdown. Gulliver Prep’s Cedric Walker raced 39 yards for one.

All in the first half.

The Raiders began the scoring in the second half with a 74-yard interception return by Ralph Williams. They scored their final points on a 90-yard touchdown run by Tacoi Sumler, after the jayvee squads had taken the field with the game in the balance.

Perhaps these teams should consider a regular-season meeting. Last year, after all, they played to a 34-34 preseason tie, with the Bears scoring on the final snap from scrimmage.

Jackson’s score wasn’t on the final snap, but close enough. He virtually walked through a huge hole at the line, bringing the crowd to its feet one last time.

GV 13 6 6 7 —32

PR 6 12 0 20 —38

SCORING

G — Darian Mallary 64 run (kick failed)

P — Torrey Campbell 62 run (run failed)

G — Mallary 80 run (Mike Uribe kick)

P — Sean Smikle 65 pass from Mike Thomas (pass failed)

P — Smikle 21 pass from Thomas (run failed)

G — Cedric Walker 39 run (run failed)

G — Ralph Williams 74 interception return (kick blocked)

P — Shad Thebaud 15 run (Gary Jackson run)

G — Tacoi Sumler 90 run (Uribe kick)

P — Max Tryfus 10 pass from Thebaud (pass failed)

P — Gary Jackson 2 run (run failed)