BASTROP, La. — Down 14-0 early in the second quarter and on the verge of perhaps falling into a bigger deficit, Wilkinson County Christian Academy head coach Christopher McGraw decided to call a timeout.

The strategy paid off as Prairie View Academy was forced to punt and that lead to a WCCA touchdown. That was the start of an amazing comeback put on by the Rams as they upset the No. 3 ranked team in MAIS Class AA 20-14 Friday night.

“They were driving down the field on their third drive. I called it. We woke up and decided to play football,” McGraw said. “It’s a big win.

Another strategy that paid off was giving the ball to Caleb Poole and letting him run through big holes created by the offensive line. Poole finished with 231 yards on 23 carries and accounted for all of the Rams’ points.

“Caleb ran unbelievably well. He ran hard. He had some big blocking up front. He sealed the game on a quarterback sneak on fourth and one (from the Prairie View 7-yard line),” McGraw said.

The Spartans (5-1) had one last chance to at the very least send the game into overtime, but Poole came up with a big interception in the end zone with just 3:19 to go. After getting a first down, the Rams were able to run the clock out.

Poole scored on an 86-yard run with 10:26 left in the second quarter and a 33-yard run with 8:13 to go in the third quarter to go with his game-winning touchdown with 11:14 remaining in the ball game.

McGraw also credited the defense for coming up big over the majority of the final three quarters.

“They did. Prairie View is a heck of a team. We intercepted them twice. They’re not a passing team,” McGraw said. “We made a few plays (offensively). We came out the second half and had a (nearly four-)minute drive. Then we scored early in the fourth.”

Phillip Cutrer didn’t have to throw the ball very much. In fact, he had just 10 passing yards on 3-of-4 passing and on defense he made seven tackles. Kyle Folds added 55 yard rushing on 15 carries.

Hunter Carpenter had both of the Spartans’ touchdowns. The first was on a one-yard run with 5:32 left in the first quarter and the second was on a 12-yard run just 14 seconds into the second quarter.

WCCA (4-2) plays host to River Oaks School next Friday with kickoff set for 7 p.m.