It may have come down to the wire, but Heritage needed just a little over 21 minutes to disappoint Clarke Central in a 23-20 come-from-behind overtime win Friday night.

With his team trailing 17-0 at halftime and struggling offensively, Heritage coach Chad Frazier made a change and brought in backup quarterback Isaiah Spencer.

The senior quarterback stepped up in a big way, helping his team do what it couldn't do in the first half with Ryan Sutton at the helm. Spender led the Patriots (6-1, 3-1 Region 8-AAAAA) to four scoring drives, including the game winning drive in the extra session from 15 yards out.

After Clarke Central (3-3, 3-1) kicked a field goal to open overtime, Spencer ran the Patriots first play on a 9-yard keeper to put his team on the 4-yard line. From that distance there was one thing to do, and Spencer did it, handing off to Myron Fears right up the middle for the dramatic win, setting off a celebration in which Heritage coach Chad Frazier demanded an encore from the Patriots band and danced into the night.

"That was joy," said Spencer of Fears' run. "The team saw it coming; it's automatic."

Fears may have finished with 75 yards on 15 carries, but it was Spencer who starred.

With the Patriots struggling offensively in the first half, managing just 50 yards, including 21 on two passes, Frazier went to something different.

Typically an option team, Heritage used some spread offense late in its 42-14 loss to Gainesville on Sept. 28. The change in offense didn't put a dent on the loss to one of the state's top teams, but it helped prepare the Patriots for what was to come against Clarke Central.

Needing to find offense, and come back from a 17-0 deficit, spreading the ball out proved to be the remedy, and along with it a quarterback with a big arm.

Knowing Spencer could throw the ball with more strength than starter Sutton, and do the other things almost as well, Frazier decided to give the reigns to his second-string single caller. Spencer accepted the challenge in spectacular fashion, throwing for 144 yards and two touchdowns on 8 of 15 passing, and running for another 33 yards on eight carries.

"I just played my role, worked hard," Spencer said. "I never gave up; that's what gave me the spark, I never gave up."

The Patriots totaled 164 yards of offense in the second half, compared to just 50 in the first.

"At halftime we said, ‘If we're going to move the football we have to go to our spread package,'" Frazier said. "We put some guys in some space and were able to make some plays."

The offensive improvement didn't pay dividends until late in the third quarter, but Spencer said the Patriots were ready from the start of the second half.

"Once we got that spark we were on fire we never stopped," Spencer said.

The Patriots got on the on the board with 3:07 left in the third quarter on Spencer's 23-yard TD pass to Reggie Thomas. Spencer orchestrated a 10-play 76-yard drive, which included a 16-yard pass, 19-yard pass and 11-yard third-down run by the senior.

Harrison Kulp brought the Patriots within a touchdown, 17-10, on a 42-yard field goal with 7:01 remaining.

Spencer's 19-yard pass to Ryan Phillips tied it at 17 with 3:30 to play after the Patriots started the drive on Clarke Central's 42, thanks in part to a Gladiators' pass interference penalty on third-and-11 forcing a punt.

Heritage struggled to find anything in the first half, other than a big first-quarter run by Fears. On first and-10 from the Heritage 26, Fears broke through on a 37-yard sweep to start the Patriots best drive of the half.

The run came after Clarke Central went up 10-0.

The Gladiators opened the scoring on a 37-yard field goal with 10:27 left in second quarter by Matthew Ward.

The Gladiators then put together a 12-play, 70-yard drive to add to their lead late in the first half. Clarke Central quarterback Cameron Johnson finished the drive on a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jamonte Smith, putting the Gladiators up 10-0 after the extra point.

In the third quarter, Heritage's Steven Everson intercepted Cameron Johnson in the end zone with 7:30 left. However, the turnover went for naught and Clarke Central took over on the Heritage 44 after a punt.

From there Clarke Central ran the ball for 14 yards, 13 yards and nine yards before going for it on fourth-and-1 from the 19. The Gladiators elected to pass, and Cameron Johnson found Baylor Ward for a 19-yard touchdown catch with 3:07 to play for a 17-0 lead.

After Heritage erased the lead, Frazier then started to get his team ready for a big matchup at Flowery Branch. With the Falcons at 4-0 in Region 8-AAAA prior to Friday night's matchup against Winder-Barrow, Flowery Branch and the Patriots are currently neck-and-neck for second place, and a possible home field playoff game with four games remaining.