The Alcovy High Tigers improved to 2-2 on the season as they beat the Union Grove High Wolverines 20-17 in an overtime thriller Thursday night at Sharp Stadium.

Both offenses started slowly, and both teams struggled to move the ball early in the game. The Wolverines won the toss to start the game, but their first drive would stall, and they were forced to punt. The Tigers started its first drive on its own 15 and could only muster two yards total on their drive before they too were forced to punt. The next two possessions for each team resulted in stalled drives with no points to show for the first quarter

On its next drive Alcovy was the first to strike and put points on the board. After being backed up on their own 17 yard line and facing a third-and-25, Tiger quarterback Cornell White connected with Devon Edwards for a bomb down the right side for an 83-yard strike that gave the Tigers a first-and-goal. Two plays later White scored on an 8-yard touchdown run, and after the PAT, Alcovy led 7-0 with 8:20 left in the second quarter.

The Wolverines answered quickly, calling on their fullback for three straight plays, and gained 48 quick yards. On the next play from scrimmage, the tailback took the ball off the right side for a 32-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7 after the PAT with 6:10 left in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Edwards fielded the ball from his own 8-yard line and scampered 76 yards to the Union Grove 26-yard line. Two plays later White hooked up with Elijah Jones for a 25-yard touchdown pass to give Alcovy a 14-7 lead 4:53to go in the half.

Both teams stalled on their next drives before punting. On Alcovy's possession, bad snap sent the kicker scrambling. After dodging a couple of would-be tacklers in the back field, he got off a short kick that netted 15 yards. The Wolverines promptly took it back for a touchdown to knot the score at 14 at halftime.

Coming out for the second half the Tigers made obvious adjustments on both sides of the ball.

"The kids actually made the adjustments we asked them to tonight, and that helped us win this game," Alcovy coach Kirk Hoffman said.

On the opening drive of the second half, Alcovy started on the Wolverines' 43 after another long return by Edwards. After stringing together several plays, the drive ended when White was intercepted.

The Wolverines drove down to the Tigers' 13 but stalled there and were forced to kick a 30-yard field goal for a 17-14 lead with 4:45 left in the third quarter.

After the next several drives stalled for both teams, the Tigers caught a break on a punt when the Wolverines return man tried to field the ball on a bounce. On the play, the receiver touched the ball but could not bring it in. Alcovy recovered the ball at the Union Grove 15-yard line and after gaining seven yards, settled for a game-tying field goal with 5:29 left in the fourth quarter. Both teams had two more attempts to score in regulation but failed, leaving the score tied 17 and setting up overtime.

The Tigers got the ball first and quickly moved it to the 8-yard line. White was sacked on third down for a loss of five to bring up fourth down and a chance to take the lead on a field goal. Rysan Richardson split the uprights on the 30-yard kick to give the Tigers a 20-17 lead.

It was the Wolverines turn from the 15 yard line, but the Tigers defense got stingy as they came up with two sacks for losses and one running attempt with no gain to push the Wolverines back to the 35-yard line and bring up a long fourth down. The Wolverines were forced to attempt a 52-yard field goal to try and tie the game once again. But the kick fell well short of the uprights giving the Tigers the win.

"This was a big win for us tonight," Hoffman said. "Tonight we learned how to win."

The Tigers will look to make their winning streak three in a row next week as they face Griffin at home

"That is a huge game for us," said Hoffman.