In a game of contrasts, the Glenvar Highlanders, with a 10-yard field goal — the team’s second score in the last two minutes of regular play — to tie the game with the Floyd County High Buffaloes homecoming game and force overtime.

Then it took three — yes, three — overtime sessions before the Buffs secured a 33-27 win with quarterback Rylan Swortzel throwing a 10-yard pass to Phillip Radford in the third OT and the home team held the Highlanders scoreless in the fourth and final session.

In the first OT, Swortzel hit a 10-yard pass to Trevor Miller and Radford kicked the extra point to give the Buffaloes a 27-20 lead, but Glenvar answered with a nine-yard completion and extra point to tie the game up again. After a scoreless third OT, the Buffs stopped the Highlander QB after he could not find an open receiver and his scramble for a TD came up short.

The game was a defensive battle in the first half with neither team scoring in the first quarter and Glenvar managed only a field goal to lead 3-0 at halftime, but the Buffs opened the third quarter with a score and point-after and added two other TDs to lead 20-10 until the final two minutes when the Highlanders scored a TD and extra point and a field goal with time running short to force the overtimes.

Swortzel hit seven of ten passes for 88 yards for two touchdowns. Trevor Miller rushed to two touchdowns with 120 yards and caught a third TD in overtime. The other two touchdowns came from Radford’s OT reception and an interception runback by Matt Slusher.

The tough win was the fifth straight victory for the Buffaloes after a season-opening loss to Christiansburg and gives the team a 5-1 record. More details in next week’s Floyd Press.