If Ammon Lakip doesn’t know what he's going to major in when he gets to college next year, he might want to think about drama.

With only three seconds left in Friday night's AAAA state semifinal game and his team trailing 21-19, the Chattahoochee senior placekicker knuckleballed a 27-yard field goal two feet over the crossbar to give the Cougars a dramatic 22-21 win over Statesboro. Thanks to the win, Chattahoochee is now headed to the state title game for the first time in school history.

Lakip's game-winning attempt was so close to missing that, well, Lakip thought it was going to miss, "It was a horrible kick," a brutally honest Lakip said after the game. "I was about to get down and cry, I didn't even know it went through. I had already turned around and thought I missed it, but then I heard everyone cheering and wow."

Chattahoochee starting quarterback Timmy Byerly, who set up Lakip's game-winning kick with a stellar last minute drive, called the 27-yard field goal the most dramatic half second of his life. "I can't even tell you what was going through my head," the quarterback said.

As for Cougar head coach Terry Crowder, he liked the fact the ball went through the uprights quickly, "The great thing about it is that it was a knuckleball, so it went through really fast," the seventh-year coach said after the game. "And Ammon hit it dead center. Dead center on the ball and dead center through the uprights."

Lakip's field goal was only part of the fourth quarter drama for the Cougars.

A Dequan Daniels 1-yard touchdown run – his third of the night – extended Statesboro's lead to 21-13 with 5:11 left in the game. The score capped a 17-play, eight minute, 98-yard drive that started on the Blue Devil 2. Chattahoochee had been threatening to take the lead, but Cougar running back Chase Nelson fumbled at the goal line and Statesboro's Yakeem Coleman pounced on the ball.

After going scoreless for the first 19 minutes of the second half, the Cougar offense caught fire after Daniels' third touchdown. Trailing by eight and in need of a quick score, Byerly quickly and calmly led the Chattahoochee offense down the field. On a drive that started on the Cougar 37, Byerly threw seven straight passes – completing six of them – and capped the drive with a momentum shifting 3-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Thomas that cut the Statesboro lead to 21-19 with 3:18 left.

The Cougars went for two and the tie, but Byerly was hit hard by Statesboro's Justin Spells before he could get a pass off.

At that point, Crowder had a big decision: with only 3:18 left and the Statesboro offense coming off an eight minute drive, should he onside kick it or kick it away. "I thought about the onside kick until I saw their hands team," Crowder said of what went through his head. "Once I saw their hands team out, I had [Lakip] go ahead and kick it to the end zone."

The Chattahoochee defense made Crowder look like a genius. The Cougar D forced the Statesboro offense into a 3-and-out and thanks to two timeouts, Chattahoochee got the ball back on the Blue Devil 49 with 2:06 left in the game. After a quick first down, the real drama began. Three plays into the drive, Chattahoochee was called for a holding penalty that pushed the Cougars back to their own 45.

With only 1:25 left in the game at that point, Hooch offensive coordinator Scott Carmichael decided to put the game in the hands of Byerly. The senior AAAA player of the year candidate responded by rushing for 45 yards on his next four attempts. "We were on the same page with the play calls," Byerly said of himself and Carmichael.  Byerly's final run – a 10-yarder – took Chattahoochee down to the Statesboro 10-yard line and set up Lakip's miracle kick.

Chattahoochee led 13-7 at the half thanks to a Byerly 1-yard touchdown run and two Lakip field goals (40, 23). Daniels kept Statesboro in the game and the Chattahoochee offense off the field by rushing for 93 yards and a touchdown in the first half. Both teams scored their lone first half touchdowns on their opening drives.

Statesboro and Chattahoochee also had a little bit of trouble holding onto the ball. The Blue Devils fumbled the ball four times, but only lost one when Chattahoochee's Stephen Frankiewicz picked up a loose ball in the second quarter. The Frankiewicz recovery setup Lakip's second field goal of the night. Chattahoochee's Will Johnson also intercepted the only pass that Statesboro threw on the night.

The Cougars also coughed up the ball twice in the game.

For the Blue Devils, Daniels finished with three touchdowns and a game-high 162 yards rushing. Teammate Aaron Lester chipped in 89 yards on the ground while a third back, Trai Gadson, ended the night with 76-yards.

Offensively, the story for Chattahoochee was once again Byerly. The senior quarterback finished the game 23-of-33 for 220 yards and a touchdown through the air. Byerly also had 133 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Freshman running back Chase Nelson made the most of his three carries with 51 yards on the ground.

Byerly's favorite target on the night was Kane Whitehurst, who finished the game with 11 catches for 104 yards. Hunter Thomas, who hauled in a pivotal touchdown pass late in the game, finished his night with 90 yards on seven catches.

Lakip, who hit three field goals in the game and also hit a 51-yard game-winner in round two, relishes his role on the team, "It's my job to make big kicks," the talented kicker says. "The team counts on me to make them."

Next up for Chattahoochee is undefeated Starr's Mill. Both teams will be making their first title game appearances. "The goal isn't to get to the game," Crowder says of the Friday's state championship. "The goal is to win it."

Friday's AAAA state title game is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. at the Georgia Dome.