ALBANY — DJ Walden saw the ball coming and with his defense needing a critical stop, he recorded perhaps the biggest play of the night.

Walden intercepted a Monroe pass at the Thomas County Central 14-yard line, then a play later, Tykeem Wallace broke the Monroe High School nation’s back with a gut-wrenching 86-yard touchdown gallop to help the Jackets escape Hugh Mills Stadium Thursday night with a 35-22 victory.

“I read the whole thing from the snap,” Walden said. “They were looking for like a deep pass, like a stop and go, but I just read the whole thing.”

It finally put an end to a Monroe air raid that had burned the Jackets for most of the game.

Wallace had broken a 22-all tie moments earlier with a 7-yard touchdown, capping a six-play, 69-yard scoring drive after Monroe’s Zatarious Anderson hauled in a 36-yard score from quarterback Da’rrious Rivers with 5:30 left in the game to tie. But the Tornadoes missed the extra point attempt.

Thomas County Central improved to 4-0 on the season, but it was far from easy. TCC overcame two first-half fumbles, two second-half interceptions, an errant snap on a punt that sailed out of the end zone for a safety and four costly personal foul penalties to win its second road game of the season. 

The athletic Tornadoes exposed TCC’s bend-but-don’t-break defense and showed the Jackets they still have plenty to work on before opening region play in four weeks.

“Credit them … they played well,” Thomas County Central coach Ashley Henderson said of Monroe. “Nobody told them they were supposed to lay down for us. But our kids never died and they found a way late in the game to put it away. 

“(Monroe) had two opportunities to take the lead and our defense never let it happen. We forced them to a missed extra point, then we got another turnover. Then Tykeem hit another long run to put it away.”

Monroe forced four total turnovers, including a back-breaking interception in the end zone on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line midway through the third quarter with TCC attempting to take control of the game.  

But the Jackets’ defensive front kept Monroe out of the end zone late in third quarter on a goal line stand after the Tornadoes had a first-and-goal at the 3.

Then Carrington Robinson intercepted a Monroe pass in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 12 at the 7:54 mark of the game.

“They’ve done that … when they’ve bent all year, they bowed their necks,” Henderson said of his defense. “We had a fourth down stop, then second-and-goal from the 1 and we stopped them. Credit our defense because they never gave up. They battled and battled and battled. I’m proud of them.”

Thomas County Central held a slim 15-14 lead at halftime, but it seemed defensive back Javasse Thomas’ 45-yard pick-six midway through the third quarter to give TCC some breathing room would provide the spark they needed.

But Monroe came roaring back and no Thomas County Central lead ever seemed to be safe.

Monroe quarterbacks Jordan Edwards and Rivers chunked the ball around the stadium to wide receivers Anderson and Domonik Henderson, reminiscent of the some of the old NFL West Coast offenses in the 1980s.

Edwards tossed a 21-yard touchdown pass on third-and-3 to Anderson to cut Thomas County Central’s lead to 8-6 with 1:30 left in the first quarter.

Then after a Yellow Jackets’ fumble on their ensuing possession, Edwards drove the Tornadoes (1-3) down the field and connected with Henderson on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Then Edwards hit Lorranger Russell on the 2-point conversion pass to make it 14-8. 

After Monroe failed to score on its opening possession when they drove to the TCC 16, the Jackets drove 84 yards on six plays for their first score. Robinson caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kalique Guyton, then Guyton went untouched into the end zone on a 2-point conversion run to make it 8-0.

But Monroe scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead before Wallace went 52 yards up the middle and scored to tie the game at the 4:15 mark of the second quarter. Kicker Campbell Smith gave the Jackets a 15-14 lead with the extra point.

Henderson said he was proud of his team the way they handled adversity.

“We clean up us and we can be pretty good,” he said. “Again, we saw flashes of it tonight. We’ve got playmakers all over that field … guys who made catches and then catches and runs, long runs and things like that. I’m excited about our football team, and I’m excited to come out here and win on a Thursday night. Now we have a big game coming up next week.”

Thomas County Central will be back on the road next Friday at Brooks County.