The 250-pound Bumguardner's tackle enabled the Bulldogs to claim a 50-48 victory in three overtimes that gave McGregor the outright District 16-2A championship and a perfect regular season.
On the first possession of the third overtime, McGregor used a 13-yard pass completion from quarterback Keith Reineke to Peyton Fisk, who made the catch on his knees, to take a first-and-goal at the 1.
The Trojans stopped Sean Chappell, who replaced Reineke at quarterback in goal-line situations, for no gain on the next play, but he scored on a second-and-1 and added the 2-point conversion.
McGregor (10-0 overall, 7-0 in 16-2A) led 50-42, putting the Trojans (8-2, 6-1) in the position of having to score a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to force a fourth overtime.
The Trojans accomplished the first part on a 4-yard run by Cyrus McKenzie on a fourth-and-1 in a drive accelerated by a personal foul penalty against the Bulldogs.
Bumguardner then put the lid on Troy's championship hopes with Freeman still going parallel to the line of scrimmage on the 2-point attempt.
The penalty that helped move the Trojans into scoring position was the latest in a series of calls by the officiating crew that left one side of the stadium or the other livid.
Friday night's results send McGregor into Division II bi-district play against Maypearl next weekend, while Troy will open the Division I playoffs against ninth-ranked Godley (10-0).
The third overtime followed two extra periods in which the teams traded field goals. Dirk Gerhardt had successes of 23 and 36 yards for McGregor, while Brandon Clark made field goals of 22 and 38 yards.
The final minutes of the fourth quarter saw both teams make comebacks to put the contest into overtime.
sports@temple-telegram.com
