The snap was true, the hold was perfect, and the kick was flawless.

Joseph Mansour split the uprights with a 55-yard field goal Friday night to give the LaGrange Grangers a 17-14 victory over the rival Troup Tigers at a packed Callaway Stadium.

Mansour’s kick came with 5:44 left on the clock, and LaGrange’s defense took over from there, keeping the Tigers from getting a first down on their final two possessions.

Moments before Mansour made his game-winner, he converted a field goal from 50 yards, but a penalty on the Grangers negated the kick.

The Grangers were backed up five yards to the 38-yard line, but Mansour knew he had the leg to make it from that distance.

“I was pretty confident,” Mansour said. “I made the first one, and I just had to kick it again.”

LaGrange head coach Steve Pardue didn’t hesitate to give Mansour another shot after the penalty.

“There was no doubt if he could hit it he would make it in my mind,” Pardue said. “I thought it might be our only chance to get three.”

Matt Pauley made the snap, and Rodney Tolbert got the hold down.

Pauley was filling in for the regular long snapper, John Jackson, who was out with an injury.

“Without the snap and without the hold, I couldn’t have done it,” said Mansour’s, whose kick probably had at least 5 yards of clearance.

Troup got the ball twice more in the closing minutes with a chance to move down the field, but LaGrange’s defense was up to the task.

The game effectively ended when the Tigers failed to convert on a fourth-and-16 from their own 13.

Tolbert, the Grangers’ quarterback, took a knee and the clock ran out.

“It was a great ballgame,” LaGrange linebacker Demetri Merritt said. “I think Troup was real physical, but we were physical, too. Our defense played really good. The offense, they scored 17 points. I can’t argue with that.”

LaGrange (8-2) will host a playoff game next week after finishing second in Region 2-AAA, while Troup (4-6) will visit top-ranked Cairo after taking the fourth spot in the region.

For Troup, it was the latest in a long line of heart-breaking losses.

Outside of a lop-sided setback against Carver, Troup’s other five losses were by a combined 16 points.

“They’ll come back,” Troup head coach Bubba Jeter said. “They’ve been stepped on and squeezed and spit on, and everything else. They keep bouncing back. They don’t quit.”

For LaGrange, it’s a nice way to head into the playoffs, and it eases the pain of last week’s 24-0 loss to Carver in the region-championship game.

“I’m proud of these kids for bouncing back after a disappointing loss last week,” Pardue said. “I feel like it gives us a lot of momentum.”

The Grangers led 14-7 at the half, with Tolbert throwing touchdown passes of 14 yards to Pauley and 13 yards to David Earl.

LaGrange scored the final 14 points of the half after Jacorius Cotton gave Troup the early lead with a 5-yard scoring run.

Troup tied it early in the fourth quarter, with Brandon Worle bulling his way into the end zone from 1 yard out and Russell Dougherty converting the extra point.

After LaGrange went three-and-out, Mansour’s 55-yard punt pinned Troup back at its 15-yard line.

Troup couldn’t move the ball, and LaGrange got the ball at the Tigers’ 37-yard line after a short punt.

The Grangers ended up backing up a yard from there, but it didn’t matter.

The Grangers only had about 10 yards of offense in the second half, but they found a way to win, and that’s all that mattered.

“Give Troup credit. They played a great football game,” Pardue said. “But I was proud of our kids how we hung in.”

Troup struck first in the game.

After both teams swapped three-and-outs, Troup began its second possession from its own 39.

With Cotton doing most of the work, with a 10-yard completion from Jaquante Holloway to Marcus Williams helping out as well, the Tigers moved the ball steadily down the field.

Moments after Cotton picked up a first down with a 5-yard run, he scored from 5 yards out with 3:16 left in the first quarter.

Dougherty converted the extra point, and Troup was up 7-0.

LaGrange answered with an impressive 15-play, 70-yard touchdown drive.

Running back Ocie Salter ran the ball seven times for 39 yards on the drive, including a 6-yard gain on fourth down from the Troup 29-yard line.

Tolbert capped the drive with a bullet pass to Pauley just past the goal line.

Mansour’s kick tied the game with 9:42 left in the half.

The Grangers had the ball deep in Troup territory when they got the ball back, but they were forced to punt when Tolbert was sacked at the 40-yard line.

Mansour’s punt was downed just inches from the goal line.

Troup got out of the shadow of its goal line on a 17-yard run from quarterback Eric Bridges, but the Tigers were forced to punt from their own 20.

The Grangers took over at the Troup 46 with 2:09 left, and Tolbert found Earl for a 28-yard completion on second down.

After a Salter 5-yard run, Tolbert threw a fade pass into the right corner of the end zone, and Earl came up with the catch.

Mansour’s kick was true, and the Grangers led 14-7 with 25 seconds left in the half.

“I was thinking just take a couple of shots at the end zone, and if it didn’t work out kick a field goal,” Pardue said. “David just made an unbelievable catch right there.”

Troup’s tying touchdown in the second half was set up by a special-teams miscue by the Grangers.

The snap to Mansour was high on a punt attempt, and he was tackled for a 5-yard loss, giving Troup the ball at the Grangers’ 32.

Bridges found Williams for a 9-yard completion on third down to keep the drive alive at the LaGrange 22.

Worle had runs of 7 and 4 yards to get the ball to the 11.

After a LaGrange penalty, Troup had the ball on the 7, and three more running plays moved the ball to the 1.

Facing a fourth-and-goal, Worle got the call, and after getting hit at the line of scrimmage he powered his way across the goal line.

Dougherty made the extra point, and the game was tied 14-14 with 9:19 left.

From there, it was LaGrange’s defense and Mansour that made the difference.