MOULTON — All West Point could do was stand and watch in shock.

The celebration that’d had the Warriors’ names written all over it at the end of the third quarter was being played out by Lawrence County instead.

They’d known the feeling a year earlier.

On Friday night, there was only heartache.

The Red Devils scored two touchdowns off interceptions in the final five minutes, including a 2-yard quarterback keeper by Dallas Keenum with 49 seconds left, to eke out a 28-27 comeback and keep West Point from claiming Class 5A, Region 8’s final playoff berth for the second season in a row.

The reward for the Red Devils (5-4, 4-3) is a first-round trip to No. 7 Alexandria after finishing the regular season next week against Haleyville.

The Warriors (4-5, 3-4), who were seeking their first consecutive playoff appearances since 2004-05, will wrap up their 2015 campaign next Friday at 4A No. 5 Priceville.

Even when the Maroon and White were ahead most of the second half, penalties made sure they were playing behind on most of their offensive possessions. After taking a 27-14 lead on Kobe Smith’s gravity-defying 10-yard touchdown run — the tailback somehow kept his knee from hitting the ground following what’d looked like it was going to be a sure tackle — with 9:26 to go in the third quarter, West Point was unable to recover from early flags on the majority of its remaining opportunities.

“Two even teams, you can’t have penalties,” Warrior coach Don Farley said. “I know four straight drives we started with penalties on first down, and that puts you behind the chains. You don’t expect to be first-and-15, first-and-20 every time, even if you’re on the road.”

West Point’s defense came to play early, bending but not breaking with a goal-line stand capped off by Cameron Moore’s tackle in the backfield on fourth down.

Backed up against their own end zone, the Warriors proceeded to put together a 15-play, 97-yard scoring drive. Tanner Rusk topped it off with an 18-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Brandon Farley with 3:06 left in the opening quarter.

Austin Smith pitched in on the drive with a short run on fourth-and-inches, and Kolton Easterwood helped set up the score by catching a 35-yard strike from Rusk.

Both times Lawrence County tied it up in the second quarter, West Point immediately answered with kickoff returns for touchdowns.

Just as soon as the Red Devils pulled even at 7-7 on Jakob Terry’s 10-yard scoring scamper, Smith made the home team regret actually kicking his way by going 84 yards untouched to the end zone.

Moore made the Maroon and White sideline go bonkers again shortly before halftime, following Terry’s 3-yard TD run with a 76-yard return for six points.

The Warriors missed the extra point to take a 20-14 lead at halftime.

Khristian Thompson went vertical for an interception at West Point’s 10 late in the third quarter. Other defensive highlights for the visitors came from Ryan Smith and Jake Bagwell, who combined on a sack and joined Aaron O’Neil, Alex Hernandez, Dalton Freeman and Moore with tackles for losses. O’Neil actually had two, his biggest for minus-20 yards on a high Lawrence County snap in the first half.

Count the Red Devils as the latest team to have trouble stopping Kobe Smith. The senior speedster finished with 136 rushing yards on 23 carries and the two touchdowns.

Keenum and Rodney White started the Red Devils’ 14-0 run to end the game with a 5-yard touchdown connection. On the night, White caught 10 of Keenum’s 16 completions and was on the receiving end of 159 of the quarterback’s 234 passing yards.

Trey Hutto had both of Lawrence County’s late interceptions.

Despite the defeat, Farley’s post-game message to his team was one of pride and positivity.

“I’m going to love my guys no matter what,” the coach said. “They’re always going to fight. They’re warriors. I’ve got their back and they’ve got my back.

“The scoreboard doesn’t always tell the tale on how hard our kids work.”