Last second field goal ties the game: LD falls in overtime 25-24
Published: October 06, 2009
By Jim Ridolphi .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
With less than two minutes remaining in the game, the Lee-Davis football team held and18-15 lead over visiting Varina and had victory within its grasps. The Blue Devils, ranked No. 4 in last week’s TD Top-10 Poll and a team that started the season as No. 1, had just failed to convert on a fourth-and-13 from the Confederate 23-yard line.
But the clock did not tick quickly enough, and a stubborn Varina defense held the Confederates to a three-and-out, utilized its timeouts and got one more chance to test the Lee-Davis defense.
Varina resorted to a familiar game plan, placing the ball in the hands of senior running back Trey Johnson, who had almost single-handedly brought the Blue Devils back in the fourth quarter finishing the game with 229 yards on 25 carries.
Johnson moved the ball close enough for sophomore kicker Cody McDaniel to have a chance to tie the contest. McDaniel upheld a longstanding tradition of quality kickers at Varina, and drove a 27-yard line drive through the uprights to tie the game with one second on the clock.
The Blue Devils then carried that momentum into overtime and escaped with a 25-24 win that came far harder than they expected.
Lee-Davis jumped to a 15-0 lead in the first quarter leaning on a sold running game with the occasional short pass mixed in.
Running back Tucker Walton started the scoring on a 53-yard run, breaking numerous Blue Devil tackles along the way, to give Lee-Davis a 7-0 lead.
Then Chance Stone gathered in a 31-yard pass from quarterback Phillip Gardner and scored late in the first quarter. After a successful two-point conversion, the Confederates led 15-0.
Varina scored on a drive late in the first half after they picked a Gardner pass and quickly converted to make the halftime score, 15-7.
After a blocked punt in the third quarter, the Blue Devils took over on the Confederate 43-yard line. Johnson capped that drive with a 25-yard run that brought the Varina within two late in the third quarter. Johnson also added the two-point conversion and the game was knotted at 15.
With 11 minutes to go in the game, Lee-Davis kicker William Castelvecchi kicked a field goal to give the Confederates the lead.
A Confederate defense that had consistently stopped Varina in the red zone, rose up and stopped an explosive Blue Devil offense when it counted. Much of the night, the defense was playing deep in their own territory.
“We didn’t put our defense in good positions tonight,” Confederate coach Jason Meade said. “We put the defense in a bind in the first half and they played their tails off. They fought tooth-and-nail on a short field all night long.”
Meade said special teams play let the team down, and he was not ducking the tough questions. “This game falls solely on our shoulders,” he said. “We didn’t execute on special teams and that comes right back on me cause I’m the special teams guy.”
With nine minutes remaining in the game, the defense snatched a fumble from Varina quarterback Herman Norrell, but the Blue Devils got the ball back and mounted its apparent final drive.
When Norrell’s pass on fourth-and-13 fell incomplete, it looked like the Devils’ last gasp, but Coach Stu Brown explained his team is never out of a game when Trey Johnson is healthy and ready to run.
After the heartbreaking last second field goal that tied the game in regulation, the Lee-Davis sideline looked deflated, but they quickly regrouped and scored on the first play of overtime when Gardner connected with Brandon Angus for a touchdown.
The quick score did not escape the notice of the Blue Devil coach. “It’s tough on a team to win the whole game and then have to go into overtime and win it again. The momentum was on our side and they came back and called a great play in overtime to take the lead.”
However, the Confederates attempted a two-point conversion with a muddle huddle type play that did not get off the ground.
“We’re going to line up in the muddle huddle and count, and our count tells us what play to run,” Meade said. “We just didn’t execute the play.”
Varina made short work of the 10 yards on their OT possession, again relying on Johnson for the heavy lifting. When he plunged over from two yards out, the stage was set for an extra point that would eventually doom a stellar Confederate effort.
“It’s a no brainer who to go to at the end of the game,” Brown said following the win. “You got a Division I prospect and all-state and all-region player like Trey Johnson, he’s usually going to win the game for you.”
The Blue Devils again called on McDaniel, who split the uprights and ended the game, 25-24.
“I tried to avoid the nervous part on the second kick,” McDaniel said. “Gosh, what a win… I’m just happy.”
The Lee-Davis players on the other side of the ball were not as elated. “I think we have some kids who understand the successes we had on the field tonight,” Meade said. “They are some kids who are taking this hard and it needs to eat at them. This will bring us closer together. We went tooth and nail with one of the best teams in the region tonight and had multiple opportunities to put the game away.”
Varina————————0 7 8 3 7—25 ?
Lee-Davis—————- 15 0 0 3 6—24
LD—Walton 53 run (Castelvecchi kick)
LD—Stone 31 pass from Gardner (Angus run)
V—Norrell 1 run (McDaniel kick)
V—Johnson 25 run (Johnson run)
LD—FG Castelvecchi 23
V—FG McDaniel 27
LD—Angus 10 pass from Gardner (run failed)
V—Johnson 1 run (McDaniel kick)
