Blaine Dalton stood on the sidelines, with the rest of his Blue Springs South teammates, and held his breath.
Park Hill quarterback Erik Johanson was bringing his team to the line in an attempt to score on an overtime, two-point conversion Friday night on the Trojans home field.
Dalton, the South quarterback had just led his team from a 21-3 first-quarter deficit, to a 35-34 overtime lead and Park Hill was going for the game-winning 2-point play.
“It was tough to watch,” Dalton said, “because our guys worked so hard to get back in the game and get the lead. I knew the defense was going to get the job done … ”
While many Trojan fans believed running back Sam Pour – who had just scored on a 2-yard run and had 168 yards on 19 carries in the game – would get the ball, Johanson rolled to his right and looked for a receiver in the end zone.
The rock-solid South defense, which turned in a stingy performance after that first-quarter collapse, had every receiver covered.
Out of desperation, and with half the Jaguar defense breathing down his neck, Johanson threw the ball into a crowd and it bounded away – setting off a wild South celebration.
“I don’t know how big this win is,” said Dalton, who could finally manage a smile after a 42-14 loss to Rockhurst in a nationally televised ESPN game in Week 1 and a less-than-stellar start Friday night at Park Hill, “but it’s big.
“It’s the first win a lot of the new senior starters ever had. And what a win. We’ll remember this one for a long time.”
Before many of the sparse Jaguar crowd found a seat on the sunny visitor’s bleachers at Park Hill, the Trojans led 21-3.
“That was a tough way to start,” South coach Greg Oder said, “but I never sensed any desperation or that fact that guys were giving up. We just made some mistakes and Park Hill capitalized.”
Johanson capped an opening 80-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge to give Park Hill a quick 7-0 lead. Pour then shocked the South faithful with an electrifying 54-yard gallop.
South stopped the bleeding momentarily as Brian Geraghty kicked a 33-yard field goal, but less than a minute later, De’Rion Rambo caught an 82-yard bomb from Johanson and it appeared that it might be another long night for the Jags.
“I never sensed that anyone was giving up,” Dalton said, “but we knew we had to get something going.”
South scored the lone touchdown of the second quarter as Dalton and Trayon Jones hooked up on a 2-yard scoring play and the Jaguars trailed 21-10 at the half.
“We knew we were still in the game at the half,” Oder said, “but we had to cut down on our mistakes and get our offense going – which we were able to do.”
Cameron Davis scored on a 2-yard run following a 60-yard interception return by South’s Mike House at 4:25 of the third quarter.
“House’s interception was huge,” Dalton said. “That gave us the opening we needed.”
Then, in one of the biggest plays of the game, Dalton fielded a low snap and scrambled before finding Armahn King in the end zone for a 2-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 21-18.
“That was not a 2-point conversion play,” Dalton said. “The snap was low and we were able to do something with it. King did a great job getting open in the end zone.”
Park Hill proved it had plenty of fight left as Narayan Daniel returned the next kickoff 61 yards and Sean Gorman then scored on a 34-yard run to give the Trojans some breathing room and a 28-18 lead.
It looked bleak for the Jaguars as Dalton was intercepted on the next series, giving the Trojans the ball to start the fourth quarter.
South’s defense stood its ground, and with 2:05 left in the game, Dalton hit Jones for a 26-yard touchdown play. Geraghty’s extra point made it 28-25.
“That was a big catch, the biggest I’ve made so far,” Jones said, “but it wasn’t as big as Brian’s onside’s kick (please see column).
Geraghty executed the perfect onside’s kick and the Jags had the ball on the Trojans 49.
It took Dalton seven plays to get the ball to the 14.
When the drive stalled, Geraghty kicked a game-tying 31-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.
Starting from his 25, Dalton threw an incomplete pass, hit Jones for 7 and King for 16. Following two runs that resulted in a total of -4 yards, Davis scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 2-yard drive up the middle.
“It was all my line,” Davis said. “Give the credit for that score to the Blue Springs South line. They did their job all night.”
Geraghty nailed the extra point, setting up the final Trojan drive of the night.
“They scored, but the guys shut them down when they had to (on the 2-point conversion),” Oder said. “It was a wild night. I don’t even want to think about what it would have been like if we hadn’t come back and won. It would have been a long bus ride home.”
Kansas City, MO —
