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Wild football roller coaster ride ends on high for Bison
LEXINGTON, Nebraska -- The McCook-Lexington prep football battle Oct. 7 may go down as one of the most exciting in the history of the two gridiron rival's respective histories.
Bison head coach Jeff Gross probably won't soon forget his team's 16-13, double-overtime thrilling win.
Friday's game was loaded with momentum swings on both sidelines, especially during the fourth quarter and overtime periods. Even the McCook coach got caught up in the momentum, as he suffered a leg injury after the Bison blocked a potential winning field goal try by the Minutemen at the end of regulation play.
McCook played without leading tackler and starting running back Jake Schlager, who was nursing a shoulder injury. So the workload of the Bison option rushing attack fell on the shoulders of quarterback Matt Chitwood. The senior responded with 32 carries for 249 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Reserve running back Kyle Stewart added 89 yards on 10 attempts as the Bison totaled 387 rushing yards on 51 tries.
"It turned into the Matt Chitwood Show," Coach Gross said. "Whenever they were overplaying Chitwood, then Kyle Stewart had a nice game. That's a big game, and Kyle did some neat things, and I probably need to get him the ball a little bit more."
The game was played with a strong south wind that blew from end zone to end zone at Ray Ehlers Stadium in Lexington. Gross said the wind hampered McCook's passing game, as Chitwood completed just 2 of 6 attempts for 15 yards -- but none bigger than Chitwood's last throw.
Chitwood connected with Cody Wudtke on a 9-yard touchdown pass in the first overtime period to put McCook ahead 13-7. Wudtke slipped behind the Lex defense, and Chitwood lofted a perfect pass to the corner of the end zone, where Cody stretched out and hauled in the football, dragging his feet inbounds for the score.
"Chitty had a great pass, it was just right on the money," Wudtke said after the game. "Somehow, I don't even know how, I got my foot in (inbounds). But it went in and they called it a touchdown."
Wudtke suggested the play to the Bison coaching staff, as the Lex defensive back was letting Wudtke have room outside.
"I told the coach, 'I got him,' because he kept taking the inside away from me and he just left it outside (open)," Wudtke said.
Missed conversion kick
Chitwood then missed the conversion kick, leaving McCook ahead 13-7, with Lexington's first overtime possession on tap.
The Minutemen scored on a second-down, 10-yard flea flicker pass from running back Joe Walker to quarterback Jeremy Callahan. All Lex had to do was boot the extra point and a big upset victory was in the bag. But the center snap was low, and holder Alex Hovie scrambled after he bobbled the football. The Bison swarmed the Lex ball carrier to keep the score tied at 13-13 and force another extra period.
Key turnover
Lexington got first shot with the ball in the second extra period. On first down, Callahan's pitch bounced off Hovie, and Bison linebacker Austen Sis quickly covered the ball to send momentum back to McCook's sideline. Coach Gross wasted no time, as Chitwood booted a 27-yard field goal on first down to end the game.
Missed opportunities
The hosts led 7-0 at halftime as the Bison watched several potential scoring drives end in turnovers.
Lex took the opening second-half drive deep in McCook territory. But Chitwood ended the march with a pass interception in the end zone.
The Bison responded with an 11-play, 80-yard drive capped by Chitwood's 13-yard TD run and his PAT kick to tie the score at 7-7 early in the final period.
After trading punts, Lex drove downfield, looking for the go-ahead score. On third down from the McCook 5, Callahan rolled left, but the Bison stripped the football and McCook recovered. Lex held on downs, and the Bison called timeout with less than a minute remaining.
Chitwood lined up on the fourth down and 1 from the McCook 17, appearing to try to draw Lex offside. Instead he took the snap, then slipped for no gain, giving Lex possession with 40.5 seconds remaining.
Bison block kick
Two plays netted six yards, and the Minutemen, out of time outs, set up for a game-winning 28-yard field goal. The Bison called time out, and Coach Gross said he sensed in the huddle what was coming next.
"When they lined up for that field goal, there was no question in our kids' mind -- we were going to block that," he said. "That game wasn't ending in regulation. They (McCook) just had that -- I was in the huddle, I could feel it."
Gross was right, as senior Spenser Bruntz broke through and blocked Callahan's boot.
"All I was thinking about was ball -- ball, ball, ball," Bruntz said. "Coach told me to get the ball, so I got the ball."
'Run, Spenser, run!'
What happened next might go down as the most bizarre, exciting plays in McCook history. Bruntz held up the football near the Bison 20-yard line, celebrating his block, and the teams appeared headed to overtime as the fourth quarter clock wound down. Many of The Lex players started walking off the field, but the only problem was the referees had not blown the play dead. As the referee started running downfield, the McCook coaches and bench realized the play was still alive.
"At first I thought it was dead, so I just got up and started jumping," Bruntz said. "Then I saw coach jumping up and down, telling me to go, go, and everybody else, so I'm like, 'all right,' so I ran."
Coach hurt
Bruntz took off downfield, as the Bison faithful began cheering loudly. Coach Gross started running, yelling and signaling for Bruntz to run. But the Bison coach made it a few steps before suffering an apparent hamstring injury.
Bruntz nearly made it into the end zone, but Lex defender Ryan Reynolds caught him and pushed the Bison out of bounds a yard short of a touchdown.
"I ran out of gas at the 40," Bruntz said. "When I got to the 10, I was thinking about jumping and diving in, but then if I wouldn't have made it I would have got laughed at, so I figured just try to ram it in. That didn't work either."
But the play did save the game for the Bison, at least until the next few big plays in the two overtime periods.
Lexington rushed for 250 yards and added 83 more though the air, according to McCook statistics.
Homecoming Friday
McCook improved to 7-0, winning its first District 7 contest of the season. Lexington falls to 3-4 and 0-1 in district play.
The Bison celebrate Homecoming Friday, Oct. 14, with a huge District 7 game against 5-2 Adams Central. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Weiland Field. Lexington travels to Holdrege next Friday.