With three seconds left, there was no doubt on the Eagan sideline. The underdog Wildcats were going for the win.
Gage Halvorson caught a 12-yard reception from Parker West on the previous play to get the seventh-seeded Wildcats within one point of No. 2 seed Woodbury in a Class 6A playoff game on Friday.
West took the snap, went into the right side of the line. Could the sophomore quarterback complete the upset? Would Woodbury make the stop?
Into the pile went the 155-pound West.
“Where he got tackled, I didn’t know if we were advancing or were done,” Woodbury coach Andy Hill said.
An official near the sideline came running in and ruled that a group of Royals’ defenders stopped West was just shy of the line. Woodbury players exhaled with jubilation; a few Eagan players fell to their knees.
Final: 21-20 Woodbury.
“Being on that sideline, hearing that crowd, hearing the boys cheer, there’s nothing better,” said Shawn Rekowski, who had a touchdown catch for the Royals (7-2). “They were on the 1. That’s as good as it gets. That’s what high school football is all about.”
“We played with fire and we’re lucky we didn’t get burned,” Hill said.
The Royals next are home to No. 6 seed Moorhead, which wears orange and black, on Halloween. The Spuds upset No. 3 Blaine 38-21 to advance.
Moorhead jumped out to a 21-0 second quarter lead and hung on to win at Woodbury 34-27 in Week 2. The Royals got stopped inside the Moorhead 5-yard line late in that one.
“That’s what we were all hoping for, that rematch, come back to our house and see what we can do,” Rekowski said.
Against Eagan, an 18-yard touchdown reception by Nolan Freymiller capped a 10-play, 78-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter for the Royals. Rekowski caught a 38-yard pass late in the third quarter as Woodbury tied the game 14-14.
Woodbury has outscored its opponents 138-75 in the second half this season. Of the team’s nine games, Hill said they trailed at the break six times but came back to win five of them.
“Sometimes we kick ourselves in the foot by coming out and maybe playing a little slow, watching what they can do. Second half, we realize it’s go time. Second half is the team we can be. We just got to play like that the whole game,” Rekowski said.
It still almost was not enough to prevent an upset.
Eagan coach Nick Johnson found plenty to be proud about of his team’s performance.
“That was the best we played all year. We talked about just putting together a complete and we did,” he said. “We played well enough to win … but sometimes that’s how life works.”
Chris Brandt and West had long first-half touchdown runs for a14-6 Wildcat lead at the break, Charlie Heinlein and Grady Recer had interceptions and Harrison Brandt had two sacks for the Wildcats (2-7).
Originally Published:
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