The unpredictability of junior boys football can be a wonderful thing. Heart-wrenching, yes - but wonderful, nonetheless.
Pretty much the entire gamut of emotion came into play in the final two minutes of the Lo-Ellen Park Knights - Lively Hawks semi-final matchup on Thursday night, with the drama in the St College Cardinals - St Benedict Bears nightcap pretty much equal or better.
Having beaten Lively by a final count of 21-6 in the season-opener on September 19th en route to a 5-0 regular season performance, the Knights entered the final four matchup as favouties and very much looked the part through three quarters of play, building up a 20-7 lead.
Though a fourth quarter touchdown from Bennett Timmers narrowed the gap to 20-14, things still looked well in hand for Lo-Ellen as the Hawks took over possession on their own forty with under two minutes to play.
With starting quarterback Kade Campbell sidelined with an injury, the Hawks were forced to rely pretty much solely on the run game - with no timeouts remaining to boot.
The the fun began. Somehow, the black and gold were finding a way to march the field, even as precious seconds ticked away. With 12 seconds showing on the clock, Timmers found the corner and sprinted across the goal line from 12 yards out, deadlocking the contest at 12-12.
The elation on the Lively sideline was deflated, to an extent, when the point after attempt went awry - though momentum was still clearly on the side.
The ensuing squib kick featured a pretty solid return by Elijah Ajayi, giving the Knights one last shot from the thirty-six yard line. A deep pass went incomplete - but Lively was tagged for pass interference.
With the ball now at the 21, Lo-Ellen was in great position to punt for a single point and the win, or so everyone thought.
"With punting, I can get the ball high but I can't get it far," acknowledged Knights' kicker Monjad Hussam Eddin amidst the post-game celebration. "I can kick it better off the ground."
With that in mind, the 15 year-old grade ten student with no football experience at all to draw on as of eight weeks ago came out to attempt a game-winning 27 yard field goal.
"The time was over so I knew I had to make this - and then we get to go home," said Eddin. "I just put all my power into it."
The 23-20 win featured a pair of touchdowns from Levin Blouin as well as a pick-six from Lo-Ellen defensive back Adrian Aho while Kade Campbell (TD) and Dean Wildis (2 PATs) rounded out the scoring for the Hawks.
The late contest was equally as entertaining as the Cards earned a measure of revenge for a 48-27 loss to the Bears earlier this month, chalking up a 19-18 win in the post-season rematch as Nolan Larche recorded his third touchdown of the game in the final minute of play to vault SCC into the final.
Evan Demarchi (TD/PAT/S), Emmanuel Abiodun (TD) and Domingo Quintana (FG + PAT) accounted for the offense for the Bears.
Lo-Ellen and St Charles will meet Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the James Jerome Sports Complex to see who will replace the Lively Hawks as reigning holders of the Birks-Ellis-Ryrie Cup and the SDSSAA junior football championship banner.
