BELVIDERE, Ill. — Hononegah quarterback Dom Kelly had no sooner than taken the snap when he realized he was in trouble.
Belvidere North’s vicious pass rush was threatening to break through the line and its secondary was doing a fine job of blanketing the Indians’ receivers.
With the Blue Thunder up 19-14 and Hononegah facing a 4th-and-6 with just under a minute and a half left in the game, it was now or never for the Indians.
Kelly rolled right, started to move back left but saw a herd of North lineman coming his way and went back towards the sideline. He looked down the field and saw teammate Brayden Lane waving his hand. The senior receiver had snuck behind the defensive backs.
Kelly, normally a run-first QB, stopped and heaved a perfect spiral downfield.
“I threw it, and I don't remember anything else,” the QB would say afterwards.
Everyone else at a packed Milt Brown Stadium won’t soon forget.
The ball landed perfectly in the hands of a streaking Lane, who took off sprinting before being tracked down at the 2-yard line for a 58-yard gain.
On the next play, Kelly barreled into the end zone for the game-winning score as Hononegah took down previously undefeated North 22-19 on Friday night.
“This is surreal,” an emotional Kelly said. “You really can't explain it. We've been working for this since summer and since last football season ended. Just waiting for this moment.”
The Indians defense had forced the Blue Thunder to punt on the previous drive after Brenden Tell broke up a third-down pass. The offense took over at its own 22-yard line and had 2:31 to go down and score.
A 7-yard run by Kelly and 9-yard reception by Tony Bufalo moved the chains but Kelly was later swallowed up in the backfield on a 3rd-and-3 to set up the big fourth-down pass from Kelly, who had just 37 passing yards prior to the completion.
“We just needed a big play,” Kelly said. “I knew we'd be able to create that. Our O-line gave me enough time and, fortunately, we got the big play."
Kelly might have blacked out on the big throw, but he recalled his winning run perfectly.
“I remember that our O-line blocked it perfectly. They made that play happen,” he said.
Kelly and Layne connected again on the important 2-point conversion with the QB moving around in the pocket before hitting his WR in the back of the end zone. It made it so a field goal would only tie the game, not win it.
“That was an incredible fourth down play where some athletes connected,” Indians’ head coach Brian Zimmerman said. “We were very fortunate that we got through this with the ‘W’. We escaped. I don't feel like we dominated the game at all. They played an outstanding game.”
But with just over a minute left and with North still holding a timeout, the Indians’ defense needed to make one last stop.
The Blue Thunder’s special teams, which had put the offense in great starting field position all night with strong returns, stepped up again with Ben Bucher returning the kickoff to the Indians’ 44-yard line.
Erik Roman caught a 9-yard pass before QB Andrew Bucci’s next pass was incomplete. Hononegah was hit with a roughing the passer call on a third-down incompletion but a false start penalty on North put it back on the edge of kicking range. A 12-yard completion to Nathan Alexander sent out the field-goal unit with 14 seconds left.
Alexander’s 35-yard attempt sailed just left of the goal posts.
“This was a great team win," senior defensive end Trenton Harshbarger said. "There's nothing like a big shutout in the fourth quarter and a big win like that, especially on a comeback like that. And there's no other greater feeling than just shutting them down and getting them off the field.”
The victory puts the Indians in position to clinch at least a share of the NIC-10 crown. The Blue Thunder had held the spot but now fall to 7-1 while the Indians improve to 7-1 and move into a tie in first with North and Harlem, which face each other in the season finale.
Were it not for Hononegah being forced to forfeit its win against Harlem after Kelly was found ineligible after transferring in from Lake Mills due to a clerical error, the Indians could be gunning for a second-straight undefeated regular season and back-to-back conference titles.
“It 100 percent gives us a chip on our shoulder," Kelly said. "That's been on our mind since it happened, and it will be on our mind for the rest of this season.”
Hononegah used a strong ground attack to move downfield on its opening drive and scored off an 8-yard rush by Brock Anderson.
But the Indians’ offense went nearly lifeless for the next three quarters, picking up just one first down until late in the third quarter as passes fell incomplete and rushes were swallowed up quickly.
Several of those drives saw running back Kurt Smith or Kelly run for two or three yards a play, setting up fourth-and-shorts, but the Indians opted to punt on its next five drives.
“It paid off in the long run," Zimmerman said. "I have a hard time (going for it) when we're not on our side of the field."
Hononegah's defense stepped up and was steady in slowing down North’s triple-option. The Blue Thunder had just 130 total rushing yards with Zavian McElroy recording 42 yards on 14 carries. Bucher had 40 on seven.
“Everyone had a job and we just had to keep sticking to that," Harshbarger said. "We knew if they were going to get yards on us, they had to do it outside. And we tried our best to not let them get outside."
But North did strike on touchdowns runs of three, five and seven by Bucci. The second score, which put the Blue Thunder up 13-7 going into halftime after a missed PAT, was set up by a 38-yard catch from Alexander.
Bucci’s final score made it 19-7 following a failed 2-point run with nine minutes left in the third quarter after a botched snap on Hononegah’s punt set up North at the Indians’ 22.
“We've done so well on special teams this year that we were due for a miscue,” Zimmerman said. “And unfortunately, it was at the worst time. So for us to be able to overcome that is a tremendous, tremendous feat.”
Hononegah’s defense forced punts on the next three drives with key tackles-for-losses from Xander Swanson, Owen Daniel Bock, Harshbarger and a banged-up Aiden Jarvis preventing first downs.
The Indians' offense finally came to life late in the third with Kelly picking up four-straight first downs with his legs. Lane had an 11-yard run and Bufalo had a first-down carry before Smith busted up the middle for a 16-yard score to make it 19-14 with just under 11 minutes left in the game.
Smith finished with 69 rushing yards and Kelly had 62.
“(The defense) has to worry about the guys like Kurt and our amazing wide receivers,” Kelly said. “It's all because of that. They allow me to do what I can do. We started rolling out more, doing more things to the outside. And our O-line stepped it up in the second half, so the rush wasn't as bad.”
And now, Hononegah has a date with Belvidere on Friday to lock up a spot at the top of the NIC-10.
“We just want to leave our mark,” Harshbarger said.
• BOXSCORE:
HONONEGAH 22, BELVIDERE NORTH 19
Hono…….. 7 0 0 15 — 22
B. North… 0 13 6 0 — 19
H — Anderson, 7, run (Pinkston kick)
BN — Bucci, 3, run (Delgado kick)
BN — Bucci, 5, run (kick failed)
BN —Bucci, 7, run (run failed)
H — Smith, 16, run (Pinkston kick)
H — Kelly, 2, run (Lane pass from Kelly)
TEAM STATS: First downs — H 17, BN 10. Rushing H 37-160, BN 36-130. Passing — H 95, BN 81. Passes — H 13-8-0, BN 9-6-0. Fumbles — H 0-0, BN 0-0. Punts — H 5-35.8, BN 5-31.6. Penalties — H 7-45, BN 7-47.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS: Rushing — H, Smith 16-69, Kelly 14-62. BN, McElroy 14-42, Bucher 7-40. Passing — H, Kelly 13-8-0, 95. BN, Bucci 6-4-0, 68, Dinsmore 2-2-0, 13. Receiving — H, Lane 4-70. BN, Alexander 4-66.
Local News
Comments / 0