Nine seconds remaining. Fourth down. Thousands of fans waiting for the final play.
That was the situation that O’Gorman found themselves in last Friday.
And with the game on the line, first year quarterback Hayden Groos found Ryland Satter for the game winning touchdown in the Knights’ 24-21 victory over Brandon Valley in the Dakota Bowl.
“Hayden made a great throw and he [Satter] made a great move and got them to bite,” said O’Gorman Head Coach Jayson Poppinga. “The throw was perfect, if it would have been off a yard either way we would have lost the game. Players make plays when it comes down to crunch time.”
It was the perfect finish to an impressive 80-yard, 96-second drive that came in the wake of a clutch Brandon Valley series that ended in two great catches from Landon Dulaney, including a go-ahead touchdown.
But even with the pressure, Coach Poppinga believed in his team and the leadership of his new QB on the final possession.
“In the second half, three drives was all that we had and we scored on all of them. Obviously we practice it [the final drive], but it’s not like you’re running it in such a stressful environment like that in practice.
“Our first game QB came through in the final seconds. He [Groos] played all last year as a safety, but playing in a game like that, where the Dakota Bowl is your first game at quarterback, I was just really pleased with how he responded in the second half.”
The game was also filled with many other impressive performances from the home team, including toughness from two-way player Sully Schlimgen and clutch touchdowns from Maverick Jones and the aforementioned Satter.
“Sully Schlimgen [impacted] the whole game playing offense and defense. He was going both ways and made a huge impact on our run game and obviously Jones made a huge play on the swing pass where he broke three tackles in order to get the touchdown. Ryland Satter also had a big game.
“You start going down the line, a lot of guys had really big games for us and we are going to depend on them all year. It’s AAA football, there is no off week.”
The Knights will look to continue to build off of this triumphant start to the season towards a schedule filled with those tough teams in 11AAA.
“BV is a very talented team so that was a huge win to start off our season. It does help our guys come back to practice and it helps the mentality going through some adversity.
“[But] it all depends on how we build week two and three and four. Lots of teams win their first game and pitter out in the championship. Our goal is to play our best football at the end of the season.”
Now, the Knights will square off with Roosevelt at Howard Wood field in a traditional rivalry that is still going strong.
“They took a tough loss last week with some players out. Roosevelt-O’Gorman, we’re the original west side rivalry. It’s been a big rivalry ever since I’ve been here and Roosevelt’s always been a talented team and Coach [Kim] Nelson does a great job with his players & staff.”
Today’s matchup will take place at Howard Wood Field at 4:00 P.M. Find all the coverage of the game and the rest of the 11AAA season on our social media pages.
This article is our part of our weekly coaches’ interviews presented by The Move Group. To see the complete list, check out our website below.
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