ELIZABETH KUHLMANN, BLUE VALLEY NORTHWE
Prep2Prep Student Contributor

September 27, 2013

STILWELL, KS - The only thing running through Blue Valley Northwest senior Jacob Rominger’s mind before the first play of overtime was to get the ball to his receiver, and the Huskies would win the game. BVNW junior tight end Jack Kutey broke for the end zone as the ball was snapped and cut to the far corner. Rominger’s pass spiraled through the air and landed in his outstretched hands for the game-winning touchdown against the previously undefeated Blue Valley West Jaguars, making the final score 28-21. BVNW improved to 2-2 with the win; BVW dropped to 3-1.

“Jack Kutey’s touchdown was the highlight of the game,” BVNW senior wide receiver Brett Henning said. “I didn’t know Jack could even catch the football … We knew all along that we can play with [BVW] and we came out and showed that we are a force to be reckoned with this year.”

The stadium seemed to be holding its breath as the end of the fourth quarter approached. BVW had established an early 13-0 lead with a touchdown in the first quarter by senior Spencer Johannesman and two field goals by senior Troy Burgett. However, the Huskies had quickly retaliated with two trips to the endzone by junior running back Miles Alexander and senior wide receiver Vince Fritz. At the end of the third quarter, the score was 14-13 in favor of Blue Valley Northwest.

“Our passing game really got to them,” BVNW senior wide reciever Jaquwan Stone said. “They kind of shut down our running game, but that was OK. When we hit that play action, that’s what got them.”

The Huskies defense was tested at the beginning of the fourth quarter when the Jaguar offense came within one yard of a touchdown on a first-and-goal situation. The BVNW student section exploded as the Husky defense held the Jaguar offense for all four downs, coming away from the drive with their lead unscathed.

Moments later on a third-and-long at the one-yard line, Rominger fired up a pass to Stone, who took it 99 yards for a touchdown with 3:18 left in the game to increase the lead to 21-13. Rominger knew he was going to look for Stone before the ball was even snapped, as the Huskies wanted to avoid punting from their own end zone.

“It was amazing,” Stone said. “It was an amazing catch. When he threw the ball, I was looking for it. And I caught it, but the corner had his hands on it also so I was just standing there fighting for the ball. As soon as I knew I had it I turned around and ran and scored.”

However, if BVNW thought the Jaguars were going to give up, they were sorely mistaken. The BVW offense worked its way back up the field from their 20-yard line, and senior quarterback Ryan Ralston ran the ball into the end zone for a touchdown with 1:30 remaining. With no other choice, the Jaguars tried for a two-point conversion to tie the game, and succeeded as Ralston scampered across the goal line into the end zone.

“We had [to try the two point conversion],” BVW head coach Scott Wright said. “We were at that position where I didn’t think we’d get the chance to get the ball back, so we had to do that. It was a play where we tried to get Ryan out into the space and let him do something to make a play.”

“I felt like I needed to put the team on my back and carry them,” Ralston said. “I was pumped up. I felt really good so they kept giving me the ball.”

After the conversion, BVNW head coach Mike Zegunis said he began trying to think of an overtime play. Zegunis said while he knew there was a chance someone could score with 1:30 left in the game, he wanted to be prepared.

“I’d have to say, the best part of the night was that overtime touchdown,” Zegunis said. “For our kids to execute that, it’s a play we practice every week but this was the first time we ran it against a team live. For them to execute it perfectly and score the winning touchdown makes me really proud.

“This game was a roller coaster to say the least. Of course when you come away with the win, it’s all worth it and you feel great. I’m really proud of our kids because they battled tonight … It hasn’t been an easy first part of the year for them, so to see them have that success tonight just makes me really happy for them.”

Wright said overall, it was an incredibly good football game. Both teams had opportunities and chances, Wright said, and BVNW made their play in overtime when BVW did not. According to Wright, he did not feel like the Jaguars played as well as they could have offensively, which hurt the team.

“Hats off to BVNW, they played a great game,” Wright said. “We kind of get everybody’s best shot because we’re pretty good, but hats off to them.”

Ralston said he believes the team needs to work on being more consistent the entire game, giving up no bad drives or penalties. Even though the game did not go the way Ralston planned, he said he is proud of the team’s efforts.

“They gave us their best shot they possibly could,” Ralston said. “I think we played as hard as we could the entire game, we were in it the entire time and didn’t give up. And that showed at the end even though it didn’t come out the way we wanted it too.”

According to Rominger, BVNW will need to improve on penalties looking to future games. The team’s goal is to be a well-disciplined and clean team, but they have not been able to achieve that goal as of yet. Rominger said penalties kill drives and are sometimes the difference between a win and a loss. Other than hurting themselves with excessive penalties, Rominger said the Huskies are clicking together and improving.

“We played a really good game,” Rominger said. “We came out strong, we came out hard, we came out fighting all the way to the very end and we won. Very good team, I will give all the credit to BVW, they are a good team with amazing weapons on offense and defense. But tonight was just our night and we played as a team and came away happy with the win.”