Having it end is never easy. Hopefully, knowing you left it all on the field takes away some of the sting. Malcolm came within inches of sending their Nov. 8 Class C2 quarterfinal game into overtime when a 40-yard field goal attempt sailed just east of the south goal post at Battle Creek, securing a 30-27 win for the Braves.
In a game of momentum swings that saw six lead changes, it came down to a pair of kicks in the game’s final 17 seconds. The boot from the left foot of Battle Creek’s Hudson Last was good from 30 yards out to put the Braves up by three.
Following a short kickoff and a 32-yard pass from Carson Frank to Cole Tiedeman, there was time for one final play.
“We called a timeout and left it up to the seniors,” Malcolm coach Scott Amen said. “Do we take a shot from the 23 or do we kick the field goal? Our seniors said, ‘we trust Hunter (Meyers). He’s one of the best kickers ever to come through our program. We believe in him.’”
As the ball sailed through the air, it looked close enough that coaches on the sideline, as well as some players on the field, thought it was good.
“He didn’t miss it by much,” Amen said. “Hunter took it hard. But, he has no reason to hang his head.”
Among the momentum swings was a 90-yard kickoff return by Aden Pochop that tied the game just moments after Malcolm had extended its lead to seven points late in the fourth quarter.
“We had the play set up perfectly,” Amen said. “The plan was to kick it short to one of their blockers and he would have to down it. The kid missed it and the ball bounced and rolled another 15 yards to their best returner. A lane opened up, he got a head of steam and we couldn’t bring him down.”
That Battle Creek was even able to tie the game with that touchdown will be talked about for some time. When the Clippers took their 27-20 lead on a two-yard run by Frank, the coaches decided against kicking the extra point to go up by eight. They instead elected to go for two in hopes of making it a two-score game. A pass attempt to the corner of the end zone was broken up, keeping the separation at seven points.”
“The thing about coaching is you have to make hard decisions in the heat of the moment,” Amen said. “We felt confident that they wouldn’t have time to score twice in those final three minutes. We also felt like, with their size and strength, stopping them on a three-yard conversion play was going to be tough, So, the difference between a seven and eight point lead didn’t seem that significant.”
For Malcolm’s 11 seniors, their final few games were some of their best.
“These guys have been part of a lot of victories over the past three years,” Amen said. “I felt like it took them a while to own it this year and stop living on past successes. We took it game by game and I truly believe we were playing our best football at the end. We didn’t win it, but we limited penalties and didn’t turn it over. It was a great game between two really good teams.”
Amen’s 18th season at the helm of the Clippers ends with a third straight playoff quarterfinal appearance and an 8-3 record.
