| With only a few minutes left in the game,
Gilbert was on offense. Quarterback Dan Clark threw a screen pass to
tailback Brian Schmidt for a 56-yard play, putting the ball on the West
Lyon one-yard line. The Tigers then scored a touchdown and extra point
to tie the game at 21-21. They kicked the ball off to the Wildcats, who
executed a few offensive plays but eventually were forced to punt.
Gilbert then had the ball on offense and ran out the clock. There would
be no more scoring in the fourth quarter.
When the game went into overtime, an observer had to wonder if the
season-long Gilbert mantra of "believe" would continue to serve the team
well. Or would the players flinch and lose touch with the vision? Nope.
The Tiger defense was as true to its vision as Luke, the hero of the
movie Star Wars, under the wise tutelage of the desert hermit and
war hero, Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Gilbert team did as it has done many times
this year — face an opponent who has the ball with a
first down, just yards from the goal line, and keep the foe from
scoring.
After the buzzer ended the fourth quarter, the teams huddled with
their coaches to strategize. Gilbert had the first possession in the
overtime period, starting with the ball on the West Lyon 10-yard line.
Tailback Schmidt got nowhere on the first play. On the second play, he
moved the ball to the one-yard line. And on the third down, fullback
Adam Weber punched across the goal line for a touchdown, and Alex Bowers
kicked the extra point to put the Tigers ahead 28-21.
Then, as is the custom with high school overtime rules for football, the
Wildcats were on offense. They had a first down at the Gilbert 10-yard
line. The Tigers held strong on defense. On fourth down, it looked as
though Gilbert won the game when a Tiger player deflected a Wildcat
pass, rendering it incomplete. However, Gilbert was penalized for pass
interference. The Wildcats then got a fresh first down. This time, they
were on the Gilbert 3-yard line but gained only a yard on their first
play. However, on the next play, they punched through the right side of
the line for a touchdown. The Wildcats then tried a two-point
conversion, but their attempt to save the game ended with another
incompleted pass. The final score was Gilbert 28 and West Lyon 27, and
all sorts of Tiger merriment broke out. Players and coaches were high-fiving,
hugging, lifting each other off the ground, and shooting their arms
toward the ceiling as though they were singing hallelujah in a revival
chorus.
The Tigers now advance to the Iowa Class 2A championship football
game. It will be Saturday at the UNI-Dome. We hope to post further
information later this evening or by midweek.
For sure, we would like to provide a bit more detailed information.
But at the game, we were focused on shooting video (scrambling to get
the tripod set up in a variety of locations with eyes focused on the
viewfinder during the plays) and not on picking up a game guide with
roster, taking notes, or getting a statistics package. So in some ways,
we don't have a clue regarding the story-line of the game except to say
it was a close contest all the way. However, we talked to a key Gilbert
fan, Joe Battles, who helped recall some of the details of the game for
this write-up. He played high school ball, coaches a Gilbert elementary
team, and follows the high school program. We also watched the televised
sports reports on the 10 o'clock news on KCCI Channel 8 and WHO Channel
13. Gilbert Head Coach Scott Auderer said on KCCI, "That's what
championship teams do. Someone steps up and makes a play. Next time,
someone else steps up." On WHO, Auderer said, "We've told the players
from day one, 'Believe, believe, believe, and we will get it done.' And
boy, they have. I can't give enough credit. The kids have been awesome."
Also, on WHO, fullback Adam Weber talked about how great it was to come
from where the team was last year, "A 10-win season is huge for all of
us."
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