FINALLY, we played COMET FOOTBALL for a full 48 MINUTES! Going into this game we were in a position that i never expected to be in. If you told me in august that we'd be playing Northwest Christian for third in the league and that a lot of people around the state might even go as far as to think that we might lose for the first time in history to NWC, I would have laughed. But, things happen and thats the situation we were in. But i don't think anybody anywhere expected a game that ended the way it did. We started the game slower than we would have wanted (what's new?) when we let them score on a huge run on their second play of the night. However, it wasn't long after trading punts that we got on the scoreboard. After our first possession didn't lead to paydirt, i knew that our offense still should have no problem finishing this game and that it would really come down to our defense stepping up (another thing i would have laughed at if you told me that in august.)
So with the scoreboard reading 7-6 our defense wasn't quite able to stop them, as they extended their lead to 14-6. but their defense wasn't quite able to stop us either, as we scored to narrow the gap to 14-12. We got the ball back with some time left in the half to try and gain the advantage. Our offense went down the field, and with seconds on the clock we called a pass with all our receivers going on streak routes. Dustin's pass didn't have quite enough air on it, and it was picked off. It would've been great to be leading at half, but it wasn't a game changer by any means.
Not much happened until we scored again with i think around 5 minutes left in the game (14-18). i know thats over a quarter of the game that we could've used to put the game out of reach, but hey "we like to keep it close". We really needed a stop to get the ball back and finish them. And actually, we did stop them on 4th down... 3 times. All i want to say about those 3 calls on Dustin is that everyone has a job to do and sometimes people make mistakes. A player might miss a tackle, an announcer might mispronounce a players name, a coach might tell tony romo to hold the snap for a game winning field goal in the playoffs, and in this case a ref might make a series of calls that were completely ridiculous and almost cost the better team the game- not once- but three times on the same drive. It was unbelievable.
So we got them ball back with a minute to go and basically the rest of the season on the line, down 21-18. We all knew what we had to do, and we all trusted each other to do our jobs and to do our own. Our first pass was complete for a first down and we got out-of-bounds, stopping the clock. Our next pass attempt failed, just barely over thrown. but the next few were complete, and we capped of the drive with an almost 20 yard pass to chandler chapman. Ironically, this was the same play, same target, and around the same distance that we tried to score on right before halftime. That time it failed, But this time it was flawless and gave us the lead 21-24 with around 30 seconds left in the game!
They do have a great kicker and we knew that they didnt have to make it all the way to the endzone to prevent this game from being over. They never got the chance. They might have passed the 50 yard line with one second left, but a sack on the play prevented any chance of us not leaving with a victory.
This was one of the most incredible games that I've been apart of, maybe even as impressive than some of the 2008 team's comeback finishes against NWC (go figure), North Beach, and South Bend. They don't call Naselle the Cardiac Comets for nothing I guess!
This week is Homecoming and honestly, i could care less. All i want to do is go out there and play Comet Football. Tonight is also Senior night, which is a big deal to us. Thank you Leo and Chase for the memories at our home field.. Comet Pride Forever!
-Ryley Queener
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