TURNER — Jake Posik can’t remember the last time he recovered a fumble with Leavitt Area High School’s football season on life support. That’s mostly because, hello, these are the Leavitt Hornets and they’re usually smacking the daylights out of somebody.
Mike Hathaway does recall the last time he called for a two-point conversion try to win or lose a game no longer governed by a running clock. That’s largely because the risk went unrewarded.
And I’m struggling to summon the date, location and final score of the last time I witnessed a better high school football game. That’s primarily because I’m not sure it has happened.
Eastern Class B Championship, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011: Leavitt 22, Mt. Blue 21, 2OT, final.
That line in the record books soon will serve as a useless mile marker, conveying nothing of consequence about the insane, 2-hour, 20-minute journey to that destination.
You really had to be there. If you weren’t, accept my deepest sympathies.
For me to expound upon how close Mt. Blue was to kicking a chip-shot field goal and storming into the state final would be inadequate — not to mention agonizing, if you’re a Cougars fan.
Mt. Blue’s Jordan Whitney stripped the ball away from Leavitt inner receiver Ian Durgin at the end of a shovel pass in the first overtime at Libby Field.
“At that point,” said Leavitt quarterback and safety Jordan Hersom, “I’m having second thoughts in my head. My thoughts weren’t in the most positive state of mind. But I didn’t doubt my teammates.”
Maybe not, but suspicion and desperation were reasonable emotions.
Whitney and the Cougars needed to run three plays, aiming the third one between the hash marks. Shawn Keach had to split the uprights from 19 yards. He’s booted them twice as long.
“We were trying to steady up our extra point block,” Hathaway said. “We were going to use a timeout and try to use something to get a block on. Their field goal kicker’s been great down the stretch.“
But Whitney tripped as he stepped back from center on third down from the 2, colliding with running back Izaiha Tracy. Tyler Vallee arrived on the scene and finished the process of jarring the ball loose.
Posik, a senior who missed most of last season and plays like he has a personal vendetta with the world about it, gobbled up the leftovers and saved a season.
“What were the odds?” Posik said. “We fumble it in overtime and they recover it. Then they fumble and we recover it.”
In this game, son, pretty much even money. And speaking of gambling …
Mt. Blue used two runs by Tracy to cover the 10 yards and a letter-perfect kick from Keach to make it 21-14 in the second overtime. Hersom supplied the first segment of Leavitt’s answer, immediately locating favorite target Brian Bedard for a catch-and-run TD.
Hathaway sent Dustin Moore and the Hornets’ kicking unit onto the field.
It was a ruse. He called timeout, then commissioned his offense, hoping to catch the Cougars on their heels. Hersom delivered the same shovel pass that he directed to Durgin earlier, only this time to senior Jake Ouellette.
Posik and the Leavitt line had cleared a lane as wide as the interstate that leads to Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, site of the Hornets’ pending third straight appearance in a Class B final. Ouellette high-stepped in. Hearts broke on one sideline and began pumping again on the other.
“I have to give all the credit to Coach Hathaway on that one,” Posik said. “You look like an idiot if you don’t get it, but you look like a damn good coach if you do.”
Some of us have trouble remembering what we ate for breakfast. Preoccupied and sleep-deprived as he probably is, the coach vividly recalls the prerequisite for his decision.
“We were playing Mountain Valley here. I think it was 2003, because Dustin Gilbert was our quarterback,” Hathaway said. “At the end of the game we went double pass, and Chad Schrepper threw it to Josh Murphy 78 yards with no time on the clock. Then we put our other quarterback Matt Cote in, because he was a good passer. And he fumbled the snap.”
Having Hersom in the pocket to catch that delivery and the likes of Bedard, Ouellette, Durgin, et al, available to snare his made Friday night’s final answer a no-brainer.
“We had decided yesterday if it came down to that, we have good players and we would go for two,” Hathaway said.
Leavitt and Mt. Blue both have good players by the dozen. If they played 10 times, each might walk away with five wins.
“They’re a damn good team. They came down from Class A this year and gave us a run for our money. I think that’s what it boiled down to on the goal line is our experience,” Posik said, “We can’t quit. We won’t fold. It’s not a matter of we won’t. We can’t.”
The mystique of 33 straight Pine Tree Conference victories and a fistful of meaningful November games fueled the Hornets, enabling them to edge the Cougars not once, but twice, in a year each school was blessed with a team for the ages.
Blessing some 3,000 of us with a sequel we’ll never forget.
— Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. His email is koakes@sunjournal.com.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
