Photo by Kevin Nunez

“We ran out of time,” said coach Jon Kadi. “They made some good plays, and we made some good plays. We knew that the team that got the ball last would have a chance to win the game.”

As huge underdogs, WJ came into Churchill’s stadium on Thursday night to play in what many would call the biggest game of the year, facing the arch-rival Bulldogs.

The game got off to a bad start when Churchill efficiently drove the ball down the field and hit a field goal on their opening drive, putting the score at 0-3.

WJ quickly responded with a long drive of their own, featuring big gains from senior running back Michael Pitsenberger, and a tackle broken by junior quarterback Cole Ahnell that resulted in a 15-yard pass to senior running back Ryan Davis. Despite an impressive drive, WJ came away without points as they missed a field goal. Churchill got the ball back, only to be stuffed by junior linebacker Alex Schiponi on a reverse, stopping the Bulldogs for a 15-yard loss, and forcing them to punt.

In the second quarter, Pitsenberger put matters into his own hands. He took the ball and ran through the secondary for a run of nearly 50 yards. He finished the job by punching it in for a score with a short touchdown run. Senior Daniel Garay then nailed the point-after-touchdown and skied the ensuing kickoff for a touchback, putting WJ ahead at 7-3.

Even though WJ got a stop and got the ball back, they were deep into their own territory, forcing them to punt. WJ’s line was outmatched by the size of Churchill’s and could not protect the punter, allowing a blocked punt that was recovered for a touchdown.

Then, with WJ behind 7-10, Pitsenberger punched back – catching an intermediate pass from Ahnell and turning it into a huge gain. Pitsenberger boosted the score up to 14-10 as he scored WJ’s second touchdown.

The Bulldogs answered with a long, efficient drive. With only one minute left to the half, Churchill scored a touchdown, flipping the scoreboard around to 14-17, WJ.

Yet, with only five seconds left in the half, Ahnell slung a short pass out to Davis. Davis caught and secured the ball, ran a few yards, slipped a tackle and put on the after-burners, taking it all the way to the house for a WJ touchdown. All hell broke loose in the visitor stands and as fans looked up at the score, the board showed 21-17, with a mere 1.7 seconds left to the half.

However, the second half did not start well for the Wildcats. The team was stopped on their first drive of the half, and was forced to punt. Churchill then marched down the field, scoring on a 30 yard touchdown run.

Davis was determined to change the 21-24 score. He responded immediately to Churchill’s touchdown with a long kick return, taking it to the 50-yard line.

As the game continued, more bad breaks came the team’s way. When Ahnelll had possession of the ball and was down, after pouncing on a snap where the ball dropped to the ground, the ball somehow founds its way into Churchill’s’ hands as the Bulldogs piled on top of him.

While the Wildcats most likely should have retained possession, they didn’t, and Churchill took advantage, scoring a touchdown. Due to the resulting possession, WJ was left down 21-31.

Once again WJ tried to respond, but similar to previous play, the Bulldogs managed to get a ball that had been in the possession of WJ. Yet again, the turnover resulted in a Churchill touchdown, bringing the score to 21-38.

According to Kadi, despite the questionable Wildcat-Bulldog possession calls and the resulting Churchill touchdowns, WJ continued to fight.

“Our guys did a hell of a job responding,” said Kadi.

Pitsenberger started the fourth quarter with a reception out of the backfield that went for 30 yards. Later in the drive, Pitsenberger scored a touchdown, and even though the point-after-touchdown was missed, WJ drew to within 27-38.

With under 6 minutes to play, Ahnell hit Pitsenberger on a slant point-after-touchdownpoint-after-touchdowntern, and Pitsenberger took the ball through the Churchill secondary to the Churchill 2-yard line. WJ’s red zone offense then came through, when Ahnell rolled out of the pocket and hit Davis in the corner of the end zone.

All of a sudden, it was a game, and the score was 33-38.

On the ensuing Churchill possession, WJ’s defense got into the backfield early in the drive, forcing a fumble that drove the crowd wild.

But, after two minutes of slow but steady progress, WJ could not come up with a first down in the first three plays. So, with about 7 yards and less than 3 minutes to go, Ahnell took the snap, dropped back and surveyed the field. Ahnell made the quick decision to tuck it and run.

He gained 4 yards and was tackled. As the Bulldogs ran out the clock with kneel-downs, the WJ crowd showed mixed emotions. Some couldn’t believe they had come this close, and some couldn’t believe that they let it slip away.

“I was proud of them,” said Kadi. “If we can keep up that kind of energy and pressure, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

The players share Kadi’s optimism, including sophomore defensive lineman/wide receiver Daniel Curtin, a captain of the JV team who stepped up to varsity for Thursday’s game.

“I would say nothing went wrong” said sophomore defensive lineman/wingback Daniel Curtin. “We just got unlucky. We played one hell of a game.”