On Friday October 2nd, As the rain poured down and many people prepared for the potential threat of a tornado, the Minutemen were stirring up a storm of their own against the high powered Timber Creek team. With the poor weather conditions and having to play without team captain James Merrill ’16, all odds were against the Minutemen as they took the field as underdogs. By the end of the game, everyone who didn’t believe in the Minutemen were made believers, as the team put on a great show and won one of the most exciting football games in school history.
The Minutemen were coming off a huge win against Shawnee, and had a solid 1-2 record. The Chargers were, ranked in the South Jersey top 3, coming off a tough loss against top ranked Delsea, and had a 2-1 record on the season, and needed a win to keep their high expectations for the season alive.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we felt the bad weather played into our favor, and we walked out onto the field confident that we would come out with a win” said Merrill.
With the rain coming down in buckets, passing the ball was nearly impossible. The Minutemen jumped out to an early 17-0 lead in the first quarter, with a rushing touchdown by Dyllon Headley ‘16, a fumble recovered and returned for a touchdown by Nick Evangelista ’16, and a field goal added on by Cooper Bentz ‘16 The Minutemen were controlling the game, and showed the Chargers that they would not come into their house and beat them without a fight. But, for every punch the Minutemen threw, the Chargers came right back with a punch of their own, and showed that they too had a lot of fight left in them.
In the second quarter, the chargers outscored the Minutemen 12-0, and at halftime the score was 17-12. “At halftime we felt good about how we had played, we felt as though we were in control of the game” said lineman Chris Wizzart ’16. In the third quarter, the minutemen defense held strong, and held the how powered Timber Creek offense to no points, and even tacked on a safety to make the score 19-12 Minutemen heading into the fourth quarter.
“We felt good going into crunch time and we knew they were gonna come at us with everything they had, but we were confident that our defense would hold strong” said linebacker Kyle Bogacki ’16.
The Minutemen defense held strong, but did surrender one touchdown, the two teams were tied at 19 at the end of regulation, which meant it was time for overtime.
“I can’t lie, I was nervous going into overtime, but I had faith and knew the guys would pull through” said Merrill.
As the Chargers drove down the field and hit a field goal, the pressure was on the Minutemen as it was the offenses turn to take the field. The team drove down the field, and after failing to convert on third down, were looking at a 42 yard field goal, in heavy winds and heavy rains.
The Minutemen needed a miracle, and as they lined up to kick the field goal, they jumped off sides. The five yard penalty made what already looked as a near impossible 42 yard kick, an even more difficult 47 yard kick. The weight of the game rested on kicker Cooper Bentz ’16 shoulders. With the hopes of the whole team resting in his leg, he lined up and put all he had into the kick.
As the ball spiraled through the air it sailed through the uprights and was good. The 47 yard kick was a bomb, and would have been good from ten yards farther. The kick set a school record for longest field goal made, and kept the Minutemen’s hopes alive.
“When Coop made that kick we went wild” said Wizzart “we knew had another shot to go win the game.”
With no scoring in the second overtime, it was clear that both teams were exhausted after battling for five quarters. As the third overtime began, the Chargers had the ball and drove down the field. With the ball on the 20, things were not looking good for the Minutemen, and it looked as though they would need another big play to turn the game around. On third down, the Minutemen dialed up a blitz, and linebacker Kyle Bogacki hit timbercreek quarterback Devin Leary ‘18 as he was throwing, sending the ball flying into the air, and right into the arms of Matteo Murgia ’16, who caught the ball and never looked back. Murgia took the interception 80 yards for a game winning pick 6, completing the comeback, and giving the minutemen the 28-22 upset victory.
As Murgia crossed across the goaline, a sea of blue swept onto the field and met him in the endzone.
“When Matteo scored I couldn’t believe it, I was so happy I just stormed the field with everyone else and celebrated with all my brothers.” Said Merrill.
With the Minutemen knocking off the top ranked team, they now stand at a solid 2-2 record, with an easier road ahead of them. Next week, the Minutemen square off with the winless Eastern squad away at Eastern. Then, they play a tough Kingsway squad on the road, and then come back home for two games against winless Cherry Hill East, and a one win Pennsauken squad. The road for playoffs is looking bright for the Minutemen squad, as they look to finish off the season strong and make a push into playoffs.