Eagles escape KHS in overtime

Time heals wounds, but three days after his Kingfi sher Yellowjackets lost 2827 in overtime to Weatherford in their season opener, head football coach Reagan Roof was still feeling it.

“We wanted that one bad,” Roof said.

The Jackets fought back from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter, forced overtime and then fell behind again when Noah Wald scored on a 5-yard run to begin OT.

The extra-point put the Eagles up by seven points.

Once it was their turn, the Jackets did their part.

Brett Calamateo nearly found the end zone with a run. Though he didn’t score, Calamateo set up Jhett Birdwell’s QB sneak to pull the Jackets within a point.

It was decision time for Roof.

Send a new kicker out there with the game on the line or try to win it with a two-point conversion?

Although Rhett Schlegel had made all three of his extra-point kicks on the night, two of them were dicey.

With his team on the road, Roof opted for the conversion try.

The call saw Jackson Willbanks flash to the second level of the Eagles’ defense and, for that needed split second, he was open.

But Birdwell’s pass drifted a little low and behind Willbanks, enough so that the latter couldn’t quite get his paws on it enough to secure it.

The ball fell to the turf.

The Eagles’ sideline and home stands erupted.

The Jackets side of the stadium was dejected.

“Sure, we missed that play, but I still think it was the right call,” Roof said. “And there were several opportunities throughout the course of the game to not even be in that position.”

Roof rattled off a number of plays in which there was a missed assignment on the line, a missed call, a missed tackle, a penalty… The list was lengthy. “I think the biggest difference in the entire game was execution,” Roof said. “We had a chance to make some plays that were critical and we didn’t make them… and they (Weatherford) did.”

For much of the first three quarters, the Jackets struggled to make any kind of plays of offense.

Kingfisher had just 55 yards of offense in the first half, but still managed to be in a tie ballgame.

That’s because the de- fense was holding up its end.

Jayzen Surveyor picked off Wald on Weatherford’s first possession of the game.

Two other Eagle possessions ended with punts, one was a turnover on downs and another was cut short by the end of the half.

The Eagles did have the only offensive score of the half as Wald broke a tackle behind the line of scrimmage, then raced 28 yards at the 9:51 mark of the second quarter.

But the lead didn’t last long. Just 14 seconds to be exact.

Kasen Blair took the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a score.

Neither team threatened the rest of the half, but the Eagles began to dominate in the third quarter.

Weatherford had two possessions and scored on both.

One saw Wald plunge in from a yard out to end a five-plus minute drive and the other saw him score on a 5-yard run.

That came with 32 seconds left in the third quarter, one that witnessed the Eagles chew up more than 8:30 off the clock while the Jacket offense was still mired in neutral.

But that changed in the fourth.

With not even threefourths of a football field of total yardage to that point, the Jacket offense showed some life.

Birdwell guided KHS on an 84-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 15-yard TD pass to Brody Boeckman.

Although a force on the defensive side, Boeckman was only beginning to truly make his mark on this game.

On Weatherford’s next possession, the junior unloaded on Weatherford running back Ty Short in the trenches.

It popped the ball loose and Calamateo pounced on it.

Seconds later, Boeckman got behind the Eagle defense and hauled in a 65-yard touchdown pass from Birdwell.

With 7:27 to play, the game was tied up.

“I was really proud of our guys for continuing to fight and getting back in the game,” Roof said.

They weren’t done… but they almost were.

After the teams traded punts, Weatherford’s Jakoby Flynn found himself all alone behind the Kingfi sher defense.

Wald’s pass found Flynn, who was racing to the end zone.

The Eagles were destined to go up a score with just two minutes to play when Boeckman did the unthinkable.

Not only did he run down Flynn, but at the very last moment, he punched the ball out of his hands from behind just before Flynn was able to cross the goal line.

The ball bounced out of the back of the end zone.

Not only had Boeckman saved a TD, but the touchback gave KHS the ball at its own 20.

“That was one of the headiest plays I’ve ever seen by a player,” Roof said. “It was just another huge play for him in what was a tremendous game overall.”

The stats back that up. Boeckman didn’t just make the “big” plays with the two forced fumbles and the two touchdown receptions.

He made seemingly every play as he recorded 20 tackles on the night.

The performance was needed, especially after the Jackets lost starting middle linebacker Mauricio Valles, last season’s leading tackler, to a knee injury in the first half.

Tests revealed early this week that he tore an ACL and will miss the rest of the season.

“That really hurt us because we didn’t really have a backup middle linebacker,” Roof said.

The Jackets were also in a three-man defensive front much of the night.

Weatherford - namely Wald and Short - was feasting with its run game. The two combined for 310 rushing yards.

But Calamateo was plugged into Valles’ spot and eventually settled in. The Jackets also switched to a four-man front in the fourth quarter.

“I thought once Brett settled in, he played really well, especially considering he didn’t have much practice at that position,” Roof said.

Weatherford’s final nine rushing attempts of the fourth quarter netted only 39 yards.

Calamateo ended his night with 11 tackles.

He also hauled in a 34yard pass from Birdwell on the drive after Boeckman forced the touchback. The Jackets were in business and even reached the Weatherford 15 with plenty of time on the clock.

But then came a series of plays that were among those Roof had previously rattled off.

The Jackets couldn’t close the drive and regulation ended with Willbanks catching a 27-yard pass, but he was tackled 2 yards shy of the goal line as time ran out.

“We just had a bunch of little opportunities that could have won the game,” Roof said. “And it was somebody different every time. It wasn’t one group or one person. We weren’t consistent enough as a team in executing.”

Birdwell ended his night 16 of 32 for 232 yards. He was 10 of 17 for 208 yards in the fourth quarter alone.

Calamateo had 23 rushing yards on six attempts. Blair added 27 on three carries.

Kingfisher’s offense managed just 65 yards rushing overall.

Weatherford countered with 369 in its ground game.

Short had 125 on 18 carries.

Wald did the most damage as the QB carried it 31 times and produced 185 yards and all four TDs.

Despite facing double teams all night, Kingfisher defensive end Cale Reagan delivered nine stops for the Jackets.

It will be a similar attack Kingfisher faces this week when Clinton visits for the Jackets’ home opener.

The Red Tornadoes were off last week and lost their opener 30-0 to Heritage Hall in Week 0.

“They’re probably a little bigger than Weatherford up front,” Roof said. “They’re going to do what Clinton does, which is line up and come right at us, so we’ve got to prepare for that again.”