39-yard field goal at final horn stuns Streator, lifts Herscher to 31-30 ICE win

HERSCHER – Streator’s miraculous nine-play, 56-yard drive while trailing by six points in the final two minutes of its Illinois Central Eight Conference game at Herscher ended miraculously – a Holy Roller-style fumble into the end zone recovered by Tristan Finley.

The Bulldogs then made a great play – QB Isaiah Weibel to RB Jordan Lukes – on the 2-point conversion to take a two-point advantage with just 16.5 seconds to play.

Then the host Tigers made their own miracle.

A short squib kick returned to its own 44-yard line and a 34-yard strike from QB Tanner Jones to Reed Laird allowed Herscher kicker Jack Coutant – who hadn’t kicked during the game nor at practice for the past couple weeks due to an ankle injury – to line up for a 39-yard field goal. The snap was high, but the wind at Coutant’s back was strong and the kick was true, lifting the Tigers to a thrilling 31-30 victory.

“The kids went, ‘Let’s kick the field goal,’ Herscher coach Mike Mosier said of the timeout between Laird’s reception at the Streator 22 and Coutant’s game-winner. “And I looked them in the eyes, and they were dead serious. I said, ‘What if we miss it? We can throw it,’ and they said, ‘What if we drop it?’

“Touchè. Let’s kick the field goal. They believed in their kicker.”

Herscher improves to 3-2 overall, 2-1 in the ICE.

Surprisingly under the wind-swept conditions, the game’s two quarterbacks – Jones (13 of 26 for 139 yards and three touchdowns) and Weibel (16 of 26 for 198 yards, three touchdowns and one interception) – were the stars, both the Tigers and the Bulldogs attempting two more passes than rushes on the evening.

Weibel’s scrambling 17-yard TD pass to Demarcus Hunter opened the scoring early in the second quarter. The wind knocked down the extra-point try, and Herscher entered halftime ahead 8-6 after Jones’ first touchdown pass and a successful 2-point run.

The second half consisted of one team scoring and the other answering – Jones’ second TD responded to with Weibel’s second; Weibel’s 41-yard catch-and-run to Matt Williamson (four receptions, 93 yards, two TDs) with a Jones 30-yard touchdown pass to Coutant; Herscher fullback Alek Draper’s 14-yard bull rush up the middle by the Bulldog’s aforementioned 56-yard drive ending with Jake Hagie catching a short Weibel pass in the flat at the 2, then fumbling into the end zone where Finley recovered with 16.5 seconds remaining.

“Every time [we needed a play], I knew we had it,” Weibel said. “Our line was working hard, our defense was making stops, and even when stuff didn’t go our way we were still working. ...

“But just one play, it changes a whole football game.”

Lukes’ tough 2-point conversion catch gave Streator a 30-28 advantage. It was one the Bulldogs couldn’t hold onto, though, falling to 1-4 on the season and 0-3 in ICE Conference play.

For the game, Streator outgained Herscher in yards from scrimmage 289-230 led defensively by Cole Winterrowd (two TFLs) and Sharonn Morton (one TFL, one sack), but repeatedly put itself in bad situations either with offensive fumbles deep in its own territory or with defensive penalties.

Still, it was an effort first-year coach Matt Cloe was proud of as his Bulldogs head into a home game with Lisle next Friday.

“Absolutely fun to watch from a spectator standpoint. Obviously kind of rough from our standpoint,” Cloe said. “But our kids, we’re getting better. I wish I would have had this group for four years, I really do, but we’re getting better as a football team. We’re starting to understand how to compete.

“We had our opportunities. ... I’m proud of these kids for the way they battled back.”