Plano finds late magic, beats Harvard on Tristan Meszaros 75-yard TD catch in final minute

PLANO – Plano got magical on Senior Night.

Trailing Harvard by a single point and with time running out in Friday’s Kishwaukee River Conference game, Tristan Meszaros made an over the head catch of fellow senior Kaiden Schimandle’s pass down the sideline with 1:10 left and turned it into a 75-yard go-ahead touchdown to win a 29-22 thriller.

“That was all on the team,” Meszaros said. “The O-line holding the blocks for that long, the quarterback throwing that (and) that was just a beautiful ball. That was not just me; that was the whole team. The sideline was so loud. I was so pumped for it. I just did what I could. I trusted him (Schimandle), trusted my team and that’s just what happened.”

Plano (2-6, 1-5) hasn’t won many games this fall, but the Reapers have won the trust of their first-year coach Kyle Tutt.

“That’s a senior-to-senior connection between two guys that all year have been able to do those things,” Tutt said. “We’ve continually trusted our guys. Not every game came out the way we wanted it to, but they believed in themselves and continued to fight. They had a great week of practice and I think that all showed here tonight.”

Similar to Reapers purple, Meszaros wore a Purple Rain t-shirt under his jersey. His catch certainly provided a reason to yell, “Let’s Go Crazy,” after the big play.

Schimandle explained that they connected on a similar one during a 41-17 loss to Woodstock North. Obviously, nothing compares to this one.

“We’ve run that several times before and practice it all the time,” Schimandle said. “I saw my 1-on-1 coverage with (Meszaros) so I threw it. I trusted his speed and he got under it and my line held up perfectly. It was just a great play overall on that one.”

Harvard (2-6, 0-6) rallied from a 14-8 deficit. The Hornets had a nice opportunity to tie or take the lead late in the first half but the drive stalled inside the 5-yard line as time expired in the half.

“It was a fun game,” Hornets coach Brad Swanson said. “They just made more plays then we did and they made a big play there at the end. It comes down to a couple plays here and there and that makes the difference.”

The Hornets received the ball to open the second half, but Meszaros picked off Adam Cooke’s pass and returned it 31 yards for the touchdown and a 21-8 lead after senior Colby Byrd’s PAT kick.

That could’ve been the moment that the game got away from the Hornets. Rather, Cooke delivered a spectacular 38-yard touchdown run where he escaped several players before finding the end zone. The Hornets fumbled away the PAT try but pulled within 21-14.

After their defense forced a quick offensive series, the Hornets pulled to within 21-20 on Cooke’s 2-yard run. Then they took the lead when Cooke found Cristian Pagles in the corner of the end zone on the 2-point PAT.

It was a similar play to the one Cooke made to Ethan Powles after Drey Hernandez Williams had scored on a 9-yard run for an 8-7 lead with 10:07 left in the second quarter.

The Reapers had scored on their opening possession on a 7-yard reception that junior Dylan Saunders hauled in from Schimandle.

They had to go 97 yards to score the game winner, taking advantage of a Harvard fumble. The Hornets had possessed the ball since 8:02 in the fourth quarter, but coughed it up with plenty of time for the Reapers to do something magical.

“The results don’t show what we’ve been doing,” Schimandle said. “We’ve been putting in so much work. The line, skills, defense. It’s just everyone and it feels so great to win on Senior Night and celebrate our last game on this field.”

After being victimized twice on two-point PATs, the Reapers got one of their own which at the very least put in the heads of Harvard that they’d now need 7 points to tie the game. Senior Tim Young just got into the end zone on the run to his right.

Another unforgettable moment for a Plano senior.

“It was really one of the funnest games of the season,” he said. “I love the intense games, the last minute scores and the nerve-wracking. It’s great.”

He loves playing football.

“We just like to go have fun at football and that’s what we did,” he said. “We hit hard. We let them know that they play a team that hits hard, and know they had a dogfight and not a walk in the park. It doesn’t matter the score. We just hit hard and knock somebody out every play.”