Marquette survives wild finish, edges Dwight 27-26

DWIGHT – What Marquette Academy’s 27-26 nail-biter of a victory over Dwight/Gardner South Wilmington lacked in beauty, it made up for in sheer drama.

The Crusaders three times rallied from down a touchdown, then seemingly put the game away with senior fullback Jacob Smith’s third TD of the game in the fourth quarter. However, the Trojans had a little magic left too, taking advantage of a Marquette penalty on a scrambling lateral play as time expired to get the game’s final touchdown — a controversial 25-yard pass from quarterback Conner Telford to Caiden Nelson — on an untimed down.

But the Cru came up even bigger on the potential game-winning two-point conversion, Rush Keefer tackling Telford on a roll-out play to clinch the MA win in both team’s Chicagoland Prairie League and regular-season finale.

“I think that (conversion) was the only time we kept their quarterback from getting 3 yards all night,” Marquette coach Tom Jobst said with a laugh. “I’m proud of the kids. … Our defense came up big for us tonight against a great team with great athletes. They were behind them, there were a couple times tonight when our kids could have hung their heads, but they didn’t do that. They made the plays when they had to.

“This was a great game against a very, very good team. Their quarterback (Telford, 10 of 16 for 142 yards passing, 93 yards rushing) is something special. Give them credit … but our kids were resilient tonight.”

“This was a great game against a very, very good team.”

—  Tom Jobst, Marquette football coach

The victory keeps 7-2 Marquette’s hopes alive for a first-round home game, while technically leaving the 5-4 Trojans on the playoff bubble, even though all teams with that record qualified for Week 10 a year ago.

Playoff pairings will be announced Saturday evening.

The Trojans got on the board first on a 4-yard run by Seth Robertson, but the Cru defense answered when Marcus Baker stripped the ball from Telford, scooped it up and powered 12 yards into the end zone.

A Dwight punt into the line that hit a Marquette defender and later a pass interference penalty gave the hosts new life twice on the same second-period drive, leading to a 21-yard Telford-to-Starks TD. However, Smith plowed in from 13 yards out for his first touchdown to knot the game 14-14.

The Trojans again assumed the lead on an 8-yard TD pass from Telford to Robertson, but Starks missed the kick. When Smith scored on his third attempt from the 1-yard line and Sam Mitre made the PAT kick, the Cru had their first lead, 21-20.

Baker recovered another fumble and, in the fourth quarter, Grant Dose intercepted a Telford pass to set up what seemed to be an insurance 1-yarder by Smith, but Mitre’s kick was off, keeping Dwight alive.

Telford connected on two passes to get to the MA 44, but was forced to scramble as time ran out. The ball was lateraled twice before a tackle was made, but the Cru were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving the home team one untimed down from the MA 25.

Nelson wrestled the ball away from a Marquette defender as he fell out of bounds, but after a conference the officials signaled the TD, setting up the final conversion.

There was no question Dwight would go for two after the final score, with regular kicker Angel Martin away from the team to attend a wedding in Texas. Joey Starks filled in well, connecting on 3 of 4 boots, but with the game on the line, Dwight coach Luke Standiford kept the game in Telford’s hands.

Telford scrambled to his right, but the Marquette defense forced him to the sideline, where Keefer and others brought him down.

“We both did a good job of taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes,” Standiford said. “Unfortunately we just made more mistakes than they did, and that starts with the turnovers. We had four of them, and it’s hard to win football games when you do that. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot tonight.

“But I love this team. There’s no quit in them. They battled to the very end, and it’s been that way all season.”