Astounding Finish as CP Goes to 7-0
Cedar Park Beats Pflugerville on
Final Play in Titanic Toe-to-Toe Slugfest
They
write books about games like this. They make movies to capture the stories of
such wins. They film television shows to tell the tales of nights like Friday.
And in fact, an NBC crew was on hand to do exactly that. But the “Friday Night Lights” production
company should probably just let their scriptwriters go and save some money.
Real life proved far, far more exciting than anything you can possibly imagine.
The Cedar
Park Timberwolves, standing face-to-face with one of the area’s historically
elite programs, traded punches with the Pflugerville (a.k.a. “Dillon”) Panthers
for three hours, and yet it all came down to one final play: a 65-yard touchdown
pass-and-run from Travis Watson to Jamie Knight as time expired for a 30-24 win
in one of the most incredible football games our young program has ever played.
Like Rocky
and Apollo Creed, these two heavyweights of Central Texas football exchanged
body blows, head shots, rib-rackers, and kidney
punches for fifteen rounds before Rocky swung from the deep south and delivered
a roundhouse blow to the cranium for a knockout at the final bell.
Coming
in, the Panthers, besides laying claim to being the last team to beat Cedar
Park, planned to be the next one to
beat ‘em, too. A win this night would likely salvage
what has been a surprisingly disappointing season for Pflugerville, at 2-4
overall and 1-2 in district play prior to this game. Cedar Park was hoping to
match several historic marks with a ninth consecutive win and move to 7-0 on
the season, 4-0 in league play, putting themselves in an almost can’t-miss
position for a playoff berth. It was expected to be a tough, tough fight.
But it
wasn’t supposed to go quite like this. The stout T’wolf D had surrendered an
average of just 71 rushing yards per game, and just over 200 total yards per
outing. The Panther passing game was weak, and thus their only option steered
them right at our defensive strength. The CP offense had struggled to stay
productive without stars Michael Cochran and Tyler Smith. But on this historic
night, neither supposition turned out to be true.
Pflugerville
racked up far and away the most yards on the Gang Green defense since, well,
since the last time the Panthers came to town, in week eight of 2005. Not
coincidentally, that was the last time Cedar Park lost. Over one-third of all
the rushing yards the Gang Green has given up all season long would occur in Friday
night’s game (338 of 917), which would also see an incredible 61% of all ground
yardage surrendered in their four district games. In fact, those 338 rushing
yards exactly match the total ground yardage allowed by Cedar Park in their
previous four games! Yet still, our young men came up with some critical stops
when they needed them, and once again found a way to win.
In fact,
this win, while not achieving the longest win streak in number of games for
Cedar Park, did extend the longest win streak in elapsed time. Fittingly, that
last Cedar Park loss – ironically, to the Panthers, and on this same field –
occurred on Oct 21, 2005. This ninth consecutive Timberwolf win ensures the
fact that Cedar Park will now go beyond one calendar year without losing a
football game.
An
amazing slew of records or near-records were set or matched in this ball game.
I’ll save those details for a supplemental article to be published early next
week.
Even
without those notable offensive weapons, the T’wolves started the game out the
way they usually have- with a long touchdown drive. This initial lunge went 78
yards on twelve plays, four of them very effective runs by surprise backfield
starter Justin Allen, the T’wolves’ all-everything middle linebacker. Who knew
Allen was also such a talented running back? Apparently our coaches did. Allen’s
first two carries went for nine yards each, then six, and his final carry of
that opening drive was the five yard run that scored the touchdown. Jordan
Greer’s kick made it 7-0 T’wolves with 5:26 left in the first quarter.
Pflugerville
started at their 32 and moved twelve yards in their first two plays before QB
Karl Brown dropped back and heaved a deep pass over the middle. Matt Knicky
made a leap for the ball and came down with an interception – his third of the
season - at the Cedar Park 21.
On second
down T’wolf QB Travis Watson stepped forward to throw to the left side and was
slammed from the back, causing his throw to go off to the side. This was
erroneously called “intentional grounding” by the officials and the loss of
down led to a punt formation for Cedar Park. For the second straight week, an
early punt attempt went awry with a tall snap. Unlike the Stony Point game,
this one went completely out of the end zone before punter Blake Silguero could
do anything about it, and P’ville was on the board, trimming the Cedar Park
lead to 7-2.
A nice
return of the resultant free kick set Pflugerville up at their own 43. The
Panther offense moved 35 yards in ten plays down to the CP 22, where on third
down they pulled a trick play out of the hat. QB Brown flipped the ball to
Jordan Huffman, who stopped in the backfield, looked to his left, then found
Brown wide open on the left side. Huffman hit him with a pass, but Brown was
stopped short of the first down marker.
The
Panther field goal team came on. But they rolled the dice on a second
consecutive trick play, as the Panther holder (Huffman) got up to bootleg
right, looking for a receiver on a rare fake field goal. But Cedar Park’s
Anthony Peneschi blew up the play and Huffman was stopped well short of the
first down marker.
Cedar
Park took over at their own twelve and went straight back to business, pounding
out another long drive. A key play in this possession was a 16-yard pass
completion from Watson to wideout Travis Smith for a critical first down. After
eleven plays, the drive had wound its way 85 yards to the three, where the T’wolves
faced a fourth-and-one. Forsaking a field goal attempt, Coach Ross went for it,
and Allen rambled over for his second touchdown of the game. Greer’s kick put
Cedar Park up fairly comfortably at 14-2 with 3:49 left in the half.
Taking
over after the kickoff from their own 23, Pflugerville managed the clock very
nicely, going 77 yards in nine plays and taking only 2:39 to do it. Marcus Carruth slipped three tackles and went in from 19 yards out
for the score on a critical third down play. Kevin Dunnigan’s
kick made it 14-9 Cedar Park.
With only
1:10 left in the half, the T’wolves put on their own clock-management clinic,
going 46 yards in just four plays, setting up for a 47-yard field goal attempt
by Greer. His kick had plenty of leg – it would have gone from sixty – but it
smacked the top of the right crossbar and fell into the end zone, no good. That
ended the half with Cedar Park seemingly in decent control of this game, but
with only a meager 14-9 lead to show for it.
Pflugerville
started at their own thirty to open the second half, and things looked good
initially, as they lost four yards on the first play, as the ball popped out
and flopped around on the ground for several bounces before a Panther fell on
it. That turned out to be a critical opportunity missed for Cedar Park, as on
the next play, lightning struck. Panther halfback Zavier
Gooden took the ball over left tackle, swerved to the outside, found himself in
the open, and outran two Timberwolves all the way down the sideline for a
74-yard touchdown. It was the third-longest run ever allowed by Cedar Park.
Less than a minute into the second half, the Panthers had already taken the
lead. A two-point conversion pass was successful and the score read P’ville 17,
Cedar Park 14.
The
Timberwolves would never lead again until the final play of the game.
But their
next possession started out well enough. Justin Allen, as if he wasn’t already
busy enough playing linebacker and running back, ran his third kickoff return
of the night back fifty yards, all the way to the P’ville 35. But nothing would
come of this possession, the T’wolves stopped on fourth down having only moved
the ball two yards to the 33.
The
Panthers took over and steamrolled down inside the ten on eight plays, where
they reached a first and goal. This was a defining moment in the game. Break
here, and the Timberwolves were down by multiple scores with barely a quarter
left to do anything about it. Break here, and their long winning streak and
lead in the district race would likely come to an end.
Pflugerville’s
running attack had done whatever it wanted to Cedar Park up to this point, already
having racked up over 200 yards. The Panthers dialed that powerful attack for
four straight plays, and the Gang Green stuffed them every single time, Travis
Osborne coming up with the critical stop on fourth down.
That stop
changed the game. The Timberwolf offense would score all three times it got the
ball from this point to the end of the night.
Starting
from their own two, they saddled up and rode 73 yards in ten plays to the
Pflugerville 25, where the drive finally stalled. Greer came on and knocked
through a huge 42-yard field goal – the longest of his career – to tie the game
at 17 with just 15 seconds left in the third quarter.
But the
Panthers immediately answered. After unadvisedly touching the kickoff and
letting it roll out-of-bounds at the seven, they were stuck a long way from the
goal line. But that didn’t seem to matter. The powerful running attack got
unlimbered once again, and the Panthers steamrolled 93 yards in eleven plays, the
big-gainer being a 52-yard pass to Ashton Williams. Gooden scored again on an 18-yard
touchdown in which three missed tackles eased his passage into the end zone. Dunnigan’s kick made it 24-17 Panthers with 8:40 left.
The
ensuing kickoff and return left Cedar Park in extremely poor field position of
their own, at the ten. But the offense had now found its groove. In eight plays
they moved 45 yards and into Panther territory. On a critical third down play,
Watson swung a screen pass to fullback Taylor Itz on
the left side. Itz found a lane, darted around a key
block laid by Jake Morrow, headed for the sideline, and outran everyone 45
yards to paydirt, as the Cedar Park stands went into
a howling frenzy. Greer’s kick tied the game at 24 with just over four minutes
left.
Turns out
mishandling the previous kickoff was just a precursor for the Panther return
team. They fumbled this next one, as well, and barely averted disaster by
falling on it at their own one yard line. But even that didn’t faze the
Pflugerville offense. They calmly moved out of the shadow of their own goal
line, going 85 yards in nine excruciating plays as the tired and worn down Gang
Green tried in vain to stop them. Finally, they rose up and put a halt to the
drive at the Cedar Park 14. On fourth down, Dunnigan
came on to win the game for Pflugerville with a 31-yard field goal attempt with
just 35 seconds left on the clock.
As every
Cedar Park fan crossed their fingers and cringed, Dunnigan
hooked that kick just left of the uprights, and the Timberwolves were still
alive!
While
most fans were already contemplating our chances in overtime – it would be the
first home overtime game in school history – Coach Ross and his players had
something else in mind.
After the
kickoff there were less than thirty seconds left. Cedar Park was out of timeouts.
Through incredibly effective clock management – and the unlikely assistance of
a defensive timeout on the part of Pflugerville – the T’wolves put themselves
in position for a shot at glory. After a couple of short gains, and accompanied
by the mounting roar from the CP fan base and the shaking metal stands
underfoot, Dixon reeled off a terrific 12-yard run, going out-of-bounds to stop
the clock. Cedar Park found itself at its own 35 yard line, with eight seconds
left, primed and ready for a little history.
That’s
when Coach Ross proved the confidence he has in these young men by giving them
the chance to take the risk and reach for the prize.
Out in
San Francisco, there’s “The Catch”: when Joe Montana hit a leaping Dwight Clark
in the back of the end zone for a historic touchdown in a 49er run at the Super
Bowl title. In Denver, there’s “The Drive”, when John Elway
moved the Broncos about a million yards in three seconds in knee-deep mud and
slush or something like that, to grab a miracle win against Cleveland on the
way to a Super Bowl. In Cedar Park, we now have… “The Play”, in which two names
carved themselves into Timberwolf football history.
The
coaches signaled in the call, and senior quarterback Travis Watson relayed it
to the huddle and brought his team up to the line.
Texas
Longhorn fans abound among the Timberwolf faithful. Many are old enough to
remember some key play calls in Texas history. There’s the simplicity of “Roll
Left”, the play John Mackovick sent in on fourth and
three late in the very first Big XII championship game in 1996, when QB James
Brown found a wide-open Derek Lewis for a huge gainer that led to the touchdown
that won it all. In 1969, there was “53 Veer Pass”, the gutsy call sent in by
Darrell Royal in Fayetteville on a fourth and two against Arkansas with the
‘Horns’ national title hopes on the line, when James Street through the bomb, a
perfect pass to triple-covered Randy Peschel on what
many consider the greatest play from scrimmage in the history of college football.
Into
Cedar Park lore we can now etch the words “144 Crack Flash”, the call sent in
by Chris Ross with eight seconds left on the clock against Pflugerville.
“After we
received the play, I had full confidence in my line and my receivers. I knew we
were going to do it,” Watson said later.
There
were a full slate of receivers: three on the right side and one on the left. Watson
checked the defense, and the Panthers’ positioning dictated his option.
“Their
coverage made Jamie the primary receiver,” he said. “It was an easy read.”
Lined up
well out from the ball on the far right side, Jamie Knight recognized that fact
right away, as well. “When I saw the coverage, I knew he’d be coming to me,”
said Knight.
The ball
was snapped, the clock started its short dive to zero, and Watson stepped back
into a perfect pocket formed by the outstanding Timberwolf O-line. That line
had been pounding their opposition to pieces all night long, and Watson was in
good hands. No pressure leaked through whatsoever. He calmly tracked Knight,
who shot downfield about ten yards and then angled in toward the middle.
Crossing
Knight’s pattern was Scott Dollahite, who’d been the
receiver lined up closest to the right side of the line, inside of Knight. Opposite
the line, far out on the left, was wideout Travis Smith, who headed straight
down the field nearer the left sideline.
Finally,
the moment came. Knight’s pattern had hit the decision point for Watson. He was
open, and Watson fired a perfect tight spiral twenty yards across the middle,
headed right for Knight’s hands.
At this
same moment, Dollahite became aware that the pass was
on its way to Knight. His pattern took him just a couple of yards deeper
downfield, directly behind where Knight would catch the ball. There were two
Panther defensive backs bunched together zeroing in on Knight. They wouldn’t
get there in time to prevent the catch, but Knight would likely get no farther
after the grab. He aimed himself right at the middle of these two players.
At that
moment, Knight caught Watson’s pass as thousands of the Timberwolf faithful
screamed in unbridled passion. Half a heartbeat later, just behind Knight, Scott
Dollahite laid perhaps the best block in the history
of Cedar Park football. “Dial-a-hit” laid out those two Panthers like a
16-pound bowling ball slamming into two plastic pins. Knight secured the ball
and turned downfield.
But there
was another threat.
The
outside Panther DB covering Travis Smith tuned away from Smith when he saw the
catch. He twisted to his left and started to close the gap on Knight. But Smith
would have none of that, crashing into him from the left side and tipping his
course behind the sprinting Jamie Knight, who now found himself in the clear,
with just 35 yards between himself and everlasting glory.
“When I
made the catch, I knew I was going to score,” said Knight. “Once I got in the
clear, all I could think about was ‘don’t cramp up, don’t cramp up’.”
As the
clock ticked to zero, in the last ten yards, Knight did cramp up, in his calf.
But with victory just a few steps away, he gutted it up and sprinted into the
end zone as thousands of thundering Timberwolf fans tried to keep from turning
their heads inside out screaming in ecstasy.
Their
team had done it; reached far down and yanked a euphoric win from deep inside
the dripping jaws of disappointment. Unbridled
in their enthusiasm, living the moment for all the pure glory it represented,
the team raced into the end zone after Knight, bubbling onto the field in their
black uniforms looking like a boiling tar spill and incurring a penalty for
unsportsmanlike conduct. Something tells
me that, thirty years from now, if these young men hadn’t rushed that field,
they’d have spent a lifetime regretting it.
The
un-timed extra point kick was blocked, chased, kicked, chased again, batted,
chased again, then fallen upon, and the game was over.
Cedar
Park remains the only undefeated 5A football team in Central Texas, at 7-0, 4-0
atop the 14-5A standings.
As fans
left Bible Stadium, the boisterous roar and the wolf howls persisted far into
the evening. I heard honks and howls and screams sitting at the stoplight at
Cypress Creek Road and Sun Chase at 11:00. Surely, this win will be remembered
for quite some time to come.
“The
coaches showed a lot of confidence in us to call that play,” said Watson, “and
we knew we’d come through for them.” Neither he nor Knight could ever recall
any single play or particular feeling quite like it in their sports experiences
to date.
“It feels
awfully good,” said Knight as both of them smiled enough to light up the room.
And so
“144 Crack Flash” has now resulted in the Timberwolves vaunting to the number
one spot in the Austin American-Statesman’s Centex poll, a position last held
by Cedar Park nearly two years ago, during the long playoff run of 2004.
Now it’s
off this springboard to even bigger and better things. It’s the playoff stretch
run. Three games to go, all of them against perhaps the three best teams we’ll
face in the regular season.
Our Year
of Excellence continues. See you at the Parmer Palace next Friday night as our
Mighty Timberwolves take on Westwood.
Seven
down. Three to go.
|
|
Cedar Park |
|
Pflugerville |
|
|
|
|
|
|
First Downs |
20 |
|
21 |
|
Rushes |
46 |
|
52 |
|
Rush Yards |
278 |
|
338 |
|
Yards/Rush |
6.04 |
|
6.50 |
|
Pass Att. |
10 |
|
7 |
|
Pass Comp. |
5 |
|
4 |
|
Pass Int. |
0 |
|
1 |
|
Pass Pct. Comp. |
50% |
|
57% |
|
Pass Yards |
167 |
|
109 |
|
Avg Yds/Att. |
16.70 |
|
15.57 |
|
Total Yards |
445 |
|
447 |
|
Penalties |
4 |
|
3 |
|
Pen Yards |
30 |
|
25 |
|
Fumbles |
1 |
|
4 |
|
Fumbles Lost |
0 |
|
0 |
|
Punts |
0 |
|
0 |
|
Return
Yards |
80 |
|
90 |
|
|
1st |
2nd |
|
3rd |
|
4th |
|
|
|
Final |
|
Cedar Park |
7 |
7 |
|
3 |
|
13 |
|
|
|
30 |
|
Pflugerville |
2 |
7 |
|
8 |
|
7 |
|
|
|
24 |
|
Scoring
Summary |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Q |
T |
CP |
Pv |
How |
|
|
||
|
1 |
5:26 |
7 |
|
Allen 5
run (Greer kick) |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
2:55 |
|
2 |
Punt
snapped out of end zone |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
3:49 |
14 |
|
Allen 3
run (Greer kick) |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
1:10 |
|
9 |
Carruth 19 run (Dunnigan kick) |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
11:05 |
|
17 |
Gooden 74
run (Brown pass to Huffman) |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
0:15 |
17 |
|
Greer 42
FG |
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
8:40 |
|
24 |
Gooden 18
run (Dunnigan kick) |
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
4:24 |
24 |
|
Watson 45
pass to Itz (Greer kick) |
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
0:00 |
30 |
|
Watson 65
pass to Knight (kick blocked) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Individual Stats
Rushing
Pflugerville- Gooden 18-155 2 TDs (74, 18); Carruth 10-86 1 TD
(19); Green 6-51; Nwuko 15-28; Brown 3-18
Passing
Pflugerville- Brown
Receiving
Cedar Park- Knight 1-65 1 TD; Itz 2-47 1 TD (45); McKnight 1-26; Travis Smith 1-16;
Pflugerville- Williams 1-52; Huffman 1-28;
Sandoval 1-20; Unknown 1-9
Kickoff Returns
Pflugerville- Nwuko
4-90
Interception Returns
Pflugerville- No interceptions
Punt Returns
No punts