Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
S.J.E. beats Colton
The St. John scoreboard showed Home 62, Guests 52. But a light was out.
The game was really tied 62-62 after Colton quarterback Carter Dahmen threw for a two-point conversion to Lane Moore with 24 seconds remaining.
The Wildcats’ Luke Moore set up for the ensuing kickoff. He had already converted -- and recovered himself -- two onside kicks straight up the field. Colton coach Clark Vining had otherwise elected to kick short for most of the game.
This time, however, Moore sent the ball high and deep to the corner of the field.
St. John-Endicott’s Jimmy Hollingshead fielded it inside the five.
The senior had already recovered a snap over the head of his quarterback to run for a 96-yard touchdown.
Now, with his school’s Homecoming game tied in the waning seconds, Hollingshead took the ball in hand, looked upfield, cut through an opening and sprinted up the white and blue sideline.
At the 10-yard line he veered left, jogging, looking back, making the clock die.
He finally had to step into the end zone with four seconds left.
After the S.J.E. kickoff, a fair catch by Dahmen and a last-gasp throw, the Eagles had done it.
They beat Colton for the first time since 2009.
"I don’t know if I even took a breath in the second half," said third-year S.J.E. coach Steve Selk.
Workhorse running back Wilson Lundberg, another senior, led with 25 carries for 377 yards plus an 80-yard kick return.
Dahmen led Colton with 372 yards passing on 28 of 44 attempts and seven touchdowns in the loss. Tristan Blewett had 11 catches for 127 yards receiving.
SPECIAL NIGHT
A gray sheet draped down over the sky when the game began, a streak of pink low on the horizon. Something in the air was different early on as the two teams traded touchdowns, after Colton sophomore running back Grant Kinzer went down with an injury on the first play from scrimmage.
Colton came into the game with a 3-1 record while S.J.E. was 0-4 after a 72-0 loss to Pomeroy the week before.
"Get it figured out White," said a Wildcats’ fan in the second quarter. "We got a ballgame going on here."
After Lundberg scored on a 42-yard run and Hollingshead ran in the two-point conversion, the Eagles led 30-26 with 4:25 left in the second quarter.
Colton answered, before Hollingshead set up in the I-formation, his team on their own 15. The snap sailed over him and quarterback Tyler Anderson’s head. Turning to chase it, Hollingshead picked it up, looked, hopped left, jumped to the right and followed Anderson’s block left.
He ran it all the way for the score, and after the two-point conversion, S.J.E. led again before the Eagles’ Luke Bailey dropped a would-be interception for a touchdown. Colton went on to score to lead again, 40-38 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Wildcats’ lineman Austin Staley continued to pick up unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties while Luke Moore converted the first of his two onside kicks.
On an Eagles’ fourth down play, Hollingshead caught a short pass from Anderson and outran Dahmen to score from the 28-yard-line.
The points kept coming.
Lundberg carried tacklers for yards for St. John-Endicott and Colton’s Dahmen kept finding Lane Moore for completions, while Blewett picked up yards on the ground and in the air.
Late in the third quarter, Dahmen completed a throw on fourth down-and-six to take Colton to the Eagles’ 10. S.J.E. hung tough and Colton went for it again on fourth and seven, Dahmen running it in for 54-46.
"We need this stop!" yelled Selk from the sidelines before the two-point conversion attempt. "We need this stop!"
Adam Blakeley knocked down the ensuing Dahmen throw.
“EAGLE PRIDE”
Into the fourth quarter, Lundberg rumbled outside on a sweep and turned the corner up the red and gold sidelines for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Blakeley scored on another sweep for the two-point conversion.
The game was tied again, 54-54 with 6:37 left.
With Colton driving, Hollingshead soon intercepted a Dahmen pass to give the ball back to the Eagles. Lundberg then found the endzone again on a cutback sweep with 3:31 left.
"Eagle pride!" called out St. John-Endicott fans, pushing their team toward the finish. Lundberg ran in the two-point conversion and S.J.E. led 62-54.
Dahmen and the Wildcats came out needing one more scoring drive to keep a five-year streak alive and get to overtime.
Into S.J.E. territory, on third down and two, Dahmen threw too-long to Lane Moore running to the end zone.
On a fourth-and-four with 1:07 left at the S.J.E. 32, the game was on the line.
Dahmen threw to freshman Cameron Bean for first and 10.
On the next play, he passed to Blewett, who took the ball up the sideline for the touchdown.
Colton trailed by two, 62-60.
On the two-point conversion, Dahmen, from the shotgun, rolled right, couldn’t find anyone, dodged the Eagles’ Morris Jordan, then threw back, high across the field to Lane Moore for the tie.
But there would be no overtime this Homecoming in St. John.
Hollingshead’s taut thread of a runback up the sideline and fray at the end would be the final word.
Except for two more -- the St. John-Endicott team ran up the hill after the last whistle, behind the south end zone.
"Eagle! Pride! Eagle! Pride!" rang out in the darkness.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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