by Zachary Harmuth
Big games tend to turn on one or two events that seem small at the time but, looking back, mean the difference between a win and a loss.
Page (4-4, 1-3 AA District 12) got its first district win of the year Friday night at the expense of its host, Cascade (6-3, 2-2), winning 21-20 in a contest that went down to the wire.
Two plays in the fourth quarter, a goal line stand by Page and a missed extra point by Cascade kicker Trent Sutton, made the difference in this contest.
With just more than four minutes left in the game, down 20-14, the Page defense forced Cascade into fourth down and goal on the one yard line. Champions coach Kenny Parker decided to risk going for it rather than taking the gimmie field goal to make it a two possession game.
Kell Custer and Baylor Breckenridge, who led Page’s defense by getting in on a sack and 17 tackles between them, made him regret that decision immediately, as they stuffed running back Creed Rose in the hole and got the ball back for quarterback Zak Mizell, running back Michael Roberts and the rest of the Page offense.
Now all Page had to do to ensure a win was put together a 99 yard drive that also took up most of the 4:16 left, keeping the ball away from Cascade, on a night the Patriots had gained at that point not even 200 total yards and possessed the ball for about half as long as the Champions.
Well, 3:46 and 16, plays later, Mizell, who (with three interceptions and 76 yards from 9 completions on 19 attempts) had an uncharacteristically poor night throwing the ball, stepped back and flicked a dart to Matt Fornero for a five yard, game-tying touchdown.
Mason Foley’s kick, to take the lead with just 30 seconds left to play, was true.
Mizell made plays with his arm and legs on the big drive, finishing with a (team high) 101 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 attempts, and gave the Patriots the game.
Just minutes before it looked like he had given it away. With Page driving, after Cascade went up 20-14 with 9:08 in the fourth (and missed that fateful extra point), Mizell threw his third pick of the game. Things looked the bleakest right before they would became brightest, as Cascade took control with six minutes left looking to kill clock on a night it ran for 282 yards.
So began the drive that would end on the one yard line.
