A win this huge deserved two celebrations.
Catawba’s players and fans flooded the field the second Matt Gross’ field goal soared through the uprights Saturday afternoon.
Then the officials delivered the news: 1 second still remained despite the scoreboard showing nothing but zeroes.
So the field was cleared, the kickoff delivered and Carson-Newman’s desperate return stopped well short of midfield. That set off the second, much longer celebration for the Indians’ thrilling 13-10 win over SouthAtlantic Conference rival Carson-Newman.
“That one second killed me!” Catawba running back Kevin McKenzie said. “That adrenaline, there’s nothing like that. A lot of celebrating will be done tonight.”
Catawba fans will have plenty to cheer: a defense that limited Carson-Newman to 10 points for the first time in a regular-season game since 1996; a win over the team that beat the Indians twice last season, including 28-25 in the second round of the Division II playoffs; and the third-ranked team in the nation’s first 8-0 start in history, courtesy a win over the No. 5 Eagles.
Any victory party plans remained on hold until the last minute of the game, though. Carson-Newman punter Jonathan Luquire, a freshman, had a snap go through his hands and bound behind him. He recovered it, but seven Indians were there to smother him at the 14-yard line.
“I saw Smiley (McKenzie) jump up about 13 feet when that ball went through there,”Catawba lineman DeVonte Peterson said of the 5-foot-10 running back. “I knew it was pretty much wrapped up. You can depend on Matt Gross. All you have to do is believe, and we believe in Matt Gross.”
The Indians’ junior kicker appreciated that support, especially after missing two field goals, including a 45-yarder to tie, in that loss to Carson-Newman last season. Catawba ran two plays up the middle to milk the clock, then called timeout with 4 seconds to play.
The Eagles countered with two timeouts of their own to ice Gross, but his 25-yard kick was so high, straight and long that it almost left Shuford Stadium.
“I owed them a little bit from last year and I owed it to my team and my coaches,”Gross said. “I worked hard this offseason thinking about what I saw in my teammates’ eyes when I walked off that field last November. I didn’t want that to happen again.”
Gross’ kick made an incredible effort from the defense stand up. Carson-Newman entered Saturday’s game averaging 45 points and 479 yards per contest, but its only touchdown came early, and thanks to a Catawba mistake.
Following Mitch Ellis’ fumble, quarterback Leonard Guyton and running back Myron Refoure gained all but five of the Eagles’ 43 yards to take a 7-0 lead with 13:35 to play in the second quarter.
Gross and Robby Milam traded field goals, and that was it at halftime. Carson-Newman had 222 yards of offense, but been penalized 11 times for 80 yards. The Indians, meanwhile, struggled even more on offense, converting only one first down. Ellis was 4-for-14 passing with an interception.
“When we went out of here at halftime down 10-3, we had a lot of heads hanging,”Catawba head coach David Bennett said. “We just told them, ‘We’ve got a whole second half to play, this game ain’t near over, drag your lip up and let’s go to work.’ ”
The Indians exited the half with a renewed determination and a new gameplan.
“At the half I was telling Coach, ‘Man, we need to run the ball!’”McKenzie said. “Me and Joe (Hilliard) were seeing a weakness in their defense. The whole object was to wear them down. I was tired myself, so Iknow they had to be tired.”
Catawba received the opening kickoff to the second half and proceeded 74 yards down the field on 12 plays — 10 of them runs — to tie the game at 10-all. Seven of the rushes went to McKenzie, who would finish with 149 yards, while Hilliard high-stepped a tackle from 1-yard out for the touchdown.
The Indian defense then went about forcing the first of five Carson-Newman punts in the second half. The Eagles didn’t get past midfield in the second half and managed just 23 yards of total offense in the final 30 minutes.
“We knew they’d be good defensively, but I didn’t think they’d be that good,”Guyton said. “When the offense had a chance to get it in the second half, they stopped us.”
Thanks to the defense, Catawba had plenty of chances to win the game before the final second. But Ellis, the senior QB, suffered through one of the worst performances of his career.
The Indians were ready to score early in the fourth quarter when Ellis over-threw Cedric Squirewell and was picked off in the end zone by Lamont Sturdivant.
The defense forced a three-and-out, but Ellis threw another INTinside the 20-yard line on the next series.
“I had a bad day, but the team stepped up and we came up with a big victory,”Ellis said. “The defense came up and stopped them.”
Just in time for the special teams to do its part.
“We were planning on going into overtime,”Ellis said. “That was a big break.”
Big enough for two celebrations.
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