Fog creates havoc in Michigan playoff game, leads to big upset
Bedford-Temperance (Mich.) High was in the midst of a magical season, and the Kicking Mules were just moments away from a Division II state semifinal berth when Grosse Pointe South (Mich.) High hit a last-second field goal to lead the Blue Devils to a 44-42 win.
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Still, as reported in both MLive.com and the Toledo Blade, you could excuse Bedford's home fans in the stands from being confused with the final outcome, since many of them couldn't even see the game happening on the field right in front of them, thanks to the incredibly dense fog you can see in the video below, though you often can't see much else ... including the game-winning field goal.
Video courtesy of Buckeye CableSystem Sports Network/BCSN
"I couldn't see the long passes, but I could see the short passes," Grosse Pointe South quarterback Ben Fry told MLive.com.
If Fry could see the short passes, that was more than the fans, who were stuck peering into a soupy gray morass where they expected to see a football game. What they missed were a cavalcade of miscues caused almost entirely by the fog. Trailing 28-14 at the half, Grosse Pointe South got two fumble-return touchdowns by Jeff Blazoff in the second half when Bedford quarterback Jared Kujawa and his backfield mates lost sight of each other while trying to connect on handoffs.
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The second of those fumble-return touchdowns gave Grosse Pointe South a surprising 41-35 lead, though that edge only lasted long enough for Bedford to run off a 94-yard drive that gave the Mules a 42-41 lead with just less than three minutes left.
Those three minutes were just enough time for Fry to exploit the confusion on a final drive that set up placekicker Jon Parker's game-winning 29-yard field goal as time expired.
Despite Parker and his teammates' heroics, it's hard not to feel like things would have turned out differently if the fog hadn't descended upon the Bedford-Temperance field. In addition to the two second-half fumbles, Grosse Pointe South also picked off two Kujawa passes, one of which led to yet another Blue Devils touchdown.
"We can't give them [four] turnovers," Bedford coach Jeff Wood told the Toledo Blade. "Turnovers killed us."
Any part the fog played in the win hardly dampened Grosse Pointe South coach Tim Brandon's excitement.
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"I am numb, it's beyond words for the excitement I have for these young men," Brandon told MLive.com. "They kept fighting and fighting and never gave up.''
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