Bartlesville football boots winning field goal with 7 seconds left to avoid upset
Perhaps KWON Radio sports play-by-play announcer Evan Fahrbach said it best a few minutes after Bartlesville High School’s football team narrowly escaped what would have been a stunning loss to the visiting Putnam City High Patriots.
Bruin field goal kicker Braxton Decker nailed a 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left to elevate Bartlesville to the 31-28 win in front of the frenzied faithful at Custer Stadium. Bartlesville recorded its first home win (1-2), evened its overall record to 3-3 and powered to a 3-0 mark in District 6A-II-1.
"I was proudest they kept fighting and didn't quit," Bruin head coach Harry Wright said.
The factors that added up to the victory were simply amazing. Bartlesville, it must be noted, lacked the services of its leading rusher and scorer P.J. Wallace, who was unavailable to play.
“There was a weird energy in a game we were supposed to win,” Fahrbach told the E-E.
That characterization pretty much summed it up this odd scrap full of devastating penalties on both teams, costly lost fumbles, lengthy touchdown plays and smothering defensive stands.
The game wavered between slogging along and explosive spurts.
It ended in an uncanny turn of events.
With 2:01 left — and the score knotted, 28-28 — Bartlesville faced 4th-and-6 at the Putnam City 11-yard line. Bruin head coach Harry Wright made the decision to go for the field goal. His defense had stopped the Patriots most the night, except for touchdown runs of 60 and 80 yards by Dujuan Knight and a 64-yard scamper off a reverse by Jordan Warrior.
Before the snap for the field goal, PC West jumped offsides, giving the Bruins 4th-and-a-foot near the 5-yard line. Wright called his field goal unit off the field and reinserted his offense.
Except, PC West stuffed the run and the Bruins turned the ball over on downs and the Patriot offense took possession on its five-yard line with 1:56 left and a chance to drive for the winning score.
The Patriots picked up two quick first downs to move the ball to the 32-yard line. But, a penalty and negative play moved it back to the 22. However, time was running out for the Bruins to try to get the ball back and win in regulation.
That’s when another one of those quirky occurrences happened: PC West fumbled and Bartlesville’s Casey Young recovered it at the Patriot 17-yard line with 56 ticks showing on the new massive video board that made its debut for the contest.
Even then, the Bruin drive stalled out at the 10-yard line with 10 seconds left. Wright again waved Decker on the field for a field goal. His kick split the uprights — perhaps titled a little bit toward the right post, depending on the angle — to put the Bruins ahead, 31-28, with seven seconds left.
PC West got the ball back with five seconds left at its own 39-yard line. On the last play, quarterback Shyheim Johnson dropped back to try to deliver a deep ball — but was swarmed over for a sack as the buzzer rang.
Then it was time for the celebration.
Cooper Wood, who played like Hercules in the Patriot backfield, disrupting its passing and rushing attack all night, credited the play of the defensive line and defensive back making plays when it counted as the difference.
"Perseverance," he added, as he ran off the field with his teammates to the locker room.
Bruins start on fire
Bartlesville bolted out to a 14-0 lead in the opening 3:20, indeed looking like the team that was supposed to beat the Patriots handily.
Their first touchdown drive lasted just 1:48 — highlighted by quarterback Brett Eaves connected with brother Chase Eaves, who ran a deep curl — for a 66-yard gain down to the Patriot nine-yard line. Three plays later, tailback Stefen Williams surged five yards for a touchdown to put the Bruins on top, 6-0, followed by Decker’s extra point.
Bartlesville got the ball back quickly when Mason Mantooth recovered a Patriot fumble on the PC West 20-yard line. On a 4th-and-5 play from the 15-yard line, Brett Eaves found Damien Niko for the score, leading to a 14-0 Bartlesville lead with the Patriots having run one offensive snap.
The rout was on?
The tide turned, the score tied
Both teams put together big drives for the remainder of the first quarter. Early in the second period, the Patriots muscled the ball all the way to the Bruin 4-yard line — only to turn it over on downs.
But, not too long after the Patriots got on the board on a scoop and score to trim Bartlesville’s lead to 14-6.
Bartlesville also fumbled the ball away on its next possession and the Patriots cashed in with the first of their three long touchdown runs. Their two-pointer knotted the score, 14-14.
Bartlesville went back ahead, 21-14, after a 30-yard touchdown hook-up from Brett Eaves to Niko. PC West answered on a rushing bolt to the end zone.
The score remained even at halftime, 22-21.
Slug out continued in the second half
Both teams scored a touchdown in the third quarter — Bartlesville on a hard-nosed run by Jett Scully, who lowered his head as he reached the 1-yard line and initiated a full-out, mid-air collision with a Patriot tackler, but managed to fall on the pylon for the score. Putnam City scored just 1:21 later — on another zip-code changing run — to again pull even, 28-28.
The teams kept changing possessions in the fourth quarter, but it was Bartlesville that came up with the big plays down the stretch — Sam Hoback’s red zone interception, Young’s fumble recovery, a seven-yard bruising gain by Williams to set up the field goal try and Decker’s winning kick.
"Unbelievable," Wright said about the impact of the home fans on his team's energy.. "They carried us through and allowed us to get this first home win. ... With all the distractions (Homecoming, etc.) this week for our kids, it was big to come out and win this one."
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville football team avoids upset in 31-28 win, 3-0 in district
