Michigan high school football: Detroit Denby grabs PSL Gold title, 29-28, on surprise PAT

Just to be clear: This isn’t how extra-point trickery usually works.

After Detroit Denby tied the Detroit Public School League Gold Division championship game with 22 seconds to play, everyone expected the Tars to go for a 2-point conversion, as they had done all night long, even as they lined up in kick formation. But rather than fake the kick and run or pass the ball in, Dreshaun Johnson trotted into the backfield and booted a line-drive kick. It cleared the uprights, giving the Tars a wild 29-28 victory over two-time defending Gold champ Detroit Central at Ford Field on Friday night.

“I told my coach I’ve got it in me, I can seal the game for us, and he trusted me with the game on the line,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know if we were going to fake it or not, but he told me to kick it, and I did what I had to do.”

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“Dreshaun’s normally the guy who kicks field goals for us; we just hadn’t done it in a while,” Denby coach Zachery Carr said. “But this was the perfect moment for him to be able to seize the moment. I absolutely trusted No. 9 — he’s an awesome kid and he did what he was supposed to do.”

Adding to the drama, Johnson had to take up his extra-point try from 5 yards further out after Denby was flagged for having 12 men on the field. He said he had kicked extra points “about three times,” but he has been 3-for-5 on field goal attempts, with a long of 30 yards.

Johnson got his chance only after Denby drove the ball 82 yards in the final four minutes — a drive that included a quarterback sack that took the Tars inside their own 5-yard-line. But quarterback Chris Kendrick completed seven of nine passes on the pivotal possession, and Shawntez Bowie Jr. scored the final touchdown on a 5-yard Wildcat run.

“That was a good play call. We never did that before,” said Bowie, who scored on a 23-yard pass reception in the third quarter and a 2-point conversion pass earlier in the fourth.

“I knew what I had to do — I had to catch the ball and make a big-time play,” Bowie said of his touchdown catch, which came when Denby trailed 22-6. “Personally, I think (Kendrick) is the No. 1 quarterback in the PSL.”

Although 8-0 this year (6-0 against PSL competition), Denby has made a habit of playing from behind, including the regular-season match-up against Central in which it erased a 16-6 halftime deficit to win 38-24.

“We believed in ourselves,” Carr said. “We’re the kind of team that just doesn’t give up. We’ve been through adversity with this team before, so I totally trusted that we were going to come out with the victory.”

Central (4-4) took a 28-22 lead with 6:18 to play after Derreaun Polk found Aaron McCall on a slant pattern, with the touchdown covering 33 yards. That was just the fifth play after the Trailblazers covered one of Johnson’s onside kick attempts and began their drive at the 50.

Central got out to a two-touchdown lead by the midpoint of the first half. Derreaun Polk put the Trailblazers on the board by lofting a high pass to Calondrey Hardy from the 11. Hardy was able to get under it at the goal line, and Taj Ray’s conversion run set the score at 8-0 with 1:24 remaining in the first.

Denby tried to answer by going for it on fourth down from midfield, but Jeremiah Gray sacked Kendrick in the backfield, giving Central a short field from the Tars’ 45.

It only took Central one snap to extend its lead, as DeCarlos White took the handoff off right tackle all the way to the end zone, making the score 14-0 after an unsuccessful conversion run.

Denby had little to show offensively in the first half, stalling out on its first five drives and throwing a desperation interception in the waning seconds before halftime. Denby’s only two first downs on its first four possessions came via penalty and a fake punt, with Johnson throwing to Dorian Jennings for 11 yards.

But the Tars did get on the scoreboard with 2:03 remaining in the first half on a 2-yard quarterback sneak by Kendrick. The conversion pass, though, went through the back of the end zone, leaving the score 14-6 going into the break.

After Central took a 22-6 lead on a 13-yard slant pass from Polk to Aaron McCall which capped a short 38-yard-drive, Denby came storming back to tie the game at 22.

Central became its own worst enemy on the ensuing drive as late-hit and pass-interference calls on the first two plays gifted Denby plenty of yardage, giving the Tars a first down at the 13. After Kesean McGaffey sacked Kendrick for a 10-yard loss, Kendrick completed a pass to Bowie in double coverage for a 23-yard score. An encroachment call moved the ball up on the conversion, and Kendrick’s sneak made it 22-14.

A Central punt gave the ball back to Denby at midfield, and the Tars knotted things up after Amir Harris found enough open space to run the ball in from fourth-and-goal from the 5. The conversion pass to Bowie tied the game at 22 with 8:13 to play.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan high school football: Detroit Denby grabs PSL Gold title