Buchelt’s last-second field goal gives Lisle victory
Lisle only had three possessions in the second half of Friday night’s football game against Reed-Custer, and the Lions needed all three.
Lisle scored on all three possessions, the last ending with a 37-yard Ben Buchelt field goal with 0.9 seconds remaining that gave the Lions a crucial 24-22 Interstate Eight Conference Small Division victory in Lisle.
“I don’t know how we did it but we got this one, won the game,” senior running back/linebacker Cliff Krause said.
“Pretty crazy, huh?” asked Lisle coach Dan Sanko, shaking his head.
Reed-Custer (1-3, 1-1) took a 14-7 lead when it opened the second half with a 67-yard touchdown drive, but Lisle answered with a 68-yard drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock, tying the game just before the end of the third quarter.
After a Comets punt, Lisle (2-2, 1-1) got the ball with 9:42 to play in the fourth quarter and methodically marched 80 yards downfield for Krause’s second touchdown run of the half, giving Lisle its first lead of the game, 21-14 with 2:47 to go.
This time it was Reed-Custer’s turn to respond, and it did, quarterback Mark Harper scrambling for a 16-yard touchdown run with 1:16 to play. The Comets took the lead when they faked the extra point and tossed to kicker Mason Dransfeldt for a 2-point conversion and a 22-21 score.
“Give them credit. We could have easily just quit after that 2-point conversion, but they didn’t,” Sanko said of his players. “I’m proud of them for that.”
They could’ve quit also when they found themselves with a third-and-33 situation and the seconds ticking away.
“I thought the game was over when that happened, to tell you the truth,” Krause said. “But our quarterback kept his head up and was the leader that he always is and made a big play when it counted.”
Quarterback Griffin Huba found wide receiver Andy Simpson for a 31-yard pass to the Reed-Custer 20-yard line, and Lisle called a timeout to set up Buchelt’s field goal as some anxious Lions watched from the sidelines.
“I can’t even tell you how nervous I was,” Krause said with a laugh. “That was the most nerve-wracking thing. But I had faith in him. He’s been hitting field goals in practice like it’s nothing. He started off a little bit shaky this year, but he’s really come through in the clutch lately.”
With the field goal Buchelt might have rescued Lisle’s season.
“It’s huge,” Krause said. “If we didn’t have this, the season’s pretty much over. No playoff hopes. And now we have a new birth and hopefully we can turn the season around.”
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