By Adam Beadle
Multimedia Staff
After Thursday night's game against Higley, Horizon head coach Tyson Ditmore had only one message to his team.
“Keep swinging.”
To some, it might just be words on the front of a poster. But for Horizon, it was a testament that would reveal itself in the game's final seconds.
Already nailing two 51-yard field goals with ease earlier in the game, the fate of Horizon’s chances of potentially getting closer to snatching an Open Division bid landed at the feet of junior kicker Palmer Podwika.
Higley head coach Eddy Zubey tried to ice Podwika, but the pressure was non-existent for the game’s hero. The kick went right down the middle, and the Horizon sideline roared, celebrating its 27-24 win over the Knights.
Down 24-21 with less than two minutes left in the game, Higley had the chance to take the lead with the ball at the 1-yard line on 4th and goal, but the Knights chose to take three points, which Ditmore saw as an opportunity to give his kicker one more shot.
“We looked at it, and we knew that they were going to try to get the clock down under two minutes,” Ditmore said. “We let them kind of run the clock down, we thought about calling timeout when there was two minutes left, but we were also saying, ‘You know what? If they go and they score we still need three timeouts to actually come down and actually have to score.’ And luckily, they decided to kick the field goal so we had those two timeouts to be able to come down and drive.”
Ditmore’s instincts paid off.
“The coaches put faith in me every day,” Podwika said. “I’m glad that they gave me an opportunity to kick it. When I went out there, I knew I had that.”
Already the state leader in field goals made, Powdiwka not only set a new career-long of 51 yards twice, but he also remains a perfect 11-of-11 on kicks made this season.
Ditmore felt it was a big win for the program and the seniors who have stayed with him.
“Your first year you’re never going to forget,” Ditmore said. “These seniors I’m never going to forget. I’m emotional even thinking about it that this is a night for them that was so special, and there’s going to be many nights that we’re going to have here with seniors, but for this staff and who we’ve got, and these kids, this one will be forever in the books.”
Horizon controlled the momentum all the way through to the end.
After punting on its first offensive drive of the game, Horizon found themselves in good field position on the opposing side of the field after Junior quarterback Gunner Fagrell, who also handles punting duties, fumbled the Knight's punt and was forced to make the most of a bad situation. Connecting on a 30-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jordan Partridge, senior quarterback Jase Ashley kept it himself and scored the first points of the game for the Huskies.
Led by Colorado State commit senior defensive lineman Jackson Murray, the Huskies applied relentless pressure on senior quarterback Luke Haugo throughout the first quarter, forcing Higley to punt on its first offensive drives.
The first of Podwika’s 51-yard field goals would extend the Huskies lead to 10, but the shutout wouldn’t last much longer.
Making a change at quarterback, Fagrell replaced Haugo in the second quarter and found a wide-open wide receiver in senior Jaden Taylor for a 53-yard touchdown. Responding quickly, the duo of Ashley and Partridge would prove itself to be one of the best in the 5A conference once again as the pair connected on a 32-yard touchdown to make it 17-10.
The quarterback change would benefit the Knights, but it would be Haugo who put Higley in prime territory to score at the end of the first half. However, the Knights wouldn’t capitalize.
Down 10 to begin the second half, Higley immediately picked up the intensity as senior running back Justin Bender would score the second touchdown of the game for the Knights on a five-yard run.
Then, penalties became a factor in both teams’ play in the third quarter. Higley found itself in a third-and-long situation on its side of the field, which quickly turned into a fourth-and-very-long after Murray got into the backfield for the Huskies once again.
Both teams traded the lead in the fourth quarter, but it was Horizon who ran the clock out and escaped with a victory thanks to a walk-off field goal from Podwika in the final two seconds of the game.
Horizon and Ditmore now know that they’ll only be put in similar situations as the final games of the season approaches.
“We got the toughest darn region out there,” Ditmore said. “Next week is going to be the same thing.”
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