Fantastic finish

The Westgate Tigers wanted to capture their first victory of the high school football season so badly they scored the winning touchdown twice.

Trailing the Hammarsjkold Vikings 13-9 Friday afternoon and time rapidly ticking off the clock in the fourth quarter, the Tigers appeared to take the lead on an unbelievable play when Sean TenHave’s pass to the end zone was batted down by a Vikings defender.

Only the ball never reached the ground, instead snapped up by veteran Josh Whitehurst who marched home for the 16-yard score.
But an illegal procedure call negated the play and the Tigers marched back five yards, enough time for one, or possibly two plays before the horn sounded and the game came to a close.

This time it was Eric Mantyla, Westgate’s third quarterback of the night, who got the call under centre. He made his lone passing attempt of the contest count, finding Whitehurst for the 21-yard touchdown strike with six seconds to go, completing the improbable comeback and a 16-13 Westgate win.

Mantyla opened the scoring for the Tigers on the opposite side of the ball, intercepting a Keenan Postans pass early in the first quarter and taking it home for a 38-yard score.

“It was all about the defence, it held up a lot and that was the main part that kept us in the game,” Mantyla said, the wet weather making any kind of an attack by either side a tough task to accomplish.

“It was tough moving the ball, but we came up with the win.”

The Fort William Stadium victory evens the Tigers record at 1-1, coming off an opening-week loss to the St. Ignatius Falcons, who kept rolling on Friday with a 30-25 win over the St. Patrick Saints.

Westgate coach Mike McNally told his squad afterward the win is proof positive of what can happen if a team doesn’t let itself get down.

The Vikings, who trailed most of the way, looked like they might have snatched away a win when Postans hit Bryce Jorgenson on a 10-yard touchdown pass that vaulted Hammarskjold into a four-point lead with less than six minutes to go.

The score was set up by a 43-yard pass to Matt Jones that landed the Vikings on the Tigers five-yard line.

The Tigers began marching down the field, the drive kept alive on a trick play when Gabe Tarini, who led Westgate with six defensive tackles, rumbled for 16 on third down to gain the first down and new life. An unnecessary roughness penalty on Hammarskjold’s Darian Fice brought the Tigers within striking distance.

It was a great win, McNally said.

“That first half was a battle between two teams who were determined not to let anybody move the ball. I thought our D played really well today. To come back like that shows a lot of character. We have a lot of faith in our fifth-year guys. We were down to our third quarterback at that point, who hasn’t taken any snaps this year.

“We know where we want to put the ball and that’s in Whitehurst’s hands. And he came through for us.”

St Ignatius 30, St. Patrick 25: Jake Puskas scored the winning touchdown on a 12-yard run with 12 seconds to play as the Falcons climbed to 2-0. St. Patrick quarterback Joey Ward hit Alex Pegoraro twice for scores, from 55 and 36 yards respectively to stake the Saints to a 15-0 second-quarter lead.  The Falcons Justin Migliazza also threw a pair of majors, including a 77-yard strike to Liam Fors. The Saints, making their 2014 debut, fell to 0-1.