Oct. 30: Ironwood Ridge 21, Mountain View 20 (OT)
Cole McLafferty was ready to go home.
Ironwood Ridge rallied from a 14-point deficit to force overtime against host Mountain View and the senior running back had seen enough (see box score below).
So on the first snap of the extra period, McLafferty took the handoff, cut to his right and sprinted for the goal line, giving the Nighthawks their first lead of the night.
Mountain View quickly answered back with a touchdown on its first play of overtime. But the Mountain Lions were ready to go home as well — and lock up a likely postseason berth — so they attempted a two-point conversion.
Once the pass dropped incomplete, McLafferty’s wish was granted.
Fourth-ranked I-Ridge topped the No. 19 Mountain Lions 21-20 in dramatic fashion on Friday night to close out the regular season and solidify its chances of hosting first- and second-round games in the Division II state playoffs.
“I was kind of tired of being here, I wanted to go home,” said McLafferty, who rushed for 80 yards and caught the game-tying touchdown pass two minutes into the fourth quarter. “I wanted to go home with a win.”
The Nighthawks (8-2) find out their postseason fate Saturday morning when the Arizona Interscholastic Association releases playoff brackets.
Senior running back Bryce Coleman rushed for a game-high 150 yards on 34 carries and caught a touchdown pass Friday night but Mountain View will almost certainly be left out of postseason, mainly as a result of its surprising 43-40 loss to Canyon del Oro last week.
The Mountain Lions (6-4) needed to win to have a shot at earning an at-large bid for the 16-team single-elimination tournament, which begins next week. For a while, it looked like they were primed to pull off the upset and notch just their second win ever against I-Ridge.
Mountain View scored 14 points in a span of 17 seconds to take a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter.
Junior wide receiver Sebastian Spencer snagged a tipped ball and turned up the field for a 57-yard score, giving the Mountain Lions a 7-0 lead with 8:20 left in the second quarter. Then, I-Ridge’s Jared McKemy fumbled on the ensuing kick return, giving Mountain View the ball inside the 20.
Senior Justice Summerset took the snap, turned to his left and lobbed a screen pass to Coleman, who weaved trough the defense and dived into the end zone for a 16-yard score.
That score held until I-Ridge put together an 85-yard, 11-play drive capped off by a 23-yard TD run by Harrison Beemiller with 1:28 left in the third quarter. After forcing a three-and-out, the Nighthawks needed just four plays to tie the game at 14, when Beemiller connected with McLafferty for a 22-yard touchdown.
“We’ve battled adversity all year, we’ve been down at halftime, so it was nothing new to us,” Beemiller said. “It means a lot more beating Mountain View because if we lost to them, they still have bragging rights over us.”
Mountain View had multiple chances to win it from there, starting with an I-Ridge fumble recovered by Skylor Lee inside the 20.
The Mountain Lions missed a 33-yard field goal but a penalty gave them new life, with a first down at the 8. Four plays later, I-Ridge’s Deacon Laurita blocked a potential go-ahead field goal.
About 90 seconds later, Mountain View got the ball back again, at the I-Ridge 35 with 1:26 remaining. Then, with 16 seconds left in regulation, Andrew Blaisdell attempted another go-ahead field goal from 33 yards, just missing it wide left.
When it came time to decide whether to go for the tie or the win in overtime — after Summerset connected with DeShaun Flannigan-Fowles for a 10-yard score — the Mountain Lions went for the win. But the play didn’t shape up and Summerset’s pass fell incomplete, putting a likely end to a season that started out with state championship expectations.
“We wanted to go for two, that was our decision,” Coleman said. “That’s just something we’ve got to live with now because we made the decision to go for it.”
Daniel Gaona
