Chapel Hill Football - Generic Graphic
Nov 15, 2008
CHAPEL HILL — Chapel Hill entered the 4-A playoffs feeling good about its No. 4 seed in the West bracket, which gave them a home game against No. 13 Fayettville Westover. Westover helped get rid of that cozy feeling after coming out on top in a 16-13 thriller.
Starting from their own 41-yard line with 1:12 left in the game, the Tigers drove down the field behind four passes from quarterback John Haus and a long run by running back Steven Moore. A 13-yard catch from wide receiver Dylan Farrington gave Chapel Hill a first down at the Wolverines’ 16-yard line. But after two incompletions, the clock had wound down to two seconds, and the Tigers had to go for the tie. With the ball being held on the left hash mark at about the 23-yard line, senior place kicker Justin Kircher got off a clean kick but could only watch helplessly as his 33-yard attempt sailed wide right.
It was a tough way to end the season for Chapel Hill coach Issac Marsh and his group of seniors which enjoyed an 8-4 record a share of the PAC 6 title.
“It has to be probably one of the worst losses, based upon how it ended,” said a dejected Marsh.
Chapel Hill led 13-10 going into the fourth quarter on the heels of two one-yard scores in the first and third quarters Moore, who had 78 yards on 32 rushes. Much of the last stanza was both teams playing a field position game by trading punts. No one good muster a sustained drive in the deteriorating field conditions. The Wolverines quickly found another way.
On a fourth and 11 at its own 41, Chapel Hill had a bad snap on the attempted punt. The ball was scooped up by the punter and kicked off the side of his foot for a minus-five-yard punt. However, the ball was still in bounds and spinning around when Westover defensive lineman Kiman Bethune-Jones had the presence of mind to pick it up. He rumbled through several defenders and went 36 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and game-changing play.
Bethune-Jones was a thorn in the side of the Tigers all night long, as he also tackled Moore for a six-yard loss that resulted in a safety at the end of the first quarter to get the Wolverines within 7-2. Special teams play proved to be the deciding factor for both teams.
“On the punt, the guys said when it came to the sidelines, they thought it went out of bounds,” Marsh said. “We can’t have mistakes like that. Mistakes and not executing cost us this ball game.”
The Tigers also couldn’t stop Wolverine running back Derrick Carver, who ran131 yards on 21 carries. He scored a touchdown on a 13-yard run late in the second quarter to put Westover ahead 10-7 going into halftime.
Chapel Hill’s Haus finished with 86 passing yards on nine completions, the bulk of them on the exciting last minute drive.
Chapel Hill finishes it season at 8-4 and as co-champs in the Pac-6.
“We had our chances, we just didn’t connect,” said Chapel Hill’ Haus, who finished with 86 yards passing. “We had a chance to kick a field goal, it’s not all [Kircher’s].”
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