Steve Mette's last-second field goal sends Rockford past Holt
Cris Greer | The Grand Rapids Press
HOLT -- With his heart pounding and the game on the line,
Rockford junior Steve Mette took some deep breaths and nailed
a 20-yard field goal with seconds left to give his team a 27-24
come-from-behind win against Holt on Thursday.
Two timeouts didn't ice Mette, who also kicked a 40-yarder
to tie the game at 17-17 with 1 second remaining before halftime.
"It wasn't that long of a kick, so I knew to stick to
my routine and take some deep breaths to get my heart rate
reduced," Mette said. "I had so much trust in our
guys and knew nothing was going to go wrong. It was pretty
straight.
"You can't stop all those thoughts trying to come into
your head. You just try to focus on what's at hand."
Holt opened up a 14-0 lead behind the running of Curtis Nick,
who scored on runs of 7 and 2 yards. Nick rushed for 159 yards
total on 23 carries and three touchdowns for the Rams.
"I wasn't really in the best of moods when that happened,
but it was early and there was a lot of time on the clock," said
Rockford coach Ralph Munger, whose Rams improved to 2-0. "The
bottom line is, you have to keep slugging it out. You have
to get back into the game."
Rockford got things going late in the first quarter after
one of Holt's four fumbles.
The Rams' Zach Schmuck scored on a 1-yard run to get his team
on the board. A good kick by Mette left Rockford trailing 14-7
with 11:57 in the first half.
On its next drive, Holt's Evan Fisher kicked a 37-yarder to
give his team a 17-7 edge.
With 32 seconds left in the half, Rockford's Connor Darby
ran one in from six yards out to cut Holt's lead to 17-14.
A quick fumble by Holt left the door wide open for Rockford's
kicker.
"That's why he practices," said Munger, whose Rams
lost to Holt in the Division 1 regional finals last year. "You
think there's pressure out here, you ought to be on the practice
field."
Nick scored his third touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run
with 7:08 left in the third quarter to give Holt a 24-17 lead.
Rockford answered back before the end of the third on a 2-yard
touchdown run by Nate Sanders to tie the score at 24.
"Offensively, we had to just decide to play," Munger
said. "It was fun to watch. They were playing their tails
off and our guys were playing their tails off. It was a thing
of beauty -- two teams going head to head, smash-mouth football.
"We were finally able to make some first downs and put
the ball in the end zone."
Another junior, defensive back Shain Showers, set up the game-winning
field goal with his second interception of the night. Showers
picked off a pass by backup quarterback Jake Bozzo with 1:07
remaining.
"We didn't stop playing," Showers said. "We
fought through, kept our hopes up and kept positive."
Schmuck rushed for 159 yards on 17 carries. Linebacker Brett
Egnatuk led Rockford with 14 tackles.
