In the family: Stepbrothers connect on East Kentwood's game-winning touchdown pass
By Steve Ungrey | Steven_Ungrey@mlive.com on October 10, 2015 12:51 AM
East Kentwood football coach Tony Kimbrough called Friday's game with Rockford one for the ages.
For Bret Patton and Evan Maday, it might be one for the photo album.The stepbrothers came through, as Maday's 6-yard pass to Patton with 28 seconds remaining in the game helped to seal a dramatic, come-from-behind 30-29 win over Rockford in a tense, wild OK Red Conference game on Friday.
While driving for its game-winning score, Rockford quarterback Jason Whittaker suffered the last of his three interceptions as Jamond Terrell picked up a big interception with 12 seconds to go.
"My quarterback (Maday) and receivers just had great passes and great catches," Kimbrough said. "We jumped out on them and then they went up by 14 points on us, and we just went into hurry-up mode."
In losses over the last couple weeks, the team stopped doing its no-huddle offense for whatever reason, and Kimbrough said getting it back is what worked best.
East Kentwood's Jamond Terrell intercepted a pass at the Rockford 2-yard line to preserve a wild 30-29 win over the Rams.
Andre Welch caught a 23-yard pass from Maday to cut Rockford's lead to 29-21, and East Kentwood (5-2 overall, 2-1 OK Red) then converted the 2-point pass to further trim the deficit to six.
"We went to our kickoff team and said we'll kick the ball deep, but you have to believe we could do it," Kimbrough said.
Rockford (4-3, 2-1) worked its way down the field only to suffer an interception. The Falcons returned it to the 1-yard line, which set the stage for Maday's big pass to Patton.
Kimbrough called it the "back shoulder play", and it worked to perfection.
With Friday's win, East Kentwood is in a three-way tie for second with Grandville and Rockford, and all three teams are behind undefeated Hudsonville.
"It's going to come down to that last week," Kimbrough said. "The OK Red is the best conference in the state of Michigan and we can secure a chance at the playoffs next week. We had some big wins last year, some huge ones, to get to the state semifinals. But this is one of the biggest wins I've been a part of. We just never gave up."
Brendan McKellar had two touchdown runs for the Rams, one from 2 yards out and the other on a long 72-yard scamper.
