61-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-2 seals it
Things were slowly turning Prague’s way Friday night when the Red Devils found themselves facing a punt situation disguised as a chance to blow the game open.
It was midway through the third quarter and Prague was up, 28-14. After a faltering start, the Red Devils had put up three unanswered touchdowns and slowly were beginning to impose their will on the visiting Luther Lions.
Now, they were eyeballing a 4th-and-2 from their own 39 yard line.
Channeling his inner riverboat gambler, Prague coach Mike Hedge called timeout, talked to his team, and then sent the offense back on the field.
The fourth-down call was a handoff to Trevor McGinnis, who pounded past the first down marker, towed three Luther tacklers to mid-field and shook them loose at the 50.
From there, he won the sprint to the end zone, paying off Hedge’s gamble in game-breaking fashion. Except Hedge didn’t
Except Hedge didn’t see it as a gamble.
“I thought we could get three yards any time we wanted it,” he said. “I didn’t realize we were going to pop it for 60, but I thought there was a chance to put a dagger in the coffin.”
McGinnis’s run and a fumble recovery in the end zone by Jacob Lee on the two-point conversion made the score 36- 14 and sealed a satisfying night for the Red Devils, who went through an intense summer conditioning program that Hedge said had them ready for such a game. “The difference is
“The difference is what they did during July,” Hedge said. “They did two hours a day, four days a week, and you could tell it.
“At halftime, our kids weren’t gassed – they were ready to play another half of football.
“The thing I like is that we stayed physical – that’s what we preached to them: ‘go be physical.’ And they did.’” The game started in
The game started inauspiciously. Prague gave Luther an extended first-quarter possession by roughing the punter, and the Lions turned it into a 6-0 lead on a 75- yard screen pass for a score.
After some back-and-forth, Prague took the lead for good, at 16-14, on a 2-yard run by McGinnis early in the second quarter.
A 32-yard run for a score by quarterback Tripp Davis and a 20-yarder for a score by McGinnis with 1:29 left in the first half made it 28-14, where it stayed until McGininis’s run.
Hedge gave his team a good review, liking their style of play but identifying some areas that need improvement. “Our young kids
“Our young kids played hard,” he said. “I was impressed - I didn’t think we’d get that kind of physical toughness out of them.
“We rotated eight defensive linemen all night, so we had kids coming and going and a lot of young kids playing.
“We changed our scheme from last year and I thought the kids adjusted to it well.
“We have to play better defensively. Our kids are still bad about wanting to blow a gap. And we got lazy offensively in the first half.”
With the opening win their pockets, the Red Devils travel to Henryetta Thursday for a 7 p.m. game with the Knights, who fell 30-14 to Okemah in their opener.