GENTRY — Austin Millsap slowly walked up to the line and wiped his hands on his pants. With just over three minutes left and trailing by six points, the Gentry quarterback settled under center. His heels touched the goal line.
Victory was 94 yards away.
Seventeen plays later and with the horn sounding, Millsap was mobbed by his teammates after racing into the end zone from three yards out to tie the game.
Millsap then calmly set the ball down for Tanner Coy’s game-winning extrapoint to cap a 13-12 victory against Farmington that could not have seemed more improbable just minutes before.
“Oh, man,” Millsap said.
“We ran a drag route and the receivers were covered, so I just took off.”
Trailing 12-6, the Pioneers were pinned back at their own 4 on a sensational punt by Farmington’s Trey Spencer.
Considerdefensive line had dominated most of the night, the chances of Gentry going the length of the field seemed remote.
And seven plays into the drive, facing fourth-and-8 from their own 16, it could not have looked more bleak. But Millsap somehow found 6-foot-5 tight end Kevin Scherer across the middle for 13 yards and suddenly the Pioneers were clicking.
And so was the clock.
Little by little the Pioneers (3-1, 1-0 4A-1 Conference) inched up the field, but precious seconds were ticking away. With 38 seconds left, Millsap hit Coy on a 14-yard pass to the Farmington 30. After a time out, Millsap hit Dylan Ochs for six yards.
From the 24 and with no time outs left, Millsap found Coy again and the 5-6, 161-pound junior fought his way to the 3 as the clock stopped with under five seconds left as the chains were reset.
“I saw the guy break on it and I stood still and waited for the tip,” Coy said of his clutch catch and run. “Hetipped it and I reached out and grabbed it and I just ran as hard as I could.”
Farmington (1-3, 0-1) called a time out to try and set up its defense, but Millsap rolled out of pressure to the left side and barreled into the end zone as the clock expired.
“We’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves,” said Farmington coach Mike Adams, whose team was rocked before the game even started when a player was struck by a car before the team left for Gentry.
“We had them two fourth downs and let them get out.”
Farmington led 12-0 at halftime as Spencer directed two touchdown drives, capping the Cardinals opening possession with a 55-yard touchdown strike to Benton Cooper.
Farmington later added a one-yard Jared Martin touchdown run.
But Gentry controlled most of the second half behind the running of Eathen Ramsey, who finished with 105 yards on 20 carries and an 11-yard touchdown run.
Sports, Pages 10 on 09/29/2010