Jeff Theisen
Republished with permission of the Novi News
October 19, 2006
Hartland took all the guesswork out of Novi's playoff possibilities last Friday by pulling off a 6-0 overtime victory Friday, leaving the Wildcats (3-5) out of the playoff picture.
Eagles senior quarterback Ryan Wilkins snuck in from the 1-yard line to score on fourth down of the first overtime possession for the lone score of the game.
De'Angelo Jones blocked the extra point, appearing to send the momentum back to the Wildcats.
"The block by De'Angelo was a huge play," Novi head coach Tab Kellepourey said. "We knew we had four tries to get in there and score. If we do that, then we just kick an extra point."
Hartland (2-6) stuffed Novi's first run for no gain in overtime. Novi was called for two men in motion, making it second-and-15 before an incomplete pass made it third-and-15.
Backup junior quarterback Mark Heard completed a 5-yard pass to Stefan Figurski to get back to the original line of scrimmage for fourth down.
Heard rolled the pocket out but his pass fell harmlessly incomplete, sending the Hartland sideline into a frenzy.
Offensive troubles
Both offenses struggled through regulation. At the half, Hartland had 90 yards of offense to Novi's 61. The final stats weren't much prettier, with the Wildcats winning the total-yardage battle 160-157.
Hartland punted eight times to Novi's six.
Drew Mixter had almost half of the Eagles' yards with 78 yards on 23 carries.
But it was the 1-yard dive by Wilkins that proved to be the difference. He also completed 4-of-6 passes for 44 yards with one interception.
Heard led Novi with 39 yards on nine carries. He came into the game early in the second quarter when starting quarterback Adam Chandler went down with a shoulder injury.
"I told the kids after the game that there was some courage from some of our kids today," Kellepourey said. "One particular kid ... is Adam Chandler. He had a broken collarbone on the fourth day of practice. He fought his way back to get on the field. He basically came back four weeks early from a bad injury.
"It just shows a lot of courage on his behalf to fight through the injury and get his butt out there and practice every day. That's the kind of player that I like to be around as a coach."
The injury altered the Wildcats offense..
"Mark's got different kind of skills than Adam presents," Kellepourey said. "We went away from some of the gameplan that we prepared for."
Free kick setup
The Wildcats were attempting to set up for another free kick late in the fourth quarter. Hartland was pinned deep in their own territory and had to punt. Kellepourey sent out three returnees in hopes of getting a fair catch, but Hartland's Wilkins got off one of his best punts of the night and Mike Slack was unable to get the fair catch.
Novi had the ball at the Hartland 42 with :23.3 left in the fourth, but they were unable to move the ball on two plays until Slack hauled in a pass at the 9 as time ran out.
"We knew coming in that if we played hard-nosed football, then we had a chance," Hartland head coach Marcus Dukes said. "They played their hearts out.
"We're not looking to ruin a homecoming, but you'll take a win any way you can get it."
Jeff Theisen can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 104 or at jtheisen@gannett.com.