With a disappointing loss against Waverly in week one, the Antlers had a little spark hit them in game two. The Antlers traveled south to face the Norris Titans, where a last-second score for the Antlers got them in the win column.
Quarterback Kayd Matthews starts it up for the Antlers by setting a school record going 22 for 33 with 274 yards on the season.
“I know I can improve on that and continue to break more records in the future, knowing I still have senior year left,” Matthews said.
Starting right out of the gate in the first 17 seconds of the game, Jarrett Behrends connects to Jax Gates from Norris for an 80-yard touchdown pass. The Antlers answered back and had a 16-play drive to get a touchdown from Andrew Salvatore; however, they failed to make the PAT. Then, in the second quarter, Norris only had a field goal by Evan Greenfield, putting the Titans on top 10-6 with 8:50 left in the quarter. Elkhorn was not out of it yet, Matthews connected to wide receiver Charlie Lamski. They forced a punt by Norris, giving the ball back to Elkhorn. Matthews gave it to running back Elliot Biester for a 1-yard run that will put the Antlers up 20-10. Norris went down right before the half and the Titans ran it to Blake Macklin for a touchdown that would make it 20-17 heading into halftime.
“I know we can improve on our first-half stats from the first 2 games but I am very proud of how we come out after half and get the job done,” Football Head Coach, Dan Feickert said.
Coming out of halftime, it took both teams some time to score but the Titans struck first with a 1-yard run to Eli Holt which put Norris up 24-20.
“I felt like we would not have been in this position if we came out hot to start the game,” wide receiver, Peyton Turman said.
With less than a minute left, the Antlers launch a pass all the way down the field to wide receiver, Andrew Salvatore, and they will get the lead with 14 seconds left.
“I didn’t think we would be able to get down the field in less than a minute, with Kayd being injured, but it was so electric when we scored that last-minute touchdown,” Salvatore said.