HAIL MARY… ANSWERED! | Independence Bulletin Journal

Kids practice this type of last-second scenario, but it rarely comes into play or actually works. A lot has to happen for this miracle to happen. From 51 meters, it’s even less of a chance. Can the quarterback (Mitch Johnson in this case) throw the ball 55 yards in the air? Receivers need to get down the field quickly before the ensuing rush reaches the QB.

And with 4 seconds left the ball was snapped – receivers sprinted to the right corner end zone – quarterback Mitch Johnson dodged the rush and stepped into the pocket, moving slightly to his right – and with all he had, threw the ball as hard and as far as he could throw it. Brady McDonald and Brady Kurt sprinted to the corner end zone and as expected; Josh Beatty trailed behind. Brady Kurt went for the ball with a Clipper defender and deflected the ball backwards towards Beatty who was waiting for the possible deflection, and wouldn’t you know… a miracle ensues – Beatty secures the overturned ball at 3 – yard line and backed into the end zone for the Hail Mary Mustangs victory.

The Mustangs faithful – fans, coaches, teammates and announcers – all celebrated in an “I can’t believe what I just saw” moment.

“Last play was great execution,” said head coach Justin Putz, “We practice this play every Thursday in our pregame script. give it a chance Mitch did a good job moving into the pocket and taking it out Mitch can throw it 60 yards so we knew he could get it down I think the Widereceivers did a good job work to get to their landmark and Josh did a great job following up and looking for the rebound It was a wild moment and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a legit Hail Mary run over 50 yards at high school level.

Coach Putz added that Dylan Eisle’s interception on the previous play was huge. “He had dropped one early in the game and I was thrilled he was making that play. It gave us a chance,” added coach Putz.

The Mustangs take a 13-7 win in a 3-yard, dust cloud (rubber pellets) game all game. Both teams stuck to their running offense with CCA rushing the ball 44 times for 144 yards while the Mustangs rushed the ball 30 times for 107 yards. When they pitched, the navigation was tough for both teams. CCA threw for just 27 yards and Indee had just 86 yards from the air. In a battle of two very good defenses, it all came down to that end game.

The Mustangs opened the scoring when Junior Trey Weber scored from 5 yards out to make it 7-0 with 6:58 left in the first quarter.

That was all the score in the first half and Clear Creek-Amana tied it at 7 when they kicked off the second half on the court in 14 plays, ending with a reception of 5 yard touchdown.

“I think it was a good win for us,” said head coach Justin Putz, “CCA is a strong team and I think they have a good chance of being a 4A playoff team again this They’re the most physical team we’ve played so far so it was good to see the improvement from our week 0 game. I think the guys have done a good job fighting throughout the game, we just missed a few chances to increase our lead early in the game.

Senior flagman Mitchell Johnson threw for 86 yards on 7 of 12 passes, while rushing for 42 yards on 14 carries.

Weber had 64 rushing yards on 15 carries. Junior Brady McDonald had 1 rush for 1 yard. Not many receptions for Independence, as junior Zach Sidle carried 2 balls for 23 yards while McDonald had 2 receptions for 9 yards. Senior Keelan Hoover got 1 ball for 4 yards and junior Josh Beatty had the lone 51-yard touchdown.

The Independence goes 2-1 on the year and travels to West Liberty (0-2) on Friday night.

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