LE -ROY — Seventy seconds is an eternity for Nick Spencer and the Southern Coffey County offense.
On Saturday afternoon, Spencer proved it, as his offense needed only 55 seconds to beat Waverly and improve their record to 1-1.
Waverly grabbed a 28-24 with 1:10 left in the game on a 15-yard scramble by sophomore quarterback Drew Pyle, but Titan coach Korey Lankton didn’t panic, he knew his offense could erase a four-point deficit quickly with its dynamic passing attack.
“We felt pretty good,” Lankton said. “We had two timeouts. The biggest thing was our offensive line stepping up.”
After an incompletion on first down, Spencer got into a rhythm with an inside screen pass to running back Luke Gillis.
“We got the fire lit and all got pretty (mad) and we got going,” Spencer said.
The Bulldogs read the play well though and tackled Gillis for just a two-yard gain. In an effort to save their timeouts, the Titans ran to the line for the next snap.
Catching Waverly off guard, Spencer quickly found his safety blanket Dawson Leimkuhler. The big tight end rumbled for 24-yard gain and got his team down to the Bulldog 28-yard line.
“I told (my teammates), it was crunch time and the biggest drive of our lives and it is time to roll,” Spencer said.
Lankton quickly called timeout and the clock read 32 seconds.
Spencer looked for his other favorite target on the next play. He found freshman receiver Zeke Lyons on a short pass. Lyons quickly headed to the sidelines for a five-yard gain and stopped the lock with 26 seconds left.
Spencer tried to find Lyons deep on the next play, but the pass fell incomplete to set up a third and five with 21 seconds left. That left Lankton a decision to make. Go for the first down to make it an easier task to get the ball into the end zone or go for the six for two straight plays.
He opted for the latter and only needed one play to capitalize.
“We knew we had time to come back with one more if we needed to, so we thought we’d just chance it and throw the fade,” Lankton said.
Spencer found Leimkuhler on a fade route to the back pylon. Leimkuhler hauled it in over his shoulder and gave SCC the 30-38 lead.
“We were just running Zeke and Dawson on their sideline fades into the end zone,” Spencer said. “Dawson is 6-3 or 6-4 and not many kids can compete with him athletic-wise on the field so I just threw it up to him. He is fast so he got himself open. It was a good pitch and catch.”
After the two-point conversion failed, the Titans squibbed the ball and Waverly took over at its own 36 with seconds left. The Titan defense was able to get to Pyle on the next play and he threw the ball to a blocker, who was immediately tackled to end the game.
The game was a continuation of Friday night’s game that had been postponed with just under three minutes remaining in the second quarter due to the weather conditions with the Titans leading 16-0. When play resumed, the momentum completely flipped.
“We didn’t handle the delay well,” Lankton said. “They came out and put it to us.”
Waverly quickly scored a touchdown to cut the margin to 16-8 at halftime, then they had a 10-play drive to open the second half and the score was 16-14.
With a minute left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs scored again and their two-point play gave them a 22-16 lead.
Spencer answered with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Lyons, who leapt over his defender to make an athletic grab.
Lyons finished the game with nine catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Leimkuhler was the Titans leading receiver with 129 yards on seven catches and a pair of scores.
The teams exchanged scoreless possessions until Pyle’s touchdown for the Bulldogs set up Spencer and Leimkuhler’s heroics.
Spencer threw for 277 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He was 20-for-33 passing.
WORTH THE WAIT: Spencer-to-Leimkuhler wins it with 15 ticks left
