Crestwood – For the last three years, the Louisville Holy Cross Cougars had been a "get well" tonic for anything that ailed the Dragon football team. Three straight times South Oldham had defeated the Cougars – 41-20 in 1999, 25-0 in 2000, and 12-0 last year.

Last year’s victory proved particularly galling to the team from Shively, as it was their lone loss in a stellar 2001 campaign. That loss provided much of their motivation for this year’s contest.

Of course, the Dragons always were a big target on the Cougars’ schedule. South, a class 4A team, provided additional legitimacy to Holy Cross. The Cougars came into the contest ranked #5 in the state in Single-A football and undefeated at 3-0, much like last year. But Holy Cross wanted to avoid the mantle they earned last season, when they finished the regular season 9-1 – the lone loss to South – thereby becoming known as a "good team, for a single-A squad." The implied disrespect of a school so rich in football lore irked the Cougars.

Both teams expected to rely heavily on their defense: Holy Cross was allowing just 5 points per contest, third-best in Kentucky. South’s defense had given up points, but was aggressive, having pounded Seneca for nine quarterback sacks and having forced five turnovers against Fern Creek. The question was which offense could take advantage of enough breaks to win.

Holy Cross struck first. After a fumble on a punt return, the Cougars took over at the Dragon 22 yard line with 6:34 to go in the first period. Lacking a good placekicker – the Cougar kicker only averaged 36 yards on kickoffs – Holy Cross went for the first down on fourth and three from the fifteen yard line. A completed pass from junior Nick Nail, a second-year starter, moved the ball to the Dragon five yard line, and two plays later, Nail burst up the middle on a quarterback keeper from four yards out for the score. Zachary Malcolm’s extra point made it 7-0, Holy Cross, with 2:05 to play in the first. Nearly ten minutes had run off the clock, and South had had the ball for just three plays from scrimmage, thanks to Holy Cross’ ball-control offense.

The Dragons threatened to counter on their next series, though. Facing a fourth and short play near midfield, Derek Bowman prepared to punt. But the ball was snapped to Matt Kusnir – who played quarterback for the Dragons last year – and he threw a perfect twelve yard pass to Ryan Schumm to get the first down and keep the drive alive. A personal foul penalty against the Cougars moved the ball to the Cougar fifteen yard line, but the drive stalled on the next play when a Holy Cross defender poked the ball free from Lance Smither on a run play.

Things really started to get exciting on the Dragons’ next possession. After moving the ball to the Holy Cross 35, the Dragons faced fourth and long. Out came the Dragons’ newest weapon, senior kicker Justin Willis. When the Dragons’ starting kicker left the team after last week’s game, South coach Brian Schutte was left in a quandry, with no real kicker on the squad to handle field goal opportunities. He went to the boys’ soccer coach to ask for help, and was directed to Willis, who agreed to give it a try. One workout with the coaches was an eye-opener: every kickoff went into the end zone and Willis hit forty-five yard field goals – against the wind!

This would be a 52 yard try, and the Holy Cross defenders could be forgiven if they seemed a little "ho-hum" about rushing the kicker on such an "impossible" kick. But Willis had their full attention after the attempt, which was long enough for a 60 yard field goal, missed to the left by inches.

Moments later, Willis got another chance. After South’s defense forced the Cougars to go three-and-out, the Dragons returned the short punt to the Cougar 37 yard line. Three plays later, the Dragons had failed to move the ball, and out came Willis on fourth down. On just his second field goal attempt ever, Willis nailed the 54 yard attempt with room to spare, pulling South to within four at 7-3.

It shattered the old school record of 40 yards, set by Josh Clark in 1992, and tied with two others for the second-longest field goal in Kentucky high school football history.

Willis would get another opportunity before the end of the half. After a fifteen yard Cougar punt, South went to work from their own 36. A pass from Josh Moll to Ryan Schumm moved the ball to the Holy Cross 41 yard line, and from there, Willis set up for what would have been a state-record 58 yard field goal. The kick had plenty of distance, but it went wide left with :36 left in the half. The Dragons trailed, 7-3, but Willis had served notice that he would be a weapon to contend with.

At the half, both teams were struggling offensively. South had just 62 yards in offense, including a surprisingly low 20 yards rushing. Moll was 3-6-0 passing for just 30 yards, and Kusnir accounted for 12 yards passing on the fake punt. South had yet to punt, and had only been penalized once, for fifteen yards. But that news was offset by two fumbles that had cost the Dragons dearly, one leading directly to a Cougar touchdown and the other one derailing a Dragon possession inside the Cougar twenty yard line.

Holy Cross wasn’t doing much better, primarily due to an incredible flurry of penalties against the offense. As a result, their touchdown "drive" had only covered 22 yards, and their other four possessions had all ended in short punts.

The second half continued more of what the first half brought. Holy Cross punted quickly on their first two possessions; South threw an interception on their first possession. The interception was strange; a long pass from Moll to Ryan Donohue was thrown high. Donohue and defender Jeffrey Wachtel both leaped high for the ball, with Donohue tipping it as Wachtel fell to the turf. Unfortunately, Wachtel fell on his back and the ball fell on his stomach, which he then grabbed for the interception.

The Dragons’ second possession yielded another field goal try for Willis, and South maneuvered for a 42 yard attempt. After the results seen from the three 50+ yard attempts in the first half, this long field goal attempt seemed like a chip shot, but Holy Cross got a tremendous surge up the middle of the line and easily blocked the kick midway through the third period.

The two teams went to the final period with the score still 7-3.

The Cougars finally broke the ice in the fourth. Nick Nail, who completed just four of seven passes on the evening for just 51 yards, found Shawn Moore for a 33 yard completion deep in South territory. With just 4:41 remaining, Wachtel took the ball in from five yards out. The kick was no good, but Holy Cross suddenly had a 13-3 lead. With the South offense stalled, the ten points seemed huge.

The Dragons finally awakened on the next series. Moll’s seven yard touchdown pass to Donohue with 2:31 remaining was his first touchdown pass of the season and pulled the Dragons to within four. Willis’ kick made it 13-10.

That left things in the hands of the South Oldham defense, and the Dragons’ "D" responded. Holy Cross inadvertently helped all they could. A Wachtel run gained just two yards, and the Dragons called time out. The next play was stuffed for no gain, and the Dragons – with only one time out remaining – let the clock run. Holy Cross then took a delay of game penalty of five yards. But the Cougars’ young offense – only three seniors – then self-destructed, garnering back-to-back illegal procedure calls with the clock already stopped after the delay of game penalty. That left the Cougars facing a third and 23 situation. They chose to run the ball on third down, and although they failed to convert, this forced South to stop the clock by using their final time out.

Still, things were suddenly looking very hopeful for South Oldham. Holy Cross had been plagued by horrible punts all night, and a minute and half remained. Plenty of time to get within Justin Willis’ field goal range at least. Hopes rose even higher when the punt was fielded by Matt Kusnir near mid-field and returned to the Cougar 42 yard line. >From there, a face mask penalty moved the ball to the Holy Cross 27, and suddenly, the Dragon fans weren’t thinking overtime, but a touchdown and victory.

A ten yard scramble by Moll gave the Dragons a first down at the 17, but the drive stalled there. With nineteen seconds left, Willis trotted onto the field to try a 34 yard field goal to send the game into overtime, but the Cougars got a rush up the middle again, and blocked it to seal the win.

NOTES: According to Sports Zone Radio’s unofficial stats, the Dragons punted just once and were flagged just once (for 15 yards). But South turned the ball over three times (two fumbles and an interception), while forcing no turnovers.

South falls to 2-2; Holy Cross improves to 4-0.

Next up for South: SHELBY COUNTY (3-1) at Shelbyville 9/20/02

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