Thriller in Erie sees St. Bede pull off improbable 15-13 victory

ERIE – The track was far muddier for St. Bede this week, but the Bruins managed to find their footing just in time to remain unbeaten on the young season with a last-second, 15-13 victory at Erie-Prophetstown on Friday night.

“The kids responded, and then we finally broke through, and we executed when it counted.”

—  St. Bede football coach Jim Eustice

Held scoreless until the fourth quarter, St. Bede scored all of its points in the final 10:35, capped off by a game-winning 25-yard field goal by senior kicker Stephen Shaver as time ran out.

“That was a great game,” said St. Bede head coach Jim Eustice. “They knocked us around in the first half, and we didn’t execute on a lot of levels, but our defense hung in there and kept it a one-score game at halftime. The kids responded, and then we finally broke through, and we executed when it counted.”

Erie-Prophetstown (0-2) held the upper hand throughout the early going, outgaining the Bruins 145-27 in the first half and taking a 7-0 advantage into halftime after quarterback Kolby Franks completed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mason Misfeldt with 43 seconds on the clock.

The Panthers defense kept last week’s Friday Night Drive Most Valuable Player, Tyreke Fortney, in check until late in the third period, when the senior hauled in a 37-yard pass to jumpstart the St. Bede offense. Fortney caught a 15-yard pass on fourth-and-8 soon after to set up a first-and-goal opportunity at the E-P 9-yard line.

Fortney did the rest of the work from there, taking a handoff and, finding no room up the middle, bouncing to the outside to beat the Panthers to the corner of the end zone for the score. St. Bede’s two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the visitors with a 7-6 deficit with 10:35 to play.

The Bruins, however, found themselves in the lead less than three minutes later. Following a Panthers punt, quarterback John Brady fired a deep pass which Fortney collected and raced for an 83-yard touchdown to give the guests their first lead at 12-7 with 7:53 to go.

“After Tyreke’s performance last week, we knew they would be keying on him,” Eustice said. “We had some opportunities in the first half, and we just missed.”

E-P responded with an offensive drive which ate up nearly five minutes and was extended by a St. Bede facemask penalty. Franks again connected with Misfeldt, this time for an 11-yard score, and the Panthers led 13-12 with 2:52 left.

The Panthers appeared to force a fumble early in St. Bede’s final drive, but a penalty for a horse-collar tackle negated the play. Facing third-and-13 from his own 38, Brady scrambled to his left and eluded the E-P defense for a 27-yard gain, moving the sticks to the Panthers’ 35 with under a minute to play.

A 17-yard pass to Fortney set St. Bede up with a first down at the Panthers’ 13, and Fortney’s 6-yard grab left the ball at the 8-yard line with 6.3 seconds left. After an incomplete pass on third down, the Bruins sent Shaver on to kick the field goal. After waiting out an E-P timeout, Shaver split the uprights to send the Bruins home victorious.

“That’s a whole team to do that,” Eustice said of the field goal. “It was a great snap by Calym Setser, a good hold by Ryan Brady, and Stephen boomed it through. This is his first time out for football.

“It was just a total team win.”

Brady completed 17 of 27 passes, including 11 of his last 13 attempts, for 221 yards, and was also St. Bede’s top rusher with 24 yards. After catching just two passes for 13 yards in the first half, Fortney finished with eight receptions for 172 yards. Ben Burke led the St. Bede defense with nine tackles.

Franks ran 15 times for a team-high 107 yards for the Panthers, while also completing 6 of 14 passes for 74 yards. Misfeldt caught three passes for 28 yards, and Trevor Cobo made a team-high nine tackles.