Class D final: Cardinals 21, Red Dragons 20
Randolph wears down Maple Grove
Missed extra point seals the verdict
Randolph head coach Pat Slater had one thought when Maple Grove kicker Chris Secky lined up to kick an extra point that would tie the Class D championship game at 21 with 1:40 left to go.
"I said to myself, "Maybe it's our turn,' " Slater said in the tunnel at Ralph Wilson Stadium after the game Friday night.
As Secky's kick went up and sailed wide right, Slater threw his arms in the air with most of the Randolph sideline and the sea of red in the bleachers behind them. In the moments that followed, the Cardinals would pick up Maple Grove's onside kick and kneel the ball as the numbers on the clock ticked down but the score remained the same — 21-20, Randolph.
"This is the best venue there is to play and I told them to leave everything you have out on that field," Slater said of his team, whose victory over last year's state champions advanced Randolph to the Far West Regionals.
Slater's offense controlled the field, possessing the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game as they rushed for 252 yards on 59 carries.
"We don't throw passes," said Slater. "So you should know what's coming."
But it wasn't what was coming as much as it was who was coming at the Red Dragons' defense, and that was senior running back Matt Hettenbaugh. He carried the ball 30 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns.
"It was cool to win it as a sophomore, but as a senior it means a lot more," said Hettenbaugh, who was part of the Randolph team that won its class championship in 2007. "We have 18 seniors on this team and we don't want to quit."
Senior quarterback Mike Maycock put the Cardinals on the board with a 7-yard run with 3:22 left in the first quarter.
Maycock's touchdown was set up by a fumble recovery of Alan Lockwood on Maple Grove's 16-yard line with 7:11 remaining in the first quarter.
Randolph carried the 7-0 lead through the rest of the quarter before Secky, Maple Grove's quarterback, fired downfield and connected with Gage Milliman on a 65-yard score. Milliman beat one defender and found the end zone to tie the game 15 seconds into second quarter.
Hettenbaugh's 2-yard touchdown run finished off a 91-yard second-quarter drive, giving Randolph a 13-7 halftime lead.
On their first possession of the second half, the Cardinals marched 80 yards and Hettenbaugh found the end zone again on a 2-yard run. A run from Maycock for the conversion put Randolph ahead, 21-7, with 5:12 left in the third.
Taylor Rosenberg helped to keep the Red Dragons alive in the fourth quarter, carrying a pile of defenders as he inched into the end zone on a 4-yard run with 7:02 left.
After a defensive stop, Rosenberg would score again on Maple Grove's next possession, carrying the ball into the end zone on a 4-yard run to bring the Red Dragons within one.
Secky rushed to the sideline to switch cleats and hurried back onto the field, where he took his position and waited for the snap.
"It went to the right and I said it," Slater said. "It must be our turn."
NFL goal posts are 18 feet, 6 inches wide, narrower than the standard high school posts.
Randolph will face the winner of the Section V final being played at noon today between Avon and Dundee. The Far West Regionals are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Friday at Marina Auto Stadium in Rochester.
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