One of the craziest comebacks at any level of football came in the Hamilton (Chandler, Arizona) High School Huskies’ 25-24 win against the Bishop Gorman (NV, ranked #7 nationally) Gaels Friday night. Bishop Gorman was up 24-7 inside the final minute and a half, and Hamilton didn’t have a second-half first down until the final seven minutes, but the Huskies made it 24-10 on a 46-yard field goal from Matthew Krneta with 1:06 left.
Kicker Jacob Medina then converted one onside kick, Hamilton scored in three plays (on a pass from quarterback Nicco Marchial to tight end Michael Masunas), and Medina then executed another perfect onside kick to give the Huskies the ball with 20 seconds left. They then drove again, and Marchial hit running back Nick Switzer for a 22-yard touchdown with seconds left, then ran in the two-point conversion himself.
https://twitter.com/FTBVids_YT/status/1439095689426866180?s=20
There are a lot of impressive plays there, including the persistence from a beat-up Marchial (who was sacked six times on the night). But the most surprising thing here may be pulling off two onside kicks in the final minute. Medina spoke to Richard Obert of The Arizona Republic afterwards, though, and said he was confident with those kicks given how much his team had practiced them:
Hamilton kicker Jacob Medina on conveying 2 onside kicks in final minute pic.twitter.com/0VCaETbdt9
— Richard Obert (@azc_obert) September 18, 2021
“We worked all season on those. We knew it would come down to a big game and we’d use. We executed when we needed to. …That’s sticking to our craft, what our coaches taught us. I think it really shows the rest of Arizona and the country what Hamilton High School is capable of.”
Well, it certainly showed they’re capable of incredible comebacks. And it also illustrated the value of putting that amount of practice and preparation into onside kicks. That led to a comeback that will be remembered for some time.
[The Arizona Republic, Richard Obert on Twitter, FTB Vids YT on Twitter]
