Another game, another heart-stopper.
For the third time this season, the South Whidbey High School football team won by one point, this time trimming host Sultan 21-20 in overtime Friday, Sept. 28.
The Falcons made a bit of history along the way. The victory was South Whidbey’s first ever in its new league, the North Sound Conference.
It was also the Falcons’ first league win in any conference in three years.
The team’s fortitude in close games stems back to last season’s success, according to coach Mark Hodson.
After several rough years, the Falcons played an independent schedule last fall and posted a 7-2 record.
That success built an “expectation to win,” Hodson said.
“The kids are exited; it’s all very exciting,” he said of this fall’s fortune.
South Whidbey (1-0, 4-1) now turns its attention to Cedar Park Christian-Bothell (1-0, 3-1), perhaps the Falcons’s toughest foe so far this season. The Eagles visit Langley at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5.
South Whidbey 21, Sultan 20, overtime
With the score tied at 14, the Falcons had first possession in overtime.
What appeared to be a bad break turned golden. A snap flew over quarterback Kody Newman’s head and the senior raced back to the 25-yard line to retrieve the ball. His pass then bounced off a defender’s helmet into the arms of Kaidyn Brinks, who bulled into the end zone for the score. Kole Nelson kicked the PAT.
Sultan also scored in its overtime possession but chose to go for a two-point conversion and the victory. Clay O’Brien and Caden Spear teamed up to stuff the run and to cement the Falcon win.
While Lady Luck was on the Falcons’ side in OT, that wasn’t the case in regulation. South Whidbey committed four turnovers and three times failed to score after moving inside the Turks’ 10-yard line.
Sultan committed three turnovers.
Aiden Coleman got South Whidbey on the board first with a first-period TD run. Sultan tied the game on its next possession.
In the second quarter, O’Brien scored for South Whidbey, and Sultan (0-1, 1-4) countered in the third quarter to even the score at 14-14.
CH Chapman ran for 95 yards to lead the Falcon offense.
On defense, end Wyatt De Mers played “a really good game,” according to Hodson.
