Despite being down two points and having its kicker miss a 46-yard field goal as time expired, the Jericho Mount Mansfield high school football team won a game last weekend thanks to one of the craziest, and boneheaded, plays you'll ever see.
To set the scene, Vermont's Jericho Mount Mansfield high school lined up to kick a field goal with 1.3 seconds left in an attempt to win its game over Otter Valley. Two Otter Valley players went back to the endzone to catch the potentially short field goal. And then this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1JpJ53FbXg"]YouTube - WCAX 2609200917590128098 6225726B[/ame]
Even though the ball would have been dead if it fell short of the crossbar, the Otter Valley player caught it, celebrated the impending victory by spiking a live ball and then saw an opposing player scoop it up for the most improbable of wins. The Otter Valley player, Casey Babcock, immediately realized his mistake after dropping the ball, but it was far too late.
Babcock is going to get all the blame here, but what about the coach who placed the two players in the endzone to catch the field goal attempt? The Otters had a two point lead. Once the field goal missed, the game would have been over. There was no reason, or benefit, to send players back to recover a missed attempt.
To set the scene, Vermont's Jericho Mount Mansfield high school lined up to kick a field goal with 1.3 seconds left in an attempt to win its game over Otter Valley. Two Otter Valley players went back to the endzone to catch the potentially short field goal. And then this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1JpJ53FbXg"]YouTube - WCAX 2609200917590128098 6225726B[/ame]
Even though the ball would have been dead if it fell short of the crossbar, the Otter Valley player caught it, celebrated the impending victory by spiking a live ball and then saw an opposing player scoop it up for the most improbable of wins. The Otter Valley player, Casey Babcock, immediately realized his mistake after dropping the ball, but it was far too late.
Babcock is going to get all the blame here, but what about the coach who placed the two players in the endzone to catch the field goal attempt? The Otters had a two point lead. Once the field goal missed, the game would have been over. There was no reason, or benefit, to send players back to recover a missed attempt.
