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They might be called extra points, but they aren’t free. And sometimes they might cost a team a game.
DeKalb (4-2, 3-1 NHC) missed a 35-yard extra point on a touchdown after a taunting penalty that contributed to the Barons’ 27-26 loss to Homestead (5-1, 4-0 NHC) in a big conference showdown Friday.
After Brandon Thews scored on a 21-yard run in the third quarter to put DeKalb ahead 20-7, he was called for a questionable taunting penalty. Scott Baker missed wide right on the PAT from an extra 15 yards away. Later, on DeKalb’s final touchdown, the Barons went for two but the run failed.
“They said (Thews) taunted in the end zone, pointed his finger and yelled at the kid,” DeKalb coach Jim Hummer said. “Those things happen.”
Homestead got its game-winner with 18 seconds left and misfired on a PAT pass of its own trying to get the one-point margin to three points.
“It really comes down to extra points,” Hummer said. “We both scored the same amount of touchdowns (four). We got into a bind and missed one and then we had to go for two. It doesn’t take away from our kids’ effort tonight.”
It took Snider quarterback Matt Elliott a half, but after the junior settled down, he ended up throttling North Side.
Elliott completed five straight passes in the second half, including two for touchdowns, and he also ran in a third score set up by a 47-yard completion.
Elliott finished 8 of 14 with 151 yards and two touchdowns.
“I just settled down and calmed down and played football,” Elliott said. “A lot of it is I’m thinking too much and putting too much pressure on myself.”
Bishop Luers coach Matt Lindsay harped on it all week, the idea that his team needed to hit the ground running, or breathing fire, or some other appropriate metaphor.
Consider it done, especially on the defensive side.
First-quarter offensive output for Concordia, a team that had scored 124 points in its previous three games: zero points, two first downs, 25 total yards.
“That was our focus all week, that we had to get out of the gate faster,” Lindsay said. “And defensively this year, we’ve been very, very strong. That’s definitely kind of been our strength.”
Bishop Dwenger coach Chris Svarczkopf called game prep for Wayne “a scary week” because of the Generals’ run-oriented, tight-formation offense.
But the Saints’ defense forced two fumbles and an interception when Wayne opted to throw in the first half.
Bishop Dwenger added an interception in the fourth quarter.
“The turnovers, the fumbles and the interceptions, were the turning point,” said Svarczkopf, whose team won 40-8. “Those just make it for you.”
