Those were the first words used by Temple coach Bryce Monsen after the Wildcats’ District 13-5A football game against Harker Heights on Thursday night at Leo Buckley Stadium, and they seemed appropriate.
After all, Temple had seen its 21-7 lead turn into a 28-21 deficit, and after scoring two late touchdowns to presumably pull out a victory the Wildcats had watched the Knights force overtime on a Hail Mary touchdown pass with no time remaining.
But Lache Seastrunk scored on a fourth-down run to keep Temple alive in the first overtime period, then Chris Winkler kicked a 37-yard field goal to give the first-place Wildcats a 45-42, double-overtime thriller of a victory and clinch their first berth in the Class 5A state playoffs since 2003.
“Unreal. Unbelievable. I don’t know what to say right now,” Monsen said after Seastrunk ran for 222 yards and three touchdowns to help Temple move to 5-3 overall and 4-0 in 13-5A. “Any normal team that did not have the high resolve, the work ethic and the poise could not have done what this team did.
“The bottom line is that was truly one of the best comebacks from adversity I’ve been a part of.”
Added senior rover Robert Black, whose defense allowed 437 yards but came up with a big stop in the second OT: “This is probably the most important win of all of them because it puts us in the playoffs for sure. It was an unbelievable win, amazing. It’s really good for the coaches and the community.”
On the flip side were first-year coach Todd McVey and Heights (1-5, 1-2), who were one play away from knocking off Temple but suffered their second consecutive close defeat.
“I just told my team how proud I am of them and that the scoreboard doesn’t indicate what happened tonight,” said McVey, who got 140 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Chris High and three passing TDs from Ryan Balentine, whose 46-yard scoring heave to Devin Burns with the fourth-quarter clock reading 0:00 forced overtime.
“You had two great football teams going after it, and you saw the heart of our team and our senior class. I feel sick for them right now and it’s an uphill battle now, but we’ll be ready next Friday.”
Temple, which entered winless in three previous games with Heights, built a 21-7 halftime advantage behind Kristian Alexander’s 15-yard return of a minus-18-yard punt following a botched snap, Adrian Reaves-Brown’s 10-yard run and Chase Moore’s 26-yard pass to A.J. Coulter.
However, Heights stormed back in a big way in the second half. The Knights held the Wildcats scoreless in the third quarter and cut their deficit to 21-14 on Balentine’s 9-yard touchdown pass top Rueben Johnson with four minutes left in the third.
Those two connected for a 27-yard scoring strike down the left sideline with 7:12 remaining in the fourth to tie the game, and Balentine’s 3-yard TD keeper at the 4:11 mark gave Heights its first lead of the night at 28-21.
But it didn’t last long, as sophomore speedster Seastrunk sprinted down the right side for a 55-yard touchdown and a 28-28 game with 3:41 to go. Heights then marched to Temple’s 30, but the Wildcats forced Balentine to throw two incomplete passes for a turnover on downs with 1:41 left.
Reaves-Brown’s 26-yard rumble set up Seastrunk, who went off right tackle and raced to the pylon for a 35-28 lead with 35 seconds to play.
But Heights advanced to the Temple 46 and called its final timeout with four seconds left, and Balentine launched a spiral that athletic sophomore Burns jumped for and snared in between several defenders for the tying touchdown.
“He just went up and got it,” Black said. “We had one guy underjump it and I was behind him.”
Heights got the ball first in overtime, and High shook off tacklers on an option pitch to the right and squirted in for a 10-yard touchdown and a 42-35 lead. Temple responded, moving from the 25 to the 2 before Seastrunk broke through the right side of the line on fourth down to make it 42-42.
Heights got the ball first again in the second OT session, but on fourth-and-5 from the 20 Temple pressured Balentine into scrambling and throwing out of the back of the end zone.
The Wildcats faced third-and-15 from the 30, but Moore escaped the rush for a 10-yard run to the 20. After a 10-minute delay while injured Heights lineman Victor Espinosa was carted off the field, then a Heights timeout, it was junior Winkler’s time to shine.
He was perfect on six extra-point tries, and from the left hash he drilled a 37-yard field goal just inside the left upright for the win before his teammates swarmed him in a celebratory mob.
“That was nice concentration by Wink,” Black said. “That’s why we have him.”
Said Monsen, whose team will host Killeen Shoemaker next Friday night: “I take my hat off to our kids. It would have been easy for them to get down tonight, but they’re the most resilient team.”
