Stevens JV Defeats Fall Mountain as Time Expires

By Dan Barile
Eagle Times Correspondent
LANGDON, NH — It was a wild finish to the junior varsity football season as Stevens broke a tie with Fall Mountain on the final play of the game to earn a 14-8 victory.

Stevens dominated the first half action as they gained 142 yards and held the Wildcats to -2 yards. Despite the discrepancy in total yards, Fall Mountain was only one score behind as the Cardinals entered the break with an 8-0 lead.

First half highlights for Stevens included two interceptions and a 2-point conversion by Karson Thyne, and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Johnny Frisbee to Jharin Valcourt-Garrow. Peter Oberg provided Fall Mountain’s top highlight when he blocked a punt near the end of the first quarter.

While the first half was all Stevens, the second half was a back-and-forth affair with several momentum swings.

Fall Mountain received the opening kickoff and proceeded to control the ball for almost the entire third quarter. The Wildcats ran 13 plays for 72 yards before the Cardinals defense came through with a huge fourth down stop at the 5-yard line.

Following the defensive stop by Stevens, things started to get pretty wild as the fourth quarter began.

With Stevens at their own 1-yard line, Fall Mountain’s Garrett Asanowicz blasted through the line and nearly brought down the ball carrier in the endzone. As the ball carrier was going down, he executed a risky lateral to a teammate who fought his way forward to narrowly avoid the safety.

Following the play, one of the Stevens players could be heard saying, “I’m not sure if that was a great play or a dumb one, guys.”

A couple of plays later on, fourth and 4 from the 10 yard-line, Asanowicz entered the backfield again and threw down the ball carrier to force a turnover on downs.

Despite starting at the Stevens 6-yard line, Fall Mountain was unable to score after another fourth down stop by the Cardinals. The Wildcats wouldn’t remain scoreless for long however as their defense swarmed the Cardinals at the goal line again. This time around, Stevens lateraled the ball multiple times before the defense pressured the ball carrier into attempting his own, which went directly into the hands of Fall Mountain’s Keeghan White as he stood in the endzone. Following the touchdown, White converted the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 8 with 3:48 remaining.

Stevens drove the ball downfield on the following possession before Fall Mountain forced a turnover on downs at their own 26-yard line. With only 31 seconds remaining, it appeared the Wildcats would have the last chance to score. That would quickly change however when Carter Bastian picked off a pass and returned the ball to the Fall Mountain 35-yard line with only 7 seconds to go.

After a sack by Fall Mountain, Stevens managed to call a timeout with less than 1 second remaining in the game. Following the timeout, quarterback Johnny Frisbee dropped back in the pocket and fired a strike down the middle of the field to a wide open Valcourt-Garrow who sprinted into the endzone for the game winning score. With time expired and the referee’s hands signaling a touchdown, the Cardinals sideline raced onto the field to celebrate the dramatic finish.

“It was pretty exciting to win,” said Valcourt-Garrow, who was worried he’d let the team down by missing the catch. “My best memory of the season is definitely this game and hanging out with the team because they’re like my other family.”