HS Football: Decatur Magic is real, last second TD wins it over Skyview

10/4/2024

Decatur 15, Skyview 14

(Federal Way, WA) The Decatur Gators not long ago were an after thought and one of those teams most could count on picking up an easy win. Head Coach Matt Vaeena has flipped that switch after going 8-2 last season and just missing the final 16 in the State Tournament. This season it’s all about getting to post season and through 5 weeks they remain perfect at 5-0 with an unbelievable win last night over 4A Skyview.

The Storm has designs of making another postseason run as they fell short in the quarterfinals losing a heartbreaker to Eastlake 17-14 last year. Skyview is in the 4 team 4A GSHL so they have to fill the majority of their schedule with non-league opponents and coach Steve Kizer wants his team challenged so they take on the best of the best to prepare themselves for the play-offs.

Gator Defense not Welcoming

The Storm took the long bus ride up from Vancouver to Federal Way to see what these Golden Gators are all about. Skyview got a big taste of the Decatur defense in less than a minute into the game. The Storm took over on their own 35 to begin the game and on the 3rd play QB Doogie Poindexter dropped back to try and convert a 3rd down looking to his left and tossing the ball when Jasonni Prum playing his linebacker spot underneath snatched the ball out of mid-air and returned it about 40 yards to the endzone for the score and a quick 6-0 lead just 59-seconds into the game. Angel Estrada booted the PAT to make it 7-0.

After a couple of possessions the Storm got back on track. After a long touchdown pass that was called back on a holding call from Poindexter to Micah Robison that duo connected again for a 14 yard strike with 9:41 to play in the 1st half. Lawrence Tang kicked the extra point and it was all even at 7-7.

That score would remain as both teams blew opportunities and it was rather sloppy with several holding penalties and in fact Skyview also had a touchdown taken off the board due to a hold. Both offenses would seemingly get rolling and pick up a few 1st downs then quickly starting going backwards with sacks, tackles for loss and the yellow flags. Both teams were happy to get to the break to try and clean things up.

2nd Half still sloppy, Storm grab the lead

As the 2nd half began the Golden Gators began with the ball on their own 26. QB Spencer Holloway had been limited in the 1st half but showed great escapability and a strong arm but the offense never seemed to be on the same page. The Gators drove down inside the 25 yard line of the Storm but on a 4th and 3 a false start made it 4th and 8 and they turned it over on downs.

Skyview got the ball and did nothing and punted it back to Decatur who took over on their own 20. They were able to move it out to midfield but had to punt it back to the Gators. It began to feel like 1 or 2 plays is what both teams were waiting for and on the next possession was one of those plays. After forcing Decatur into a punting situation from their 20 a low snap to Omaha Lutu-Ili forced him to scoop it up and try to run on a 4th and 20. He only got to the 13 yard line before getting tackled giving the Storm the best chance of the night for an offense to take advantage of an opportunity.

It took 1 play for Gavin Packer to run the ball in. Packer came in a few times at QB and was a wildcat option for the most part and found an opening and just beat the defense to the pylon for the touchdown. The PAT was added and Skyview led for the 1st time in the game 14-7 with 6 seconds to play in the 3rd.

Skyview looks to clinch the win but then the Decatur Magic cast their spell

With just 5:52 to play in the game the Gators were running out of chances and the offense still was not firing on all cylinders. Missed chances, penalties and a final 4th down was stopped and Skyview was not quite ready to celebrate but they knew they had the game in hand with 1 or 2 1st downs they would force the Gators to burn all 3 time-outs with just 2:13 to play and the ball on their own 42 it was a 99% chance for the win.

The Storm ran the on 1st down and got stopped near the line of scrimmage. Decatur elected not to call a time out and let the clock run and on 2nd down the Storm went back to Rex Allinger who had picked up about 5 yards when he got blasted by a defender we couldn’t see and jarred the ball loose. Decatur’s Michael Havili scooped it and returned it to the Skyview 40. A block in the back called on Decatur after the turnover then pushed them back to the 50 where they somehow still had another chance with 1:11 to play.

The Gators picked up the 1st down with a 15 yard toss from Holloway to Idris Heyliger down to the 28 yard line. A false start then moved them back to the 33. On 1st down Holloway fired an ill advised pass over the middle and it hit linebacker David Dudko in his hands and he couldn’t believe he couldn’t hold on as he stared at his hands but there was now just 27 seconds to play and 2nd and 15 and the Storm still in control.

On 2nd down another great defensive play for the Storm when Toren Baker slapped down the intended pass to make it 3rd and 15 with 23 seconds to play. On 3rd down Holloway took a shot into the endzone but over threw everyone to bring up 4th and 15 with 17 seconds to play.

On 4th down Holloway dropped back and found freshman receiver Scottie Dinwiddie down to the 8 yard line for the 1st down and 11 seconds left to go in the game. The Gators took their 3rd time out and would give Decatur at least 2 shots into the endzone and likely 3 if they didn’t waste time.

On 1st down, Holloway scrambled to his right and not wanting to force it in where a defender could grab it he looked for the right side of the endzone and Maddox Heyliger on a crossing route to the front corner of the endzone and Holloway put it where no one else but Heyliger could get it and he caught it, looked like he may have briefly juggled it but kept his feet just inside the endzone for the touchdown. This made it 14-13 Skyview with 7.4 seconds to play.

Coach Vaeena decided to go for 2 and the win. Being a non-league game for sure wanted to end it here. So the Gators lined up for the 2 point try and from 3 yards out their whole playbook was available but with the offense struggling so much why not go back to the same play or nearly the same. Holloway rolled to his right and Maddox Heyliger was the slot who ran into the endzone and broke straight across to the exact same spot he just caught the touchdown and Holloway put it right in his hands, he drug his toes and the 2 point conversion was good and what looked like a sure loss, exploded into celebration.

The Gators kicked off and Skyview got the ball with 5.8 seconds to play and could not find a Music City Miracle or the Stanford Band on the sidelines to come up with their own magical finish.

The Numbers…kind of

We were running a slim crew last night as the flu going around has hit several ESN crew members so taking stats was not at the level we generally like to have but we’ll share and think we are pretty close with our final numbers or at least in the ballpark.

Skyview’s Doogie Poindexter had 10 completions for 99 yards and a touchdown. Receiving had Micah Robison with 2 catches for 41 yards and a TD, Matt Glaus 2 grabs for 14, Gavin Packer hauled in 3 for 28 and Toren Baker 1 for 18. Running the ball Rex Allinger led with 13 carries for 65, Levi Webb 8 carries for 35 and Gavin Packer had 2 carries for 19 and a touchdown.

Spencer Holloway for Decatur had 11 completions for 134 yards and a Touchdown and 2 point conversion. Receiving for the Gators was led by Scottie Dinwiddie with 3 catches for 52 yards including that huge 4th and 15 to keep the drive alive with just seconds to play. Iris Heyliger had 2 for 40, TJ Riggins 2 for 18, Jassoni Prun 1 for 2 yards and Maddox Heyliger 3 catches for 22 yards a touchdown and the game winning 2 point conversion. Holloway led the ground attack too with 14 carries for 72 yards, Jordan Clay 11 for 20, Devin Caoagdan with 3 for 14 yards and Eric Havili ran it twice for 4 yards.

Records and what’s next?

Decatur improves to 5-0 on the season and are 4-0 in NPSL play. They play at Auburn Memorial field next Friday against Auburn-Mountainview. Skyview drops to 3-2 but all are non-league at this time and they still have another non-league next Saturday at home against Richland before they finish the year with their 3 league games against Union, Battle Ground and Camas.

Eli Sport Network dot Com MVP of the Game

This was tough but we went with Spencer Holloway who came through with 3 huge pass plays to finish the game. Others in the running included Jasonno Prun who had the pick 6 and was all over the field on defense. We also liked Scottie Dinwiddie, Taeron Clay and Maddox Heyliger.

Had Skyview held on our front runner likely would have been Gavin Packer and Toren Baker. Also catching our attention were Kaden Hamlin, Micah Robison and Doogie Poindexter.

Link to watch the full replay on the NFHS Network (subsription required)

ESN talks with our MVP Spencer Holloway