Guts.
There is no other topic worth discussing after watching the Aquinas High School football team come from behind in the fourth quarter to beat previously unbeaten Columbus 29-28 in a WIAA Division 4 sectional championship game Friday at the Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.
You can talk about Trey Bahr or Jacob Thornton or Brady Lee or Tom Lee and his coaching staff for plays or decisions that were made after the Blugolds took possession while facing a 14-point deficit and just 3 minutes, 31 seconds on the clock.
Was it the touchdown run — yes, run — by Thornton to get Aquinas within a touchdown with 2:50 to go or Bahr’s impressive catch in the end zone on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Thornton that tied the score at 28 with 1:58 left?
Was it Bahr’s recovery on an onside kick by Brady Lee between those possessions or his extra point after the final touchdown to break the tie?
There are a lot of ways to go with this, but the bottom line is that Aquinas (11-1) avenged a loss from Week 2 in dynamic fashion to continue a march that has already brought it three straight WIAA championships.
The Blugolds, who moved up to Division 4 this season, moved their postseason winning streak to 20 games and qualified to play Racine St. Catherine’s (12-0) in a state semifinal next weekend.
“There were five of them, right,” Tom Lee asked when quizzed on the gutsiest play he saw in the victory, which seemed very unlikely after Thornton was intercepted with the 14-point deficit intact in the fourth quarter. “It was big play after big play after big play after big play.
“I think I may have to go with the (tying) touchdown to Trey because we missed on that a couple of plays before.”
That play was set up by an 8-yard catch by Logan Becker on a fourth-and-3 snap, and the possession only possible after Bahr made a clean recovered on an onside kick at the Columbus 46.
“We were anticipating the onside kick,” Bahr said after celebrating with his family. “We saw that (the Cardinals) were split outside, coach called middle, and Brady put down a perfect kick.”
The final drive included the fourth-down conversion, which was a rarity for the Blugolds on Friday. Aquinas struggled on third and fourth down throughout the game and had trouble getting its defense off the field as Columbus (11-1) excelled at it.
But the handful of gutsy plays the Blugolds made in the final 3:31 neutralized that against a team that used Connor Roche’s 151 rushing yards to extend drives. The Cardinals had one touchdown drive that lasted 8:26 and another that lasted 10:14.
The second gutsy call by the coach staff came after Bahr’s touchdown that tied the game. Just about everyone wearing a gold helmet was shocked to look at the sideline and see coaches holding up one finger.
Bahr said that he hadn’t missed yet this season but that he had only attempted six or seven — all with the outcome already determined. But the snap from William Flottmeyer, hold by Isaac Schelfhout and boot by Bahr were all good.
“As you can see, I sweat a lot, so I was wiping my hand on my towel when I saw what we were going to do,” Flottmeyer said. “I heard the ‘Set!’, snapped it, and it went well. I was scared.
“I was shocked when we saw that one finger in the air because we rarely see that.”
Read more about this game in the coming days at couleesports.com
