It is, basically, something both of them will remember for the rest of their lives.
Oh, and it won the big game, too.
Both Falls City Sacred Heart's Ryker Hoy and Blue Hill's Joe Mackin etched their name in playoff history by kicking their teams to victory in Tuesday’s eight-man quarterfinal round. Hoy capped a late Irish rally by booting the PAT in a 15-14 win at Bloomfield and Mackin kicked a game-winning 25-yard field goal with just eight seconds left in regulation, boosting the Bobcats to a 37-34 victory over Twin Loup.
You don’t see a lot of eight-man teams with successful kicking games so that made these developments significant, their late game nature making them more memorable for the kickers.
* At Bloomfield, Hoy’s Sacred Heart team found itself down two touchdowns and four hours away from home before launching the game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter. Ironically, Hoy’s younger brother Jake Hoy caught the game-tying six-yard pass with 19 seconds left in regulation.
“We had been having trouble running the ball and with Ryker we had kicked PATs earlier in the year so I had confidence he could do it,” says Sacred Heart head coach Doug Goltz. “When we got the ball for that last drive I told him to get warmed up.”
Which Ryker did, but that didn’t necessarily believe he’d be called upon to make The Big Kick.
“We scored and all of sudden Coach (Goltz) is yelling ‘PAT, PAT, PAT’ and I realized it was sort of up to me,” says Ryker, a 5-11, 170-pound senior. “I was very, very nervous waiting to kick the ball but then Bloomfield called a timeout and I had a chance to collect myself some. My teammates were great, telling me to relax and just do it. That helped a lot.
“After it went through my teammates were all over me, we were all jumping up and down, it was very exciting.”
On the morning after Ryker was getting all sorts of attention in the Sacred Heart hallways. “A lot of the kids are coming up and saying great game, heckuva kick.” And it was.
* For much of the game at Blue Hill it didn’t look like Joe Mackin was going to have to worry about being the game’s hero. His team took advantage of some early Twin Loup mistakes to gain a 21-7 second quarter lead, hogging the game’s momentum. Unbeaten Twin Loup didn’t wilt, instead tying the game on Alex Horky’s third rushing touchdown of the season and the ensuing two-point conversion. With 10:32 left in regulation the game was tied at 34-34.
With a little over three minutes remaining in regulation the Bobcats started a 47-yard drive but was facing fourth down with just eight seconds left. It was Joe Mackin Time.
It was also Redemption Time.
“I had missed two PATs earlier so this was my chance to make up for it,” says Joe, a 5-7, 135-pound junior. “Coach (Jon Coffey) had told me earlier I might be kicking so I warmed up and waited. When it was time to try the kick I was nervous but I was also determined. I just took a depth breath and went for it.”
As his 25-yard yard field goal soared into the night, splitting the uprights and sending his team one step closer to the Class D-2 state final, Mackin was basically overwhelmed.
“There was people everywhere and my teammates were congratulating me. I am just glad I didn’t let them down,” says Joe, who sure didn’t.
Mackin had actually earned the place kicking job last season as a sophomore but suffered a torn meniscus in the first game and was done for the season. This season he picked up right where he left off prior to the injury, hitting the highest of notes with Tuesday’s game winner.
Neither player, neither Ryker nor Joe, had ever kicked the game winner before but now they have taken their places as more of our postseason football heroes, no doubt a glorious way to spend a school day during the fall.
