Just call them the cardiac Cats.
Eureka’s football team staged a fourth-quarter comeback for the second week in a row, but this time the Wildcats didn’t wait until the final seconds to take the lead.
Eureka scored twice in the final 6 minutes and 40 seconds Friday night to erase a six-point deficit and defeat Timberland 20-13 at home.
The Wildcats (2-0) opened the season last week with a 24-20 victory over Fort Zumwalt West, thanks to a touchdown catch by tight end Avery Taggart in the game’s final 14 seconds.
“It is a completely different year for us,” said senior quarterback Tyler Kennedy, who completed 2 of 8 passes for 22 yards with an interception and ran for 31 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown against Timberland. “Everyone is still talking about last year, and I think what it takes is we have moved one. We know that every game is going to be a battle. We don’t have a Hassan Haskins (the former Eureka running back who is now at the University of Michigan) or Ben Hunnius (the former Eureka linebacker who is now at the University of Indianapolis) to make plays, but we know we have to come together as one and battle until the end.”
Eureka trailed Timberland (1-1), which won its opener last week 44-6 over Lafayette, 13-7 at halftime, but after a scoreless third quarter, the Wildcats were ready to strike.
Eureka entered the final quarter on its 44-yard line after recovering a Timberland fumble.
Sophomore quarterback Carter Davis was at the helm of the offense at the start of the fourth and moved the Wildcats to the Wolves’ 20-yard line.
Kennedy then stepped in for the drive’s last three plays, starting with an 8-yard pass to Taggart before keeping the ball the next two plays for a 9-yard run and then a 2-yard touchdown run.
Kennedy’s TD tied the game at 13 with 6:40 to play, and the score remained knotted when Eureka couldn’t get the ball down for the point-after attempt.
After giving up a first down, Eureka forced Timberland to punt, and the Wildcats took over on their 32-yard line with 4:32 to play.
On the third play of the drive, junior Jhalon Asher-Sanders cut loose for a 66-yard touchdown run to give Eureka a 20-13 advantage with 3:12 to play after the point-after attempt.
“My team told me to keep fighting, and I had to finish it for them,” said Asher-Sanders, who had 121 yard rushing on 17 carries.
Timberland got the ball back on its 9-yard line with 3:03 to play, but the Wolves turned the ball over on downs with 28 seconds left on the clock.
“They have grit and a lot of fight in them,” Eureka head coach Jake Sumner said. “They are a great group of kids, and that recipe has proved them in the fourth quarter two weeks in a row.”
The Wildcats took an early lead when senior linebacker Trey Ruckman intercepted a Martin Cole pass and returned it 72 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 advantage with 5:46 left in the first quarter.
The Wolves responded with a 39-yard field goal by junior Parker Brown with 1:41 left in the first quarter, and Brown cut the Wildcats’ lead to 7-6 with a 35-yard field with 8:29 left in the second quarter.
Timberland took a 13-6 lead with 42.2 seconds left in the first half when Cole hit senior Brett Hiat for a 20-yard touchdown pass, two plays after senior Bryce Eaton picked off a pass by Kennedy.
“We have been a family since my freshman year, and we have gone through some tough, hard games,” Ruckman said. “We just never lost sight of our ultimate goal, which was to win this ballgame.”