Published: October 17, 2009 01:21 am      

Goal-line stand keeps Preston unbeaten

Trojans clinch at least share of district championship

PRESTON — Just six inches. Six little inches separated the football from the goal line, victory from likely defeat, a district championship from long-shot hopes for a shared title.

Then they created legend.

They came up with the goal-line stand Preston won't soon forget.

In a one-point game, with just over one minute remaining, the Preston football team stopped Lansing Kee three straight times from inside the 1-yard line to preserve a thrilling 7-6 win before a boisterous crowd Friday night at Preston High School.

The Trojans (8-0, 6-0 Eight Player District 4) clinched at least a share of a district title in just their second season in eight-man football.

“I don't know if there was anybody here who thought they weren't going to punch it in,” Preston coach Kevin Behr said. “I told those boys, 'That's the stuff that when you're 50 years old you're going to remember and this town will remember.' That was unbelievable. That was all heart.”

Lansing Kee (6-2, 5-1) ran a quarterback sneak on all three crucial plays.

Each time, the Trojans stunned Hawks signal-caller Jalen Cooper at the line of scrimmage and dropped him for no gain.

“When you get the ball on the 1-inch line and can't pound it in, I would never imagine we wouldn't be able to get it in,” Kee coach Neil Galema said. “In hindsight now, we probably should have tried something different, but every time I assumed we'd pound it in there.

“We thought we had it won.”

Jason Fedderson's 6-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Assenmacher and Thomas Kirsten's extra point in the first quarter provided enough offense for the win.

The Hawks, who entered the game tied with Preston for the district lead, scored on a Cooper 3-yard plunge late in the third to make it 7-6. Kee attempted a two-point conversion, but Preston swatted down Cooper's pass attempt.

That concluded the scoring for a Kee offense that had averaged 62.2 points over its past five games.

“It was for sure our best defensive game all year,” Preston linebacker/fullback Austin Hughes said. “We focused on defense all week, knew what we had to do and got it done.”

The Hawks moved 44 yards on 10 plays to obtain a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line with 1 minute, 47 seconds remaining in the game.

On first down, Kee running back Jacob Milton muscled ahead, falling inside the 1.

Behr quickly called timeout.

“I told our boys to hang tough and never give up,” he said. “I kept taking timeouts, because I thought they were going to score, but I said, 'You boys don't give up. They still have to score to win.'”

Cooper tried to bull over the goal line on second down, but three Trojans met him at the line of scrimmage.

“It's all about getting lower and getting penetration,” Preston linebacker/running back Kyle Fuller said. “That's what you have to do in a situation like that, and that's what we kept doing.”

Third and goal from inside the 1. One minute, 16 seconds remained on the clock.

Again the Hawks tried to overpower the Preston defensive front and sneak it in with Cooper. Again the Trojans halted him in his tracks.

“Every time I was thinking about calling something different, but my kids were begging me to run the same play,” Galema said. “They said, 'We'll get it. We'll get it. We'll get it this time.' Unfortunately we didn't get it.”

Fourth and goal. A one-point game. A championship on the line.

Cooper took the snap, lowered his head behind his massive linemen, spun and twisted. He reached, and as he did, a pack of Trojans slammed him to the ground a nose from the goal line's red paint.

No touchdown. Preston ball with 1:11 to go.

“We knew they were going to quarterback sneak it,” Hughes said. “There's not much else you can do right there. We brought the house and got them.”

Six inches.

They didn't budge six inches, and the legend of The Stand was born in Preston.

“That was an incredible game, and I can't say enough about how well those boys played,” Behr said. “Now the worst we can do is tie for the district title.”

Scoring by quarters

Kee 0 0 6 0 — 6

Preston 7 0 0 0 — 7

P —Shawn Assenmacher 6 pass from Josh Feddersen (Thomas Kirsten kick), 9:38 1st

K — Jalen Cooper 3 run (pass fail), 4:16 3rd

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Kee, Jason Mooney 23-88, Cooper 14-52, Milton 12-50. Preston, Feddersen 12-86, Kyle Feller 15-44, Austin Hughes 8-21.

PASSING — Kee, Cooper 6-19-2 58 yards. Preston, Feddersen 4-10-1 24 yards, Hughes 0-1-0 0 yards.

RECEIVING — Kee, Milton 3-33, Mooney 2-22, Quincy Johnson 1-3. Preston, Feller 2-14, Assenmacher 1-6, Hughes 1-4.