Random quarter of ODA football turns into never-seen-before event

When was the last time you were intoxicated?

I don’t mean by a drink. I mean by life. Sports, specifically. Intoxication doesn’t happen often for me. I’ve seen many sporting events, lots of high school football games. That means hundreds of handoffs up the middle for two yards. Hundreds of button hooks, of momentum-shattering turnovers, of two-minutes drives led by quarterbacks who entered the chrysalis a kid and left it a hero.  In my greener years, those things did it for me, as they did all sports fans. It’s why sports fans exist, at least in part.

What I witnessed on Sept. 18 at The Out-of-Door Academy, when the Thunder played Bradenton Christian, gave me the feelings I used to have, but with a new perspective. The game wasn’t great football, by any objective standard. It featured 10 turnovers, five by each team. The game was scoreless until the fourth quarter, and until that point I wondered if I would find much at all to say about it in my game story.

The fourth quarter changed everything, for better or worse, depending on who you were.

“I’m too young to have a heart attack,” ODA senior quarterback Gus Mahler thought to himself while watching it unfold.

ODA head coach Ken Sommers said only one fourth quarter in his career comes close to it in terms of sheer chaos, and that was the program’s 25-19 win against Saint Pete Catholic in 2015, when the team entered the fourth down 19-0.

So what happened? I won’t mentioned every play — just enough for proper context. It started simply enough with a six-yard touchdown run by ODA junior Jimmy Viard to give the Thunder a 7-0 lead. Then things got weird. After forcing a BCS punt, ODA’s Colin Castro went back to receive it and called for a fair catch with the ball in the air. To me, it looked like he caught it clean, but a second later, it was a BCS defender running with the ball for a score. It never touched the ground.

ODA was furious. I was confused. And BCS was elated.

The explanation given was that there is no “halo rule” in the Florida High School Athletic Association rulebook, meaning defenders must let returners catch the ball, but do not have to stand “X” yards away while doing so. If there is the slightest of bobbles, apparently, the ball can be taken by a defender. I personally think this goes against the spirit of the fair catch, but what do I know?

The insane plays didn’t stop there. On the ensuing extra point attempt, the snap went over the BCS holder’s head, and instead of falling on it, BCS kicker Bathie Thiam snatched the ball and fired a pass to a teammate standing in the end zone. The would-be miracle two-point conversion, which would have put ODA in an 8-7 hole, went off the receiver’s fingertips.

Mahler would not go as far as to call it a “ball don’t lie” moment, the phrase former NBA star Rasheed Wallace coined to mean, roughly, “you get the karma you deserve,” but I will.

The rest of the game was filled with the same type of excitement: A blocked BCS field goal; a brouhaha stemming from ODA senior running back Dakota Dickerson losing his helmet, leading to the teams trading personal foul penalties; and a diving, game-sealing interception from Viard. It happened all in the span of 12 minutes of game time.

The Thunder walked away 7-6 winners.

I’ve never seen anything like it, and by the time of the punt return/extra point sequence, I was enraptured. It was visual art with ups, downs and plot twists galore. More soap opera than a Broadway play, sure, but it was art nonetheless, and it helped me remember why sports are so great — at least for viewers. In a world where people wake up, get bad news on social media or television, go to work, come home and do it all over again, sports are there to both break the monotony and enliven the brain. They are utterly unpredictable, and still manage to surprise, no matter how often you watch. 

ODA wasn’t thrilled with itself after the game. Multiple people, including Sommers and Mahler, called it a “coaches win,” meaning there will be plenty to fix in the days ahead despite the victory.

I’ll call it something else: Unforgettable, even though players from both programs would rather have it erased from memory. Speaking as both a journalist and a fan of the game, it was more thrilling than I could have ever hoped.

The next time you have a chance to attend a high school sport, any sport, take it. You never know if it will be the day you witness something you never thought you would.