Untimed down leads to Boyertown Hail Mary, win over Norristown

BOyertown >> Boyertown has had a knack for dramatic wins during the 2017 season.

Two weeks after their win over Owen J. Roberts on a last second field goal, the Bears once again found themselves trailing late, this time against Norristown in their Friday night Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division matchup.

This time it was the heroics of quarterback Ayden Mathias and wideout Jerry Kapp that lifted Boyertown over the Eagles, 20-15.

After an apparent interception by Eagles defensive back Kirk Wilson was negated by offsetting penalties, the Bears had one final play to overcome a 15-14 deficit.

Mathias dropped back from the 50-yard line and was able to throw a bomb into the endzone, which was hauled in by Kapp giving the Bears (3-2, 3-6 overall)  a much needed win.

The Eagles dropped to 1-4 in league play and 2-7 overall.

“To be honest that’s the furthest I’ve ever thrown the ball in my life,” said Mathias.

The junior quarterback finished his night 5-for-12 with 187 yards and two touchdowns, but none of his throws were more important than his last.

“Coming out the huddle I told Ayden to buy us some time to get down there and that’s exactly what he did,” said Kapp, who was able to grab the ball at the highest point and come down in the endzone.

The Bears started the scoring in the first, when Mathias rolled right and threw a jump ball for Jamie Moccia, who hauled in the pass and made a few Eagles defenders miss en route to an  85-yard touchdown.

In the second, the Bears were on the move again, this time scoring on a 10-play, 35-yard drive which was capped off by a Mathias sneak from the one-yard line.

The Eagles got on the board just before halftime when Izaiah Webb found Boubacar Diawara down the middle for a 65-yard touchdown to close the deficit to 14-7 at the half.

After playing to a scoreless third, the drama started to build in the fourth.

The Bears’ offense was able to get into the red zone off a long run by Mathias down the left sideline. However, after getting the ball to the one-yard line, they were stuffed by the Eagles’ defense on four straight plays.

After trading punts, the Eagles got the ball back with 2:19 left in the game.

From there it was the Webb show, as the senior quarterback was able to use a combination of his arms and legs for an 11 play, 77-yard drive which ended on a QB sneak.

Instead of taking the PAT attempt to tie the game, the Eagles were able to convert a two-point attempt off a scramble from Webb to give Norristown its first lead of the game at 15-14 with only 40 seconds left.

Boyertown head coach T.J. Miller attempted to call a timeout before the two-point attempt but was not awarded the stoppage.

“I probably should have got that timeout in quicker,” said Miller. “That’s on me.”

The rest was history as Mathias was able to find Kapp (three receptions for 92 yards) on the Hail Mary attempt to give the Bears the win.

Webb finished his night 13-for-22 with 198 yards and a touchdown to go along with 10 rushes for 37 yards.

The game was riddled with penalties as a total of 32 were called for a combined 265 yards.

Norristown head coach, Jason Powel, declined comment after the game.