Weidner's heroics help lead Flyers over Wynot in overtime LAMINATING Available at Humphrey Democrat

Jarrett Weidner take a bow.

The St. Francis junior intercepted a pass to end a potential winning drive by Wynot in regulation and knocked down a twopoint conversion pass in overtime to give the Flyers a 22-20 win here Friday.

“Jarrett’s a good player. He’s just one of those guys. He made two huge, huge players,” head coach Eric Kessler said. “He does a little bit of everything for me. Last week he started at middle linebacker, he plays outside linebacker, fullback, plays outside, he does a lot of good things. I feel bad I yelled at him on the kickoff, I didn’t think he blocked well, and then he came back and made two huge, huge plays. I’m very proud of him, he’s a good player.”

The Flyers took a 22-14 lead in overtime when sophomore quarterback Trevor Pfeifer scored from 1 yard out and threw to senior Nolan Kosch for the two-pointer.

Wynot pulled within 22-20 when quarterback Lucas Thingstad added his own 1-yard run, but when he tried to connect with Corbin Sudbeck in the left corner of the end zone, Weidner knocked down the pass, and the celebration began.

Both teams found the end zone tough to reach in the first half.

Wynot led 6-0 at halftime after Thingstad caught a 9-yard pass from Landon Wieseler. The conversion failed.

St. Francis was able to move the ball into Blue Devils territory in the first half only to see drives bogged down either by the stingy Wynot defense or holding penalties. The Flyers were flagged seven times in the game for holding, while Wynot drew just two such penalties.

The Flyers finally broke through in the third quarter when Kosch hauled in a 24-yard pass from Pfeifer. Pfeifer’s pass to Riley Huettner failed, and the game was tied at 6 heading to the fourth quarter.

The Flyers took a 14-6 lead with 11:07 left to play in regulation when Pfeifer and Pierce Eisenmenger connected from 29 yards out, and Pfeifer ran in the two-pointer.

Wynot knotted the game at 14 when Thingstad ran in from 1 yard out and added the two-point run with 7:50 to play.

After another St. Francis drive was stopped, and it was forced to punt, Wynot took over with 58 seconds to go in regulation and drove to the Flyers’ 9 years line when Weidner made a diving interception of a Thingstad pass at the 8 and returned it to the HSF 39 yard line.

St. Francis looked to be in great shape to win the game in regulation when Pfeifer threw across the grain to Huettner for a 31-yard gain to the Wynot 21 with 16 seconds remaining. However, another holding penalty negated the gain, and the drive faltered, setting up Weidner’s second game-saving play in overtime.

After two easy wins, Kessler said he learned a lot about his squad after the overtime win.

“We knew we had some potential, and this is only one win, but we showed a lot of grit and desire to overcome adversity. We’d get drives going, and they would, for whatever reason, stop, and we just had to keep grinding,” he said.

The Flyers, 3-0, travel to Emerson-Hubbard Friday.

Summary

WYN 6 0 0 8 6 - 20

HSF 0 0 6 8 8 - 22

WYN — Lucas Thingstad 9 yard pass from Landon Wieseler. Run failed.

HSF — Nolan Kosch 24-yard pass from Trevor Pfeifer. Run failed.

HSF — Pierce Eisenmenger 29-yard pass from Pfeifer. Puffier run.

WYN — Thingstad 1 yard run. Thingstad run.

HSF — Pfeifer 1-yard run. Kosch pass from Pfeifer.

WYN — Thingstad 1-yard run. Pass failed.

Individual Leaders

Rushing: HSF — Huettner, 13-49; WYN — Thingstad, 27-114.

Passing: HSF — Pfeifer 5-17-89; WYN — Wieseler, 9-16-113-1.

Tackles: HSF — Riley Jarosz, 18; Eisenmenger, 15.