It was a game that had everyone on their feet and biting their nails.
Going into Friday’s game in Florence, the Pirates were down eight guys to start the game even with the return of senior Rylee Trendell who suffered an injury over the summer.
The Pirates faced the Vikings twice last year, with the first win going to the pirates, and the second to the Vikings. This stopped the Pirates from being able to continue in the playoffs.
Although the pirates were down on personnel, they got off to a great start ending the first quarter at 14-0 after two rushing touchdowns by senior quarterback Gary Jantzer.
The Vikings responded late in the second quarter when their quarterback ran it in to make it a 14-7 game.
After the half, the Pirates were faced with another trial. Jantzer had dislocated a pinky and had to be rushed to the hospital. This put senior wide receiver and defensive back Ben Martin at the quarterback position to start the second half.
The score remained 14-7 through the third quarter, putting a lot of pressure on both teams.
The Vikings managed to keep the Pirates scorless through the fourth quarter along with scoring in the last minute, sending the game to overtime.
Martin was the first to score in overtime and did so by keeping the ball and running it in for a 22- yard touchdown.
This put the Vikings in a do-or-die situation. If they scored, the game would go into double overtime. However, if they did not, the game would be over and the pirates would win. But score they did, in the same manner as the Pirates did with a quarterback keeper for a touchdown.
At this point almost everyone in the stands was standing up and cheering on the Marshfield side. The Vikings got the ball first in the second overtime.
The Pirates managed to hold off the Vikings so all they had to do was score to win the game. It sounds simple enough, but the team was faced with a tough Viking defense.
The Pirates were ready for everything. Junior kicker Ian Emlet was running up and down the sidelines trying to get warm in case he needed to kick a game-winning field goal.
But a field goal was not what they needed when senior running back Matt McAlister ran through multiple defenders to score the game-winning touchdown.
“We just went in there, we knew it was going to be a battle, especially in overtime we are all tired. We had to fight the adversity though, we came through and won,” McAllister said.
After saving the day, McAllister got to go home covered in Gatorade after his team dumped the jug on him in celebration.
“We had one goal since 5th grade and that’s to win state, and this proves we will do whatever it takes to accomplish that,” Martin said.
