Chad Washington
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA – What If I told you that one game took two weeks to finish. What if this game also had catch of the year, comeback of the year, AND moment of the year.
Well that’s what happened tonight as we picked up from where we left off on September 3rd after a lightning delay pushed the game back to today.
The game picked up at the beginning of the second quarter with Palm Beach Lakes up 7-0 at the end of the first. The first Jupiter play was a 4th and one deep in Rams territory. A direct snap to Nick Bothe was too high as Lakes took over.
The remainder of the Second quarter was fairly uneventful until Colorado Commit Ryan Ferdinand shut the house down with an electric catch from Jordan Johnson.
Lakes went into halftime up 14-0 with all the momentum. Throughout the third quarter we saw a few pentalites on both sides but no scores.
With 8 minutes remaining in the game it was all but over and the excitement was buzzing throughout the packed crowd on Shiloh Drive, then things changed…fast.
Nicky Bothe had a large gain for a Jupiter first down, then fumbled the ball loose. That fumble was then picked up by a Lakes defender and taken all the way to the end zone. However it was the wrong end zone. The ball was returned the wrong way into the Jupiter end zone and the play ended up in a safety and a huge momentum shifter as Palm Beach Lakes now led 14-2.
After the safety kick, the Warriors drove straight down as Drew Larsen had an insane toe tap catch on 4th down to keep them alive.
After this, the consensus on the field was clear, we had a classic on out hands. Lakes went three and out and penalties backed their punter up to the Starting Lineup-painted back line of the end zone.
With less that 5 minutes to go the Warriors took over from the 33 and made it look easy on this elite play call from their staff:
It took two weeks, but Jupiter took the lead and completed the 4th quarter comeback, after trailing 14-0 with less than 8 minutes
Palm Beach Lakes had one more chance to win it as the rain started to fall on the field. The Rams approached midfield, Jordan Johnson threw a prayer that was picked off by no other than Nicky Bothe, sealing the deal.
Jupiter got one first down and kneeled it out, sealing the deal in an electric game in which the two week wait was more than worth it.
The Warriors advance to 4-0 as they travel to Wellington next Friday.
Palm Beach Lakes drops to 3-1 and will host Palm Beach Central next Friday.
