Comets Refuse to Break in 28-22 Double-Overtime Thriller
Twice the Comets could have folded and didn’t Friday night. Then came a third opportunity to let go of the game, and the Comets displayed the kind of resilience that makes good teams great, and tough games memorable.
Down 8-0 in the opening minutes, down 16-6 in the second half, and then, after fighting all the way back to take the lead, the Comets watched Hancock return an interception for a touchdown to tie the game at 22. Still, Hillcrest refused to break and instead rose to the task behind a freshman interception, a sophomore’s final surge across the goal line, and a defense that spent the night refusing to surrender the ground, carrying the Comets to a dramatic 28-22 double-overtime victory over Hancock Friday night at Big Cat Stadium in Morris.
“This is what it’s all about, two teams battling tooth and nail,” Head Coach Korey Fry said. “This game could have gone either way, but we stepped up in some key moments.” Those moments kept coming throughout the nigh, and as Coach Fry noted, so did the Comets.
The Owls controlled the opening quarter and jumped to an 8-0 lead, forcing Hillcrest to play from behind almost immediately. The Comets finally answered before halftime when sophomore running back Eli Walkup powered across the goal line from one yard out, cutting Hancock’s advantage to 8-6. It was the first sign that Hillcrest was willing to grind its way back into the game, and it came almost halfway through the contest.
Walkup would spend most of the night grinding out yards on the ground. The sophomore carried the ball 26 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for the majority of Hillcrest’s rushing production while repeatedly taking contact and moving the chains. But his influence went far beyond offense. He also led the defense with 9.5 tackles and shared a sack, turning in one of the most complete two-way performances of the season. “Eli played lights out and was all over the field defensively,” Fry said. “He made multiple big plays, ran the ball hard all night and scored the final touchdown.” But before that final touchdown could happen, however, Hillcrest would have to climb out of another hole.
Hancock delivered another blow in the third quarter when the Owls connected on a 70-yard touchdown pass, eventually extending their lead to 16-6. Ten points down for the Comets, momentum stood with Hancock again. The Comets needed a response, and quarterback Sam Swensen provided it.
Swensen drove into the end zone from four yards out to make it 16-12, then found Isaac Hamilton for the conversion, and suddenly, Hillcrest was within two, 16-14. That drive mattered for more than the scoreboard. Hillcrest had absorbed Hancock’s biggest offensive play of the night and answered rather than unraveling.
After the huddle that wrapped the third quarter, the Comets stepped boldly into the fourth. Swensen connected with Hamilton on an 11-yard touchdown pass in the final frame, giving the Comets their first lead of the night. Swensen then found Maverick Peterson for the two-point conversion. Hillcrest had turned a 16-6 deficit into a 22-16 lead. Swensen would go on to finish the night 16-of-28 passing for 146 yards and a touchdown, while adding the rushing score. Hamilton became his primary target, hauling in nine passes for 91 yards and a touchdown.
The Comets had finally fought their way in front, everything changed again. After getting pinned near their endzone, Swensen threw his third interception of the night to Hancock’s Beau Haugen, who returned it for a three-yard touchdown, and the Comets’ six-point lead was gone, 22-22.
The game headed to overtime. For a young team, it would have been easy to focus on what had just been lost, but the Comets kept grinding. Neither team settled the contest in the first overtime, sending the game into a second extra period. Then one of Hillcrest’s youngest players changed everything.
In the second overtime, as Hancock was making a strong push to close the game, freshman Jude Moline stepped in front of a Hancock pass and intercepted it. “Our underclassmen continued to battle, and Jude Moline’s interception in the second overtime was huge in swinging the momentum,” Fry said.
The Comets took the momentum swing and went back to the player who had carried a significant load all evening. From one yard out, Walkup powered across the goal line and with that Hillcrest’s defense emerged as the difference maker, turning Hancock into an almost entirely one-dimensional offense. The Owls attempted 26 rushes and gained just 14 yards. When Hancock reached third down, the Comet defense became even more difficult to move. The Owls converted only 2-of-12 third-down opportunities and failed to convert on all eight of its fourth-down attempts. “Our defense consistently found ways to get us off the field, and they did it when it mattered most,” Fry said.
Walkup's 9.5 tackles led Hillcrest. Xander Knutson and Maverick Peterson each added 6.5 tackles, Hamilton recorded 5.5, and Drake Veldhouse finished with four tackles and half a sack. The defense bent at times, especially through the air, where Hancock produced several explosive plays, but the Comets consistently found an answer when the field shortened and the stakes increased.
“We are starting to grow each week and play together,” Fry said. “Hancock is a very well-coached team…They have played some tough competition out of the gate, and they will definitely be in the race later in the season.”