With 00:11 seconds to go in the game, and the ball on the Natick 11 yard line, in a game on 11/11/11, Sophmore Colton Mitchell trotted onto the blustery Turco Field turf, encouraged and steadied by his holder Brad Webber. The score between the two 8-1 teams was 13-13. The huge crowd was going crazy. The snap was perfect, the hold was perfect, and the kick . . . well, let's just say the kick was perfect enough, and Colton Mitchell kicked this Rebel team into the history books for a 16-13 VICTORY with one of the best Walpole-Natick match-ups ever!! This game lived up to its billing as these two teams slugged it out for the first 47 minutes and 49 seconds. There were so many dramatic elements these kids will be talking about for years to come: Charlie Love coming back after 6 weeks of a severe ankle sprain to lead the offensive line. "If we control the line of scrimmage, we will win the game," he stated prophetically Friday afternoon. The long sustained drives at critical points in the game; the defense that refused to yield, and came up with huge stop after huge stop, especially in the fourth quarter (and made Troy Flutie look like a sophomore quarterback and not the second coming of Joe Montana as the papers would have you believe); Dan King playing the whole second half with a badly injured arm, so Woodsie, Gary D, Rickey Ordway, Chris Collins stepped up big time; Ryan Finn's interception to kill a Natick drive when the game was on the line; Craig Hanley's immense performance - this kid has a heart of a lion - especially on the final drive; oh yeah, THE DRIVE - marching 75 yards with 1:52 to play, Tommy Donellan engineered a scoring drive for the ages; and finally . . . . THE KICK - Colton's line drive that cleared the cross-bar by mere inches. Absolutely amazing game! This team and the coaching staff should be so proud of its effort this Veterans Day Friday night, 'cause we all are!
ESPN Boston story here, with interviews and analysis...
Click here for Tim Hoffman's Pictures. The whole winning field goal sequence is awesome!
Here's the Boston.com story... Fittingly, Colton Mitchell named a Globe Division 2A Player of the Week!
And a Weekend Hero in the Boston Herald!
And the Herald story.... Keep reading for many other stories of this INSTANT REBEL FOOTBALL CLASSIC!!
Here is Keith Pearson's Wicked Local Walpole story of the game....
Check this out, Natick Coach Mortarelli blames the loss on the refs!!
More photos on the Walpole Recreation site here!
And check out this from Twitter! A sweet ending to a sweet night of Walpole High School Football and Cheering!!
