| Lincoln, NE - The cardiac kids, with hearts of a champion and ice in their veins, came from behind again for the fifth time this season in the fourth quarter, to defeat the 9th rated cross-town rival Southwest 15-12 to claim the District 2 championship. The game was postponed from a two hour lightning wait on Friday night. Saturday night the crowd was small and the Spartans did not have the band to help get them excited for a big football game however, as the game grew older it appeared the East crowd was getting larger and preparing for something special to occur.
With 4:00 to go in the game and East down 12-7, Matt Palm fired a rocket to Zac Smith for a 9 yard go ahead touchdown. Palm to Brice Tyrell pass for the two point conversion gave the Spartans a 15-12 lead with 2:06 to go in the game.
One had the feeling the night would belong to the big blue when on the first play from scrimmage Sam Meginnis recovered a Silverhawk fumble and rambled 20 yards to put the Spartans on top early 7-0.
The Spartan defense rated 7th in the state bottled up the Southwest offense all night and held Rylan Cotton to only 59 yards and their running back Micah Fisher to only 21 yards. Southwest did manage to find Fisher wide open on a 39 yard scoring pass from Cotton. A missed extra point left the Spartans on top at the half 7-6.The Silverhawks were strong in the second and third quarters with their own 2nd ranked defense as both teams battled out an old fashion slug fest.
Southwest found the break they needed when Cotton found Lynn King open in the middle and he ran 50 yards to set up a go ahead touchdown. East managed to delay the touchdown by stopping the Silverhawks and bring the drive to 4th and 1 on the 1. Fisher leaped over the pile to put Southwest on top 12-7. Sam Meginnis crashed the two-point attempt of Fisher to keep the score favorable for the Spartans.
The next drive for the Spartans opened up the offense and they drove down the field to give East a first down on the nine yard line before the Silverhawks tightened and thwarted a Palm to Drew Sankey pass in the corner. With 6:00 to go in the game Southwest managed to pick up a first down on their next drive, before East stalled the drive with great line play and pressure from Vinny Luccino, Tyler Ohlman, Michael Yardley, Graham Thurber and Michael Lau. Fisher, of Southwest went back to punt and the ball fell out of his hands on the Southwest 20 yard line and the Spartans took over with 3:55 to go in the game..
Usually, the Spartans look to their big 6'4" ends on this occasion but, Coach John Gingery decided to run a play that had not been run much this season. The play needed to be a rocket from Palm and Smith caught the fireball at the pylon for the score. Tyrell's catch for the extra point gave the Spartans the lead 15-12 and would keep Southwest from winning the game on a field goal.
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