Valparaiso senior wide receiver Austen MacKenzie finally gauged the distance on the two-point conversion play.
It took awhile to connect with junior quarterback Kellen Hosek.
“Oh, my gosh,” MacKenzie said. “We’ve been practicing it all week, and I’ve been overthrowing him every single time we ran it. So I’m getting the ball, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to overthrow him this time.’
“So I tried to throw it short if possible, and I almost threw it too short. But he was able to come back and grab the ball and dive in.”
Hosek eventually steadied his hands.
“When we called the play, I started shaking like that,” he said, motioning. “But we ran it so many times in practice, once I snapped the ball, I got in that mode.”
That duo combined for the decisive two-point conversion as the Vikings rallied for a 22-21 overtime win against Chesterton in a Duneland Athletic Conference game in Valparaiso on Friday night.
The play essentially was “Philly special.” Hosek handed the ball to senior running back Thomas Burda running left, Burda pitched to MacKenzie on the end-around coming right and MacKenzie threw to an open Hosek.
MacKenzie caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Hosek on the first OT possession for Valparaiso (4-1, 3-0) and finished with three catches for 74 yards. That score came after junior running back Andrew Goveia scored on a 10-yard run for Chesterton (3-2, 1-2).
Goveia turned in a huge game for the Trojans, who were playing without senior quarterback Brady McCormack after he suffered a season-ending torn ACL against LaPorte a week earlier. Goveia rushed for 251 yards and two TDs on 41 carries.
“It’s one of the most tiring games, but we conditioned for it, so I’m good,” Goveia said.
Especially given Goveia’s performance, Valparaiso coach Bill Marshall didn’t hesitate to go for the two-point conversion in OT.
“It really came down to, we hadn’t stopped the run all day long, other than maybe the first series,” Marshall said. “They big-chunked us. They really had a good run game plan against us. So it just came down to, we needed to put the ball in the end zone, and we needed to go for two for the win because it would’ve continued on and on and on, them getting big chunk yardage on us.
“All credit to Chesterton. We were just fortunate to put some things together in the last seconds.”
Indeed, the Vikings, ranked No. 1 in the Class 5A state coaches poll, trailed 14-6 in the waning minutes. But Burda scored on a 5-yard TD run with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter, and he added the conversion.
“We all knew the pieces would fit together at some point,” MacKenzie said.
After two field goals by Valparaiso junior Trevor Faughnder, the Trojans grabbed a 7-6 lead on a 23-yard TD pass from senior CJ Perez, shifting from wide receiver to quarterback in place of McCormack, to junior wide receiver Gus Wisch with 5:15 left in the third quarter. Chesterton extended that to 14-6 on Goveia’s 10-yard TD run with 10:35 left in the fourth.
“We just kept our hopes up on the sidelines,” Hosek said. “We have faith in our team. We never back down, and that’s what helped us win.”
The Vikings have won 12 straight games in the rivalry series against the Trojans. This one looked improbable in the late stages.
“The grittiness of this group,” Marshall said. “We’re struggling with some injuries. We’ve been sick. Everybody’s experiencing those things. But to find the will to win, to win in the fashion we did, it tells you everything you need to know about these kids. It’s fun to see.
“We challenge them. We stay on them. We’re tough on them. But they know why. It’s the love they have with each other and the staff.”
Valparaiso’s win sets up a game against Craig Buzea’s Crown Point (5-0, 3-0) for sole possession of first place in the DAC.
“They run a great program,” Marshall said. “They do things the right way, and they’ve consistently had success since coach Buz and his staff have gotten there.”
