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CLOSE SHAVE: Carroll football team avoids upset loss with fourth quarter TD pass from backup quarterback

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By JEFF WINDMUELLER Independent Record | Posted: Sunday, September 27, 2009 12:25 am | (0) Comments

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When the Carroll College Saints needed a quick boost, they knew they could turn to Dane Broadhead.

Stuck in a 3-3 stalemate with the University of Montana Western in the second half, the No. 2 Saints called in the sophomore quarterback from the bench and Broadhead once again took the helm in a 17-10 win on Saturday.

Broadhead, who helped lead Carroll to the 2008 NAIA playoffs in starting quarterback Gary Wagner's absence, threw two touchdown passes, including a 22-yarder to senior Lat Wipplinger for the gamewinner.

"I've played baseball for long enough to know that sometimes your starting pitcher doesn't make it all the way through," Broadhead said. "I just tried to step in and do what I could."

Even with a homecoming crowd of 8,356 and a raucous Carroll crowd celebrating the school's centennial anniversary, the Saints (5-0, 4-0 Frontier Conference) offense came out flat and failed to click through two quarters.

Wagner - who had completed nearly 70 percent of his passes through the first four games of the season - couldn't fight the defense, or a strong wind, as he went just 7-for-17 for 20 yards and an interception. Broadhead was 13-of-16 in relief.

Carroll picked up just 62 yards and three first downs in the first half, but were able to get placekicker Connor Janhunen close enough for a 41-yard field goal.

Western picked up 136 yards in the half as Aukkarapong Sribenjakul completed a field goal to tie it up.

After ending the first drive of the second half on a three-and-out - Carroll's sixth of the game - Wagner took a seat.

"We just weren't getting first downs with Gary," Saints head coach Mike Van Diest said. "I don't know if it was the protection or the routes being run, but Gary hit their guys in the chest a couple of times.

"Dane went in and threw the ball where people could catch it and the guys ran good routes. Dane's been there before. He was 10-0 as a freshman last year - that's a pretty hard stat to beat. Gary's a good quarterback, he just had a rough day."

With the ball in his hands, Broadhead turned to another youngster, redshirt freshman Casey Lamping. Three of the quarterback's first four passes went to the Capital High graduate, and when the Saints offense stalled on Western's 31-yard line during the first drive, Broadhead's play-action pass went right to the hands of Lamping again on fourth-and-3.

"That's just a play we had to execute," Broadhead said. "We did. Our O-line did a great job, the back did a great job selling the run-fake to the right and Lamping came up with a big catch.

"I saw Van Diest on the sideline saying we're going for it and that gives you a lot of confidence."

Four plays later, Gabe Le took a short pass and stretched for the first down. The next pass went over the middle of the defense, where junior receiver Corey Peterson found enough room for the 9-yard touchdown reception.

With 40 seconds left in the third quarter, it was Carroll's first touchdown of the game and put the Saints ahead 10-3.

Western (1-3, 1-3 Frontier Conference) answered right back as fans suddenly saw an influx of offense.

Sophomore quarterback Micah Mamiya took over and, with the Saints picking up two straight penalties that landed the Bulldogs on the 35-yard line, made a fourth-and-9 pass to senior receiver Craigh Cornelius in the left corner of the end zone.

The two hooked up throughout the game, and Cornelius proved why he was a first-team all-conference selection last season pulling down 12 catches for 129, some of them double-covered jump balls that didn't look possible.

"He's unbelievable," Mamiya said. "He pulls in catches that I think no one can pull in.

"He's so fast that he can beat anyone on top."

The Bulldogs would end up counting on him after Broadhead's go-ahead touchdown pass.

Carroll's quarterback didn't hesitate throwing back-to-back passes to junior tight end Bubba Bartlett, even after Bartlett dropped the first in the flats. The second went over the middle as the tight end picked up 27 yards and the first down.

The next play, Broadhead looked to Bartlett in the flats again, but then pump-faked, turned and threw to an open Wipplinger for the 22-yard touchdown.

"I didn't even expect to get the ball there," the senior receiver said. "I was trying to pull that safety away for Stevie (Sloan) when they had man coverage.

"We had a lot of success last week with the bubble screen to Bubba, so that safety just bit hard on that and left me uncovered."

Both teams put together big drives, but senior defensive end Mike Ogrin blocked a Western field goal attempt. It was the second block after Mike Waldenberg's in the first half. Then Janhunen sent a 35-yard attempt wide.

After Janhunen's miss, the Bulldogs set up for one last drive with 2:25 left on the clock and no time outs left.

Mamiya completed his first three passes, all short routes out of bounds, before Saints defensive tackle Garrett Thompson took him down with a shoe-string sack. Thompson then blocked a pass at the line and it looked like the Saints might finally have Western's number when Mamiya scrambled for 5 yards, but couldn't convert on third down.

A delay of game penalty and a pair of offsetting penalties on a long bomb to Cornelius later, and the Bulldogs were back at fourth-and-long.

But, when Cornelius broke from the secondary, Pat Regan and Brian Strobel both took him down for an interference call, possibly saving the Saints a touchdown, and Regan was called for a second interference call two plays later.

Finally, with 38 seconds on the clock, Mamiya looked to Cornelius for one last time, but his attempt to the left corner of the end zone ran into a head wind and fell short, right to safety Ted Morigeau's hands.

With the interception, Broadhead took a knee as the Saints walked away with the second straight close win over Western since surviving in last year's 24-21 win.

"I've never played an overtime in college and today I really didn't want to," Broadhead said. "To have a pick there in the last seconds like that and let us take a knee and get a victory for all the guys that came back, all the former Saints who came out to watch us play today was awesome. It was huge."

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller@

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