PHOTOS: Check out a photo gallery of Bushnell Prairie-City's Homecoming here.
Friday night’s football contest at Bushnell-Prairie City High School truly was not over until it was over.
In a game that featured 17 touchdowns, seven lead changes, and nearly 900 yards of total offense, it was the Spartans who escaped with a hard-fought 64-62 homecoming victory over visiting Peoria Heights.
It was the first win for B-PC, which moved to 1-4 overall, 1-2 in I8FA West Division play. Peoria Heights dropped to 1-4 overall, 1-2 in division play.
“I’m very proud of our guys. They just kept fighting,” said B-PC coach Jacob Schisler. “It was definitely a slugfest.”
B-PC trailed 46-32 entering the fourth quarter.
On the first play of the period, Jonavan Harrell scored on a 25-yard run and added the two-point conversion run that closed the gap to 46-40.
But Peoria Heights responded just over two minutes later.
Ashton Heady scored on a 43-yard run, and quarterback Gabe Shaver added the two-point conversion run that gave the Patriots a 54-40 advantage with 9:51 remaining.
The Spartans needed just three plays and 89 seconds to answer.
Harrell broke through a number of would-be Patriot tacklers on the way to scoring on a 43-yard run. He added the conversion run to once again bring the Spartans within six at 54-48 with 8:22 left.
The B-PC defense then rose up, forcing a Peoria Heights turnover on downs at its own 44.
Five plays later, facing a fourth-and-nine from the Patriot 23, Thomas Anderson lofted a pass over the outstretched arms of Heady to Cam Shinn.
Shinn reached up to catch the ball inside the five before racing the final few steps into the end zone for the touchdown.
Harrell added the conversion run, and the Spartans led 56-54 with 2:49 to go.
Peoria Heights answered by driving 53 yards in eight plays as Heady scored from seven yards out on an inside reverse with 31 seconds left. He added the conversion run, and the Patriots led 62-56.
Despite the lack of time, the Spartans still had one final chance.
B-PC’s Jayden Powell recovered the ensuing onside kickoff attempt at the Spartan 48. On the next play, Harrell took the handoff, raced past the initial line of the defense, cut back to his right, and ran the rest of the way for the 52-yard touchdown run.
Harrell then out-raced the Patriot defense to the corner of the end zone for the two-point conversion to give the Spartans their 64-62 lead.
But there were still 16.6 seconds remaining.
After one incomplete pass, Shaver’s next pass was intercepted by Harrell at the Spartan 29.
One kneel down later, the game was indeed finally over, and the Spartans and their fans could exhale in relief.
“We have some things to clean up on the defensive side of the ball, but our offense picked it up in the second half,” said Schisler.
Peoria Heights opened the game’s scoring, driving 55 yards in eight plays. Shaver’s two-yard score and Kaison Davis’s conversion run gave the Patriots an 8-0 lead with 7:46 remaining in the opening quarter.
B-PC’s first touchdown came via its defense as Parker Guppy returned a Peoria Heights fumble 77 yards for the score.
The score came three plays after Guppy himself fumbled on a run during B-PC’s possession at the Patriot 25.
The B-PC special teams then executed a squib kick with Harrell recovering his own kick at the Patriot 37.
The Spartans scored two plays later as Guppy’s 25-yard pass to Keegan Gillette was followed by Harrell’s 12-yard touchdown run that gave B-PC a 12-8 lead with 1:54 to go in the quarter.
Peoria Heights scored three times in the second quarter, taking a 30-18 halftime lead.
Shaver scored for the second time on a two-yard run with Davis adding the point-after-touchdown run that made it 16-12 with 9:49 left before halftime.
Heady then struck defensively, returning a Guppy interception 90 yards for a pick-six. Davis added his third PAT run that made it 24-12 with 5:36 to go before the break.
Guppy scored on a 33-yard run with 1:47 left, but Shaver and Heady connected for a 33-yard score with 28.4 seconds remaining before halftime that gave the Heights a 30-18 advantage.
The Spartans needed just three plays and 72 seconds to score on their first possession of the second half. Harrell’s 38-yard run capped a 52-yard drive that made it 30-24 at the 10:48 mark.
B-PC executed a successful squib kick that saw Dylan King recover the ball for the Spartans at the Patriot 27.
Six plays later, Harrell scored on a 12-yard run. Anderson then connected with Guppy for the two-point conversion, and the Spartans led 32-30 with 8:04 left in the period.
However, Peoria Heights scored the next two touchdowns on runs of 55 and 16 yards by Heady. Shaver and Heady also added PAT conversion runs that gave the Patriots their 14-point lead entering the final 12 minutes.
Harrell recorded 334 yards and six touchdowns on 32 carries. Guppy added 56 yards on eight carries.
Anderson completed 3-of-4 passes for 37 yards and a touchdown. Guppy was 1-of-6 for 27 yards with two interceptions.
Haydin Hart finished with 13 total tackles, including six solo stops. Landon Lear added nine total tackles, while Charles Rudolph finished with seven.
Gillette and Parker Groutage chipped in five total tackles apiece.
The Patriots finished with 427 yards rushing on 46 carries.
Heady recorded 211 yards on 23 carries, while Davis added 133 yards on 10 carries, all in the first half.
Shaver added 83 yards on 13 carries.
Through the air, Shaver completed 2-of-9 passes for 38 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Heady had both catches for Peoria Heights.
B-PC returns to action on Saturday, heading to Cambridge for an I8FA West Division game against Ridgewood (2-3, 1-2).
It will be Ridgewood’s homecoming game in this battle of the Spartans.
Ridgewood has wins over River Ridge (50-14) and West Prairie/Southeastern (56-6). But the Spartans have lost their last two games to West Central (36-26) and Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland (46-22).
