Emmett delivers shocker at Bishop Kelly behind QB’s five-touchdown performance
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, there weren’t many fans in the stands Friday night at Bishop Kelly High. But when Emmett took its first lead of the game with 33 seconds to play, a mighty roar emanated from the visiting bleachers.
Quarterback Caden Young burrowed his way into the end zone from 1 yard out to cap a nine-play scoring drive and clinch Emmett’s 40-34 victory.
Emmett had lost 18 of its past 19 games against Bishop Kelly, and Friday’s win marked the Huskies’ first win in the rivalry since they escaped with a three-point victory in 2011.
“Before we got on the bus tonight, I told the guys if they weren’t willing to fight like every snap of this football game was life and death, they had no chance,” said Emmett coach Rich Hargitt, who took over the program in 2018.
When the final horn sounded, Emmett players flooded the field and Young jumped into the arms of a teammate. He understood the magnitude of Friday’s performance, but it was a performance that could have easily unraveled right from the beginning.
On Emmett’s first play of the game, Young took a hit on a quarterback keeper and lost a fumble. Bishop Kelly took advantage as running back Seth Knothe scored on a 4-yard touchdown run.
“I told him, ‘You just made that mistake. You have to win the game,’ ” Hargitt said. “ ‘You owe your team one possession, so you go out and strap them on your back and win the game.’ ”
With the game on the line in the fourth quarter, that’s exactly what Young did.
Trailing 34-33, after Young scored on a 21-yard scamper and converted the two-point conversion on the previous drive, Emmett’s game-clinching possession began with 2:47 to play.
Two long completions got the Huskies (2-1, 1-0 4A SIC) deep into Bishop Kelly (0-1, 0-1) territory, where the drive threatened to stall with Emmett facing fourth-and-7 from the Knights’ 25.
But Young remembered his coach’s words and managed to scramble out of the grasp of a blitzing defender and fire a pass into a crowd, which running back Westyn Smith somehow came down with on the 2.
Two plays later, Young crashed into the end zone for the go-ahead score. Bishop Kelly got the ball back with 30 seconds to play, but time expired before the Knights could cross midfield.
“We’ve worked really hard to get here, and we’ve always wanted to beat (Bishop Kelly),” Young said. “… We wanted to come out and prove something.”
Young completed his first six passes Friday night, and he finished the game 12-of-18 for 171 yards and two touchdowns through the air. His first went to Smith on a 7-yard score, which cut Bishop Kelly’s lead to 20-13 in the second quarter.
Young’s second touchdown pass went to Jackson Maxwell, who hauled in a 26-yard strike to cut the Knights’ lead to 27-25 early in the fourth quarter. Maxwell also scored Emmett’s first touchdown of the night after dropping a kickoff in the first quarter, scooping it up and rumbling 86 yards to the end zone.
“After I dropped the ball, I was really just focused on trying to get a couple yards so we wouldn’t be pinned too deep,” Maxwell said. “But I saw a crease no one covered and took it.”
Young also did damage with his legs Friday night, finishing with 159 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries. His first rushing touchdown of the night covered 4 yards and sent the Huskies into halftime trailing 20-19.
“We said to win this game, he was going to have to play lights out,” Hargitt said. “He made some big-league plays tonight, and that’s a college quarterback right there.”
Bishop Kelly, ranked No. 2 in 4A, was led by Knothe, who finished with 105 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.
Quarterback Keegan Croteau finished the game 11-of-19 for 126 yards and two touchdown passes, including a screen pass Colby Weikert turned into a 22-yard touchdown for a 27-19 lead with 1:20 left in the third.
This story was originally published September 12, 2020 at 1:28 AM.
