September 25, 2021 – Glendale, WI – It was a rainy and windy night for football with two teams, Hartford and Nicolet, trying to take that next step towards playoff football.
Hartford drove down the field on the opening possession of the game, only to have senior running back AJ Pepin fumble the ball and Nicolet senior Cole Trimborn take it back 98 yards for a touchdown.
Nicolet’s defense stopped Hartford on its next offensive drive, however when the Knights’ offense took the field two penalties wiped out run plays that had gains of 34 yards and 56 yards, the latter of which would have resulted in a touchdown.
Hartford would get on the scoreboard midway through the second quarter as junior quarterback Austin Kutz hit Pepin in stride for a 20-yard touchdown pass, but the Orioles missed the extra point. In the final 30 seconds of the first half, Kutz threw an interception which was picked off by Trimborn, only for Orioles junior Aaron Cummings to intercept Nicolet sophomore quarterback Ben Ott on the next play. The score at halftime was 7-6 in favor of the Knights.
After some back-and-forth defense between the teams, Ben Ott would score for the Knights on a two-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, although they would miss the extra point. The Orioles answered right back with junior Quinten Hornada scoring on a nine-yard run in the third quarter to tie the game.
Ben Ott would get another goal line touchdown run in the middle of the fourth quarter, only for Hornada to score another rushing touchdown of his own, as the Orioles stormed down the field in just 90 seconds. That sequence tied the game 20-20 and it would remain that way until the end of regulation.
Nicolet got the ball first in overtime and on its very first play senior running back Braeden Ott ran 25 yards for a touchdown to make the score 27-20.
Needing a touchdown to keep the game alive, the Orioles moved the ball to the 1-yard line, where junior running back Noah Deibert ran it in for the score.
On the Orioles next possession of overtime, Hornada ran the ball 25 yards on the first play of the drive for a touchdown, giving Hartford its first lead of the game although they missed the extra point. The Hartford defense would clamp down on the Nicolet offense and complete a hard fought 33-27 comeback win.
The Orioles (5-1, 4-0) will return home for their next game on Friday October 1, 2021 when they play Homestead (5-1, 3-1) with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Knights (4-2, 2-2) will look to rebound, but they have to do so on to the road when they travel to face Slinger (3-2, 2-2) on Friday, October 1, 2021 with a 7 p.m.kickoff.