State Bound

COULEE CITY – Down by four to Wilbur-Creston-Keller with under a minute remaining and a trip to state on the line, the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors took the field on their own 49-yard line.

On the game’s final offensive play, freshman quarterback Caden Correia rolled out to his left and flipped a pass about 10 feet into the air, which fell into the hands of sophomore running back Grayson Beal to put ACH up – and eventually win – 38-34.

“I’m still processing what happened,” Beal said. “I saw Caden roll out, and I’m like, ‘Aw, they stopped it.’ Then I saw him flip it up in the air. I thought Kallen Maioho, from Wilbur, is gonna pick it, (he) slipped, I come down with it. Still in denial on what happened.”

Correia said his inspiration for the pass, which was lobbed over several Wildcat defenders, came from the video game “Madden” as well as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“I play Madden a lot, I always had Mahomes, and he’d just do some stupid flip pass that I’d get so mad at – but that’s exactly what I did,” Correia said. “I saw that defender come up and I just flipped it up and hoped that he’d come down with it.”

As Beal came down with the go-ahead score, teammates rushed to pick up the sophomore and cheers erupted from the ACH sideline as the Warriors clinched their sixth-straight state tournament appearance.

“I mean, it worked,” Beal said with a laugh. “It wasn’t supposed to be a flip, but it got the job done.”

ACH was down by 14 at the half after the Wildcats turned a goal line stand into a 98-yard touchdown the other way for a 22-8 lead after 24 minutes.

“It kind of felt like two plays were the difference, and we should have been tied or even had a two-point lead,” ACH head coach Brandon Walsh said.

Despite the deficit, Beal wasn’t concerned – the Warriors had already mounted a 14-point comeback against the Wildcats once this season.

“There was never a doubt,” Beal said. “22-8 at halftime, I walked in there and told them ‘We’ve done this before, three weeks ago we came back from 14. We’ve got more time now, 24 minutes, give ‘em all we got. It’s all in our hearts, we got this.’”

Two touchdown drives midway through the third and early in the fourth quarter gave ACH a 24-22 lead with just over 10 minutes left on the clock. In the final seven and a half minutes, there were four lead changes with the Warriors and Wildcats trading touchdowns.

“There’s no way to describe it, just – it’s awesome,” Walsh said. “The kids played hard, what a game. We knew it was going to be that kind of game coming in because it was three weeks ago when we played them.”

Wilbur-Creston-Keller took a 34-30 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. ACH fumbled the ball on its ensuing drive, but the Warrior defense forced the Wildcats to punt after a three-and-out.

“Our defense came up huge, and honestly, I still can’t process what happened,” Correia said.

The final drive began with two incomplete passes before Correia found sophomore Carter Pitts on a deep ball for 46 yards. The completion set the Warriors up on the Wildcat four-yard line before Beal’s touchdown catch.

“It’s just a basic pass play, and he’s a freshman kid playing quarterback there,” Walsh said. “We put him in there in the biggest situation because he’s, really, our best passer and we needed passing right then. Obviously, he’s a gamer, turns out he has big moments in him.”

With the win, ACH advances to the 1B State Tournament a year after winning the championship.

“We’re just glad to get there, and we’re going to come out and show what we’re made of,” Correia said.

Beal added that even though many contributing players from a season ago graduated last year, it’s still an “honor” to make it to state.

“It’s an honor,” Beal said. “Coming into this season there were some doubts, we lost all of our seniors, but we showed that we can handle our own. It feels great.”

The Warriors finished their regular season with a 7-3 record with the win. Pitts led the Warriors in rushing (172 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries) and passing (four of four for 67 yards and a touchdown). Correia was just behind Pitts with 66 passing yards and a score. Altogether, ACH outgained Wilbur-Creston-Keller 362 yards to 324.

“It gives us great momentum going into the state tournament,” Beal said. “I’m so excited.”

ACH earned a No. 9 seed in the 1B playoffs and travels to play Naselle on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“The best part about it is we get another week together,” Walsh said. “We get another week of practice for these young guys, they get to experience that environment of win-or-lose, it’s all going to pay off down the road.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score:

WCK 8-14-0-12 34

ACH 0-8-8-22 38