The unlikeliest of wins

"Congrats on the big win last night," I texted to football coach Casy Rowell last Friday morning following Comanche's big come-from-behind win against Frederick on Thursday. "I've been covering high school football for more than 20 years and that was one of the most amazing comebacks I've ever seen."

It was the truth. If the game would have been televised, it would have gone straight to ESPN Classic the next day.

Admittedly, my memory is not what it used to be, and it was not great to begin with. I estimate I've seen somewhere around 250 high school football games during my newspaper career. There are some great ones that I'm sure I've forgotten along the way. I mentally kick myself sometimes for not keeping some sort of journal of memorable games to look back upon and refresh my memory.

Journal or not, I think this one will stick with me for quite a while.

There was big play after big play in the second half to get the Indians rolling in the 34-29 win.

Bryson Evans was crowned homecoming king around 7 p.m. Three hours later, at least for one night, he was king of the football field, too. He ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more, all in the second half, as the Indians clawed their way back into not only the game but a shot at the No. 2 seed in the district race.

When I was talking to coach Rowell on Monday about the comeback, I told him, in my opinion, it was not like his team had played fairly well, but a bad break here and there that caused them to fall behind 23-0 at halftime. It was the fact that the Indians were just not playing well in any facet of the game.

During halftime, I was doing the math in my head about how the playoff race would shape up with the way things were currently going. Barring some big upsets elsewhere around the district, a loss to Frederick would have all but eliminated them from a shot at the top three spots and would have had them scrambling to get the No. 4 seed. Now, if they can win their final three games, the Indians have a shot at the No. 2 depending on how Davis finishes out.

After halftime, with nothing to lose, the coaches decided to allow one of their biggest playmakers, senior Bryson Evans, a shot at quarterback, a position he is quite comfortable and familiar with.

There was a sense of relief and optimism on the sideline when Evans threw a touchdown pass to Kooper Doucet in the third quarter. When Evans took off on his 44-yard touchdown run on the next possession, picking up some big blocks from teammates along the way, that sense of relief after the first touchdown changed to a sense of confidence of being able to come back.

Evans was the spark but he did not do it on his own. Mason Kulbeth's one-handed catch while falling down is as good of a catch as one will see in a high school game. It wasn't a touchdown, but it converted a third-and-long and Tucker Oliver ran the ball in for a touchdown a couple of plays later.

The defense, after getting carved up by Frederick's passing game in the first half, got some big stops and forced some key turnovers to keep the Indians in the game.

After the Bombers went back ahead with just a few minutes left in the game, it left you wondering was all that hard work going to be for nothing?

As it turned out, the Indians were not done, yet, as they drove down the field to score with just over a minute to go.

The fact they used virtually the same play to win the Frederick game as they did the Lone Grove game earlier in the season was a great way to cap the night off. The technical football jargon for the passing route (after confirming it with a coaching friend) is an "out and up," but I will be probably be calling it the "Comanche Special," from now on. In the Lone Grove game, it was a Doucet pass to Evans. Against Frederick, it was an Evans pass to Colby Shannon. The result was the same.

It was a great individual effort, a great team effort, and a great coaching effort. When you have all three of those in one game good things usually happen.