Skip to content

Last-minute field goal sinks Bert Church Chargers

Zach Adolphie had never played football before mid-August. Luckily for head coach Tony Lucas and the Springbank Phoenix, he joined the team as its place kicker. The move paid off at Genesis Place field on Oct.
Bert Church Charger Brandon Fuchs straight arms Springbank’s Mitchell Cowie, during regular season action, Oct. 2.
Bert Church Charger Brandon Fuchs straight arms Springbank’s Mitchell Cowie, during regular season action, Oct. 2.

Zach Adolphie had never played football before mid-August.

Luckily for head coach Tony Lucas and the Springbank Phoenix, he joined the team as its place kicker.

The move paid off at Genesis Place field on Oct. 2, as the Phoenix Grade 10 player kicked a game-winning 31-yard field goal with six seconds left in the game to lift Springbank to a 10-9 win over the Bert Church Chargers.

“He’s just a natural,” Lucas said. “He hasn’t played football before, he’s a soccer player, and we just grabbed him for the place kicking. There were way too many turnovers in the game, and we feel we could’ve won the game a lot more easily, but it was nice to make the last play field goal.”

“I think the finish was the icing on the cake at that point,” said Chargers’ head coach Andy Kirk. “I think there were a lot of things throughout the game where we had opportunities and fizzled them away. They shouldn’t have even been in a position to kick that field goal had we done things properly and not taken a time count, which in essence gave them a free timeout.”

Bert Church had the ball, and a 9-7 lead, with 18 seconds left, but took a delay-of-game penalty, resulting in a loss of down and forcing a punt. The kick was blocked by the Phoenix to set up the clinching field goal.

“To get a punt block like that was just huge and special teams usually win you games,” Lucas said.

The Chargers opened the scoring with a single point off a missed 40-yard field goal midway through the second quarter. Springbank quarterback Joel Stagg then found receiver Jordan Perrault-McLean for an eight-yard touchdown pass, capping an 11-play, five-minute drive, to give the Phoenix a 7-1 lead at the half.

“It was the only drive we had really until the end of the game,” Lucas said. “Our offence just has to be more consistent, but our defence has been good all year.”

Bert Church almost had a huge momentum-changing play one minute into the second half, when Dionne Smith intercepted a Stagg pass and returned it 55 yards before fumbling it. Springbank fumbled it back on the next play.

“We got the ball back on the next play, but it was a momentum killer,” Kirk said. “Springbank was resilient all day long. You have to give them credit.”

Chargers’ quarterback Tim Wallace put his team ahead 8-7 on a one-yard touchdown run with 1:31 left on the third quarter. Bert Church then added another single, to go up 9-7, on a punt into the endzone, before the crazy finish.

“We scored and we were happy to be ahead, but we didn’t keep our intensity high enough,” Wallace said. “It was a hard loss, and everyone’s going to be disappointed, but I think we’ll be more angry than disappointed. We’ll come to practice fired up. We’ll learn from it.”

“We’re going to enjoy the win, but we’ll probably see them again in the playoffs,” Lucas said.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks