By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
PORTLAND, Mich. — The final seconds and the final play of Saturday’s MHSAA Division 4 regional championship game will be etched in the history books at Vicksburg High School forever.
Down 41-36 to host Portland with just nine seconds to go in the game, with the ball on Portland’s 23-yard line, Vicksburg quarterback Easton Moughton took the shotgun snap, took a few steps back, looked, and fired toward the end zone over the middle.
Receiver Graham Kubiak reached out, dove for the ball in stride, caught it as time expired, and held on despite the protests of Portland’s defenders. When the referee signaled touchdown, the Bulldogs’ sideline erupted in celebration, capping off what was an improbable 42-41 win over the previously-undefeated Raiders in a season where the improbable is now becoming possible for the Vicksburg program.
“It’s number one in Vicksburg lore, that’s for darn sure. We’ve never done anything like this,” head coach Tom Marchese said. “It just culminates in that never-die attitude, that we’re never out of it. As long as we have some seconds on the clock, we can make something happen.”
The game was an offensive showcase from the very beginning. Portland would get on the board first in the first quarter on a 9-yard touchdown run by Kayden Dickerson, putting the Raiders up 7-0 after the extra point. Vicksburg’s next possession afterward was highlighted by a 60-yard completion from Moughton to Kubiak, but eventually stalled out and was capped off by a 38-yard field goal by Mitchell Beyer to make it 7-3.
Vicksburg recovered a successful onside kick after the touchdown, but on the very next play, Moughton’s pass was intercepted by a Portland defender to give it right back to the Raiders. The hosts would capitalize on the turnover, scoring on their ensuing drive early in the second quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by Nolan Zbytowski to make it a 14-3 game.
A 35-yard pass from Moughton to Travis Hostetler on the next Bulldogs drive would get them into Portland territory, but that drive would stall out, and a fake punt pass on a fourth-and-long was intercepted by the Raiders. However, Vicksburg would force Portland to punt on their ensuing possession.
Moughton would find Hostetler on another deep pass down the middle for a 45-yard gain on the next Vicksburg drive, and a few plays later, Moughton would float a pass just past the arm of a Portland defender into the arms of Kubiak in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown to bring the Bulldogs back to within four points, 14-10.
Portland would punt the ball away on their next possession after a long kick return was called back, but they would get the ball back as Moughton threw his second interception of the day. Five plays later, the Raiders would find the end zone on Dickerson’s second touchdown of the game, making it 21-10, which would be the score heading into halftime.
At halftime, Marchese said, he told his team that while they did make some mistakes, they were making their opponents work defensively.
“Defensively, we felt good. Offensively, we were like, hey, we just got to settle down, take what they’re giving us, make the correct reads and throws, catch the ball, we’ll be back in,” Marchese said. “Coach Kirby talked to them at halftime a little bit and said, we need to get this kickoff. We need to go down and score, and we’re back into this ballgame.”
And score, they did. The Bulldogs went on a 12-play, 71-yard touchdown drive to start the third quarter, which included a clutch third-and-17 conversion on a 27-yard pass to Michael Johnson and a fourth-and-5 conversion pass to Maguire Bowles. Moughton would complete the drive by finding Bowles in stride in the back corner of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-16 after a two-point conversion run failed.
Portland would respond on its next drive with a 24-yard touchdown run by Dickerson to go up 28-16. But just two plays later, Vicksburg would claw their way right back as Moughton found Hostetler behind the Raider defense in stride for a 75-yard touchdown strike, bringing the Bulldogs back within five points, 28-23, after the extra point.
A fumble recovered by Johnson on the first play of Portland’s ensuing possession would give the ball right back to the Bulldogs deep in Portland territory, and they would capitalize with their third touchdown of the quarter on the very next play, as Jayden Keiser ran 23 yards to paydirt to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 29-28, after the conversion failed.
In the fourth quarter, Portland would get a pair of touchdowns to go back up by 12 points, 41-29, with six minutes to go in the game. Both were scored by Dickerson on runs of 7 yards and 62 yards on consecutive possessions.
Vicksburg would score fairly quickly on its next possession, buoyed by a long fourth-down screen pass to Hostetler to get into Portland territory, and capped off by a Keiser 5-yard touchdown run on the ninth play of the drive to make it 41-36.
The Bulldogs would get a stop on Portland’s next possession, with the Raiders getting away with a bobbled snap on the punt to start the Bulldogs from their own 39-yard line for what would be the final possession of the ballgame.
“As our offense came out, you can hear a lot of kids say, this is what you play these games for, you have an opportunity. We just wanted a chance at the end to be able to come home with a win,” Marchese recalled.
Moughton would find Kubiak for eight yards on the first play of the drive, then found Kubiak again for a gain of one to bring up third down. An incomplete deep pass would set up a fourth-and-1, which the Bulldogs would convert with a screen pass to Bowles, who evaded a couple of immediate tackle attempts to bring the ball down into Portland territory at the 42-yard line.
Moughton would then launch a deep pass that was nearly intercepted on the next play, and looked to be sacked on second down, but a facemask call on a Portland defender in the process of bringing Moughton down brought the ball up to the Portland 29-yard line.
A long pass to Hostetler was broken up on the ensuing first down, then Moughton found Hostetler for a six-yard gain, who was subsequently tackled inbounds to keep the clock running, with Vicksburg out of timeouts. An errant throw of the football back to the official from Hostetler – the ball accidentally hit the referee on the top of the head – caused the ball to bounce away and led referees to call an administrative timeout to reset the ball as the clock was running down with just seconds left, which set up the game-winning touchdown.
“In hindsight, that kind of worked in our favor because we were able to get set,” Marchese said. “They ended up pausing it at nine seconds because they couldn’t get the ball. And then we were able to get into our offensive alignment, get a play called.
“Easton saw they had two high safeties. The safeties were outside the hash. He knew the middle of the field was open. He threw it to Graham, he really just threw it to a spot, and Graham just made a diving catch over in the end zone. And it was just unbelievable. Unbelievable throw. Unbelievable catch.”
The reaction on the sidelines was one of brief confusion, Marchese said, before the touchdown signal went up.
“You couldn’t really tell from our sidelines, like, did they call it, because he had to dive and reach out, like, did they say he bobbled it?” Marchese said. “We didn’t really see the umpires’ hands up because all our players were kind of surrounding the other guys, the receivers, so you couldn’t really tell. So, it was kind of a delayed reaction in our response, and then we see the referee’s hands go up, and I just had everything melted in my head, like, okay, do we have to kick an extra point? Then I looked, and one of my assistants said, no time on the clock, we won. Then you could see everybody just elated. Everybody was jumping for joy.
“It was just a phenomenal play, one of the best high school plays I’ve seen. To end a game like that was just incredible.”
Statistically, Moughton was 22-of-43 passing on the evening for 454 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. Hostetler was the leading receiver with seven catches for 233 yards and a touchdown. Kubiak had 10 catches for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Bowles had four catches for 35 yards and a touchdown, and Johnson had the one catch for 27 yards. Keiser had 10 rushes out of the backfield for 30 yards and two touchdowns.
Vicksburg moves on to play perennial title contender Hudsonville Unity Christian on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in the state semifinals, with the game taking place at Caledonia High School’s Ralph E. Myers Stadium. The winner will face either Goodrich or Dearborn Divine Child in the state title game Friday, Nov. 28 at 12:30 p.m. at Ford Field in Detroit.
Marchese said his team will be ready for what is sure to be one of the toughest tests in program history.
“We’ve got to take care of us, and it’s just another opponent. Yes, they’re really good, but it’s just another opponent. We’re going to work hard, and we’re going to give them our all. We’re going to give them 100 percent, and our kids are going to fight to the end, and we’re going to play hard,” Marchese said. “We’re going to play hard, and try to execute to the best of our ability, and we’ll see what happens at the end.”
