Tate Christian tries to break a tackle by a Salida player on Friday Sept. 10.
With seven seconds remaining on the clock, Manitou Springs head coach Stu Jeck and offensive coordinator Brandon DeMatto had a tough decision on their hands. The Manitou Springs football team was down three points to Salida and was in field goal range.
They thought that provided enough time for one last chance at the end zone and, if it didn’t work out, the Mustangs could still kick a game-tying field goal.
So they put the ball in the hands of Tate Christian and let him do his thing.
“I told Tate, two things that couldn’t happen were a scramble or a sack,” Jeck said. “Two-step drop and go.”
He dropped two steps and went. The ball made its way to the end zone and into the hands of a falling Ethan Boren.
That catch gave the Mustangs (1-2) overall a thrilling 10-6 homecoming win on Friday, Sept. 10.
“This will be talked about,” Christian said. “It would be nice to score more and be more flawless but this was a fun game.”
It was Christian’s first week at the quarterback position. After entering the season as a wide receiver, DeMatto moved his athletic senior under center hoping to get more production for the Manitou offense.
For the most part, it worked against Salida, but penalties and other miscues kept stalling potential scoring drives. The three points on the board before the game-winning touchdown were courtesy of kicker Max Goede towards the end of the first half.
The game seemed out of reach when Salida had the ball with less than a minute left. The Mustangs had one timeout and, on third down, all the Spartans had to do was fall to the ground, force Manitou to burn that timeout then punt it away. Best-case scenario for the Mustangs would be getting the ball at midfield with maybe 10 seconds left.
But the Spartans got a little too cute, trying to run an option play that resulted in a fumble.
“They knew they were going to be short (on their ability to completely run out the clock) somewhere,” Jeck said. “But why they didn’t just fall on it, that’s a good question.”
That gave Christian three shots at the end zone, each one going to Boren. The first was over his head. He caught the second, but was immediately ruled out of bounds, which Manitou film confirmed after the game. The third was on the money.
“It was very satisfying,” Boren said. “But we have to get to work. We have to put the ball in the end zone, which we know we can do. We have to execute better.”
The Mustangs are off this week and head to Alamosa on Friday, Sept. 24, to take on the Mean Moose.