Titans use last-minute FG to beat Hazen 51-50

A bruised kicking leg didn’t phase Dickinson Trinity kicker Nick Sobolik on Friday night. The pain stemming from a hard hit on a blocked extra-point attempt in the second quarter faded away when Sobolik’s teammates put their faith in him with the game on the line.

In a game dictated by offense, the sophomore kicker was the difference.

Sobolik nailed a 24-yard field goal with 28 seconds remaining to lift the No. 2-ranked Titans to a wild 51-50 victory over Hazen in a Class 11B, Region 4 game at the Biesiot Activities Center.

“It makes me feel great,” said a smiling Sobolik, who was laying on the training table right before halftime. “Especially hearing that my team – all 11 guys on the field – said that they wanted me to kick that field goal. It really helped. It really calmed me and cooled me down knowing they trusted me.”

Trinity, which came into the game averaging a state-best 49 points per game, needed every ounce of its offense – including its kicking game – to beat a hard-charging Bison team that just wouldn’t go away.

“We said for the last couple of weeks you might have to score 50 to beat us and, well, they scored 50,” Trinity head coach John Odermann said. “But we scored 51.”

Trinity and junior quarterback Jace Kovash mustered everything they could offensively as the Titans improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in Region 4.

Kovash had 314 yards passing and 73 yards rushing. He threw two touchdown passes and rushed for two more.

Junior receiver Luke Shobe caught both of Kovash’s TD passes and had 124 yards receiving on nine catches. Junior slotback Gage Glasser had five catches for 88 yards. Junior running back Ty Dassinger added 119 total yards and three rushing touchdowns.

The Titans finished with 479 total yards.

“It was a crazy game,” Kovash said. “The offense played pretty well. The passing game was there. We were taking what they were giving us, and we just relied on Nick at the end. We all have faith in him.”

Here’s the go-ahead 24-yard FG by @TrinityTitanFB’s Nick Sobolik with 28 seconds to play Friday in a 51-50 win over Hazen. pic.twitter.com/EHMSn89jqk
— 701 Sports (@701Sports) October 1, 2022

Despite falling behind by a couple of touchdowns in the first half, Hazen never wavered.

The Bison (4-4, 2-3 Region 4) got behind a determined offensive line and let senior running backs Kaison Kaylor and Cade Harm chewed up yards.

The duo combined for 411 yards and four touchdowns on 40 carries. Hazen had 509 total yards, with 477 coming on the ground. Sophomore QB Bradyn Braithwaite also rushed for two touchdowns.

“A lot of credit goes to our offensive line,” Hazen coach Bret Johnsrud said. “We knew we had a little bit of a size advantage on them. We knew they were small, agile and quick. But we knew we could pound it. We thought if we could wear them down, that’d be the best thing we could do. And that’s exactly what we did. We wore them down and we pounded the rock.”

After trailing 34-22 at halftime and 40-30 late in the third quarter, the Bison turned to Kaylor and Harm to rally them back.

Kaylor scored on a 57-yard TD run to cut the lead to four with 1:55 left in the third quarter. He then intercepted Kovash on Trinity’s next offensive play. Two plays later, Harm rumbled in from 45 yards out to give Hazen a 42-40 lead – all in just under 75 seconds of gameplay.

“I haven’t been more proud of a team in a long time,” Johnsrud said. “We talked all week about having an unwavering belief that the next play is going to win it. We’re playing 0-0 and the next play is going to win it. No matter what happened before, the next play is gonna win it.”

Trinity responded with a nine-play drive capped by a 2-yard Dassinger TD run. Kovash ran in the two-point conversion to give Trinity a 48-42 advantage.

Hazen came back with a 12-play, 5:48-minute drive that included a big 5-yard fourth-down conversion run by Kaylor at the 25 and ended in a 3-yard TD run by Harm. Kaylor’s run on the two-point conversion put Hazen ahead 50-48.

With just under 3½ minutes to play, Kovash marched the Titans from their own 37 to the Hazen 3.

Facing fourth-and-goal with 28 seconds left, Trinity called a time out and emerged with its offense in a four-receiver set. That led Johnsrud and Hazen to call a time out.

It was during that second time out that Odermann said he and his Trinity coaching staff chose to go with Sobolik for the field goal attempt.

“We didn’t really think about it until Hazen called that time out,” he said. “We went into the huddle and they (Trinity’s players) said ‘Coach said, let’s kick it. Nick’s gonna do it. We had that blocked PAT earlier in the game and we said, “Are you gonna block?” They said yes. They blocked. We made it.

“Pretty incredible way to win a game. I’ve never won a game that way and I hope I never have to again.”

Trinity faces another test from a dominating rushing attack next Friday when they visit rival Beulah with the Region 4 regular-season title on the line. The Miners are coming off a 50-36 road win over Shiloh Christian on Friday in which they ran 66 plays, rushed for 437 yards and didn’t attempt a pass.

Kovash said the Titans will enjoy the win. But they know there’s work to do with another big test on the horizon.

“It’s always good to come out with a W, but we could have played a lot cleaner. We made a lot of mistakes on both sides of the ball,” Kovash said. “We’ve just got to get ready for Beulah.”

First Quarter

H–Kaison Kaylor 30 run (Ethan Garrett run), 8:18 (0-8)

T–Jace Kovash 55 run (Nick Sobolik kick), 7:48 (7-8)

T–Ty Dassinger 5 run (Sobolik kick), 3:03 (14-8)

Second Quarter

T–Luke Shobe 17 pass from Kovash (Gage Glasser run), 9:52 (22-8)

H–Bradyn Braithwaite 4 run (Cade Harm pass from Kaylor), 5:36 (22-16)

T–Dassinger 36 run (kick blocked), 4:32 (28-16)

H–Kaylor 6 run (run failed), 1:01, (28-22)

T–Shobe 14 pass from Kovash (pass failed), 0:13 (34-22)

Third Quarter

H–Braithwaite 8 run (Garrett run), 8:00 (34-30)