Crazy Final Seconds of Boardman vs. Harding Football Game

Ah, high school football. Friday evenings bring us the rarefied drama and dreams of Sunday afternoons, but with slightly smaller bodies and heads less addled by years of concussions.

But where were the heads, one might ask, of the Warren G. Harding Raiders Friday night? (Or at least its special teams unit.) With seconds to go in the fourth quarter, Harding was up 14-12 on the visiting Spartans of Boardman.

Boardman lined up for a 29-yard field goal with the game on the line.

Quick off the corners, the Harding special teams defenders made a spectacular block on the chip shot — sealing an apparent victory — and then sprinted up the field to celebrate their accomplishment. They were unaware that the play had not been ruled dead.

The scrappy Boardman team, spurred to action by the mad arm-waving and shouting of their coach, gobbled up the ball and walked into the end zone unimpeded. Final score: Boardman 18 – Harding 14. 

Hell of a finish, and a calamitous defeat for the Harding Raiders, who were playing on their home turf. 

Watch the video, courtesy of Boardman coach Carmen Tarantino, here. 

This article appears in Oct 7-13, 2015.