There were obvious turning points in the Whitehall Zephyrs’ 29-28 dramatic overtime victory against the Freedom Patriots on Sept. 22 at Whitehall, but tucked in the middle of all those turning points was an unintentional 2-point conversion attempt, successfully run by Braden Bashore near the end of the second quarter, that held as much significance as any other.

Kaden Weaver (73 receiving yards) had just scored the Zephyrs’ second touchdown on a 27-yard pass from quarterback Trey Dogmanits (118 passing yards), making the score 14-13, Freedom.

Andrew Deutsch was ready to kick his second extra point of the night, but between Weaver’s snap and Bashore trying to place the ball, Deutsch wouldn’t get the chance.

Said Bashore, “It was a bad snap, but I rolled out, and I was supposed to call ‘Fire’ but at the time, people couldn’t hear. It was really loud, so I tried to find my guys in the end zone, and they weren’t there, so I just ran it. I saw a guy behind me, and there was a guy right by the pylon, and I just hit the pylon.”

Whitehall now had a 15-14 lead at the half.

Two quarters later, the teams tied, 22-22, and Freedom scored a touchdown in overtime but failed on a 2-point conversion. Whitehall scored a touchdown, too, but all the Zephyrs needed at that point was the extra point, and it was perfectly delivered by Deutsch.

“I can’t even describe it because you’re full of excitement, you’re very proud of yourself and of your team for getting you there because I never would have been able to do that if it wasn’t for the team,” Deutsch said. “There was a little bit of nerves. I mean, I was fully confident in our line, our snapper, and our holder, and my kick. The adjustment halfway to the goal line- I didn’t really expect that, and I didn’t want it because I thought it would throw something off, but I had full confidence in everyone.”

The overtime period started with an injury to Whitehall linebacker Dalton Wickel (73 rushing yards, 1 touchdown) that stopped the game for roughly 20 minutes as Wickel was tended to.

After the delay, Jiovanni Richardson scored on a 5-yard run for the Patriots, and the Zephyrs responded with a touchdown by Carter Troxell.

“Just a lot of emotion going through me,” Troxell said. “Obviously, I did it for Dalton.”

But emotion of another kind had started at the end of the fourth quarter as Whitehall trailed, 22-15, and

in the very last second of regulation on fourth-and goal from the 9-yard line with 6.2 seconds remaining, Dogmanits found his brother, Talon, in the end zone.

“It’s the last play of the game, and you have to make something work, and when the play breaks down, you’ve got to trust your playmakers,” said Dogmanits. “Freedom covered us really well, and we had to improvise.”

In the moment, Whitehall coach Andy Marino wondered why his team was scrambling, but Talon Dogmanits perceived that Freedom’s defense broke into the pocket, so he changed direction.

“I saw my brother rolling out, so I had to work toward the way he was rolling out, and then the ball was up, and someone had to make a play,” he said. “I was the closest one there, so I went up for it. As I was catching it, I was getting tackled. Right when I got my foot down, and I was on the ground, I got up and looked at the ref, and he signaled touchdown.”

Whitehall’s victory was the Zephyrs’ third straight at home.

This week, the Zephs will travel to Parkland on Friday night.

“I’m just pleased with the effort,” said Coach Marino. “[Freedom’s] an excellent program, they coach well, and they play hard.”