Olathe Northwest rallies for win in OT thriller against Shawnee Mission Northwest

When talking about a 48-minute-plus football game, it’s tough to say that a result came down to just a handful of plays.

But that’s what it felt like on Friday night as the Olathe Northwest Ravens (4-2) came back in the second half to defeat the Shawnee Mission Northwest Cougars (3-3) 35-28 in overtime at the College Boulevard Athletic Center in Olathe.

It was an important game for both teams as they were seeking separation in the Sunflower League heading down the final straight of the regular season.

“To be 4-2 makes a big difference than being 3-3 right now, as far as matchups and different things,” Olathe Northwest head coach Aaron Hafner said. “But who knows what happens the next two weeks.”

It was a game that had it all, including a game-saving interception in the end zone with less than two minutes remaining, a missed field goal as the clock hit zeros, and a fumble to end the game in overtime.

Let’s start with the interception.

Having let what was once a 21-7 lead slip late in the third quarter, Shawnee Mission Northwest went in search of a game-winning drive from deep within its own territory.

The Cougars fired their way down the field with the strong arm of senior quarterback Blake Reeder, setting themselves up at the Ravens’ 24-yard line. But the offense came to a grinding halt and found itself facing a fourth-and-9.

Reeder had already fired one fourth-down touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Alex Rogers. The Cougars tested their luck once again on fourth down, but this time around the ball sailed straight into the arms of Ravens cornerback Quinn Heather in the end zone.

With the ball back in their hands and playing in front of a home crowd on Homecoming weekend, the Ravens looked primed to go down the field and score the game-winner themselves.

With 3 seconds left and deep in Shawnee Mission Northwest territory, the Ravens called their final timeout and set up for a game-winning 25-yard field goal. Senio kicker CJ Elrichs was sent out to win the game, but after two Cougar timeouts to ice him, the kick sailed wide.

“CJ, he makes those kicks,” said junior Aaron Thomsen. “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know if it was a bad snap or a bad hold ... something happened.”

The miss triggered an overtime period with the score tied 28-28.

Kansas high school overtime rules give each team the ball, first-on-goal, on the 10-yard line: four tries to make it to the end zone.

Shawnee Mission Northwest won the toss and elected to defend first. But the small cheers from the away student section soon dissipated when Olathe Northwest senior quarterback Zayne Wilson fired a pass on the first play of the overtime period to senior wide receiver Ethan Rains.

“Zayne made a nice pass to the corner of the end zone, only one guy was going to catch that one and that was Ethan, and Ethan made a heck of a play on it,” Hafner said.

With a lead to protect, the Ravens’ defense had to make four stops to win the game.

They only needed one.

After throwing the ball all game, the Cougars decided to run it up the middle. In a chaotic scrum, the ball popped out of the carrier’s hands and was quickly corralled by Thomsen to end the game.

“They run plays that we’ve never seen before,” Thomsen said, who played defensive end instead of linebacker in an effort to help slow down the Cougars’ offense. “It was definitely a chore chasing them around the field, but it was fun.”

Thomsen’s fumble recovery capped a memorable homecoming for the Ravens, who had to come from behind on two occasions in the second half and recover from the missed field goal.

“We knew that their team isn’t a second-half team,” Thomsen said. “So we came out here with the same mentality as we did in the first half.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 11:13 PM.