Call him last-minute Lou.
Hugo Louis kicked the winning field goal from 35-yards out, but it was the entire Victoria Spartans roster that helped pull together a 10-9 win over the North Surrey Tigers in the dying seconds of the bantam football (ages 14 and 15) provincial final in Langley on Sunday.
“It was a perfect series of breaks in our favour,” said Spartans coach Paul Precious.
With the Tigers up 9-0 and just three minutes remaining, it looked as if the Tigers were destined to have a perfect season.
But with 2:40 remaining, the Tigers fumbled and the Spartans recovered.
“They were moving down the field too,” Precious said. “A couple of plays later we lined up safety Aiden Dunsmuir as a receiver.”
Dunsmuir usually plays defence. But the decision to throw to him was one the Spartans will never forget. Quarterback Carson Scotney hit Dunsmuir with the pass and he scampered to the five yard line, a 35-yard completion.
Full back Sam Varao ran it in from the goal line to make it 9-7 with 35 seconds left in the game.
The Spartans went for the onside kick and Jordan Worth “kicked it perfectly,” allowing teammate Trevor Attridge to recover the ball.
“We ran a couple plays and were down to 13 seconds. We had no choice but to send the kicking team out,” Precious said.
Louis nailed the kick as the clock ran out.
“That was it, the red flag came out and all hell broke loose. It was really too much, really too much.”
Louis was the team’s regular kicker this year but a back injury a month ago kept him from playing cornerback on defence, and limited his kicking.
“For a 14-year-old, just getting the ball that far can be a real challenge,” Precious said.
The win capped an amazing run for the Spartans.
The club won just one of its first four games, but was 7-2 in the last nine games, including playoffs.
Linebacker Bryan Galbraith-McTavish was voted the game’s MVP for his consistent and hard tackling. The coach also credited defensive coordinator Owen Precious for preparing the team’s defence against the Tigers.