Fortunately for the Wayzata football team, the Minnetonka police officers working the game last Friday night between the Trojans and Skippers were not on the field during the game's final seconds. If they had been, they might have questioned some of the Trojan players for theft.
With less than 20 seconds remaining in the game, the Trojans (5-0) needed something miraculous to happen and that's exactly what they got in order to steal a 15-14 victory from the Skippers (3-3).
Minnetonka led the game 14-7 and the game appeared to be theirs after they sacked Wayzata quarterback Sasha Doran on back-to-back plays to push the Trojans back to their own 40-yard line.
But with no timeouts and the clock ticking under 20 seconds, Wayzata head coach Brad Anderson called the old hook and ladder play hoping to catch the Skippers off guard.
Doran was pressured again, but had enough time to throw a 10-yard pass to senior wide receiver Tanner Helgren.
Helgren caught the ball in the air at the 50-yard line and before landing on the ground was able to lateral the ball to senior running back Aaron Roth.
Roth sprinted down the sidelines until he was pushed out of bounds by Minnetonka defensive back James Farrow at the 5-yard line with 3.3 seconds left on the clock.
"There aren't a lot of plays left in my playbook when you're in that situation," Anderson said. "Aaron did a really nice job of laying back so he wouldn't be ahead of the receiver. It was a great play."
With the game now within reach and on the line, Anderson decided to again put the ball in the hands of Roth. Once again, the senior delivered.
Roth took a pitch from Doran and appeared to want to throw the ball to tight end Zach Muller in the back of the endzone.
When Roth indicated that he might throw the ball, several Minnetonka defenders dropped back to cover Muller, which gave Roth a crease to run the ball into the endzone.
With Wayzata trailing by one and the extra point pending, the Skippers called timeout.
During the timeout, Anderson called his placekicker back to the bench and sent his offense back out onto the field to go for two and the win in regulation.
"We were going to kick, but when they called the timeout it gave me a chance to talk to the team because I wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page with the play we were going to run," Anderson said.
Once again it was Roth to the rescue. This time the senior running back found himself all alone in the back of the endzone to catch Doran's 2-yard pass to give the Trojans the victory and the Skippers a heartbreaking loss.
"I was very proud of how all of our players kept their composure," Anderson said. "[Minnetonka] made us earn this victory and I'm very proud of the fact that we were able to come through against tremendous odds."
Wayzata's offense didn't have their best game of the season as they committed four turnovers and had to punt six times. But in the end, players like Doran, Helgren and Roth got the job done.
"We look for them to lead our offense," junior linebacker Ryan Poppitz said. "Sasha and Aaron did a great job of stepping up at the end of that game."
Wayzata took a 7-0 lead in the first half thanks to a blocked punt and a 1-yard touchdown run by Doran.
For a while, it appeared as if the game might end without any further scoring as both defenses played well.
But the Skippers finally got things going on offense in the fourth quarter as they scored twice to take a 14-7 lead.
Minnetonka's junior quarterback Scott Benedict hit sophomore wide receiver Malcolm Moore on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 7:56 remaining in the game to tie the score at seven.
After Wayzata was forced to punt on the ensuing possession, the Skippers took over at their own 16-yard line with 5:14 remaining.
Benedict and Moore connected again for 25 yards and the Trojans had a mental lapse on defense by committing 35 yards in penalties including two personal fouls.
Benedict then gave the Skippers their first lead with 2:25 remaining on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.
Benedict outplayed Doran in the game and certainly played well enough to give his team a chance to win.
He finished the game 12-of-19 for 148 yards and one touchdown.
Doran finished just 5-of-10 for 33 yards as the Trojans struggled throughout most of the game to establish any rhythm in the passing game.
The Trojans were able to move the ball on the ground as Roth amassed 134 yards on 19 carries.
Wayzata has a bye this week and they will use the extra time off to prepare for their regular season finale against Eden Prairie on Wednesday, Oct. 20.
"This is huge because going into a bye week, it's a whole week without a game and kids tend to lose focus every now and then," Roth said. "This is a huge win for us because it's going to give us a lot of momentum. We have Eden Prairie next to close out the regular season and that's a huge game."
Minnetonka gets Eden Prairie this week as the two teams will play at Eden Prairie on Friday, Oct. 15. The Skippers will then close out the regular season with a game at Hopkins on Oct. 20.