ACU sees season end in heartbreaking fashion

The ACU Wildcats have won their share of shootouts in a crazy, point-filled season.

The one they lost on Saturday brought an end to their season.

Chadron State, which trailed 49-20 starting the fourth quarter, scored 56 points in the fourth quarter and three overtimes to pull out an improbable 76-73 triple-overtime victory over ACU in the second round of the NCAA Division II football playoffs at Elliott Field. The Wildcats' loss puts an end to the program's first 10-win season in 30 years with a 10-3 record.

The overtime loss marked the second straight season the Wildcats' season has ended in overtime, although last year's 30-27 overtime loss at West Texas A&M might not linger as long as the 2007 loss could.

ACU dominated the first three quarters as junior running back Bernard Scott proved himself to be the best player on the field. He capped his dominating three quarters with a 90-yard touchdown run that made it 49-20 with 2:49 left in the third quarter.

Scott – named earlier this week a finalist for the Harlon Hill Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division II football – out-dueled one of the other finalists, Chadron State running back Danny Woodhead, finishing with a school-record 303 rushing yards and five touchdowns and another 79 yards and one touchdown receiving. Woodhead, last year's Harlon Hill winner, finished with 188 yards rushing and another 49 yards receiving.

ACU finished with 653 yards of offense and topped the 70-point mark for the second time this season, but Chadron countered with 716 yards on 116 offensive plays and 41 first downs, all of which ACU opponent single-game records.

"That was an unbelievable football game; one that you wouldn't believe if you didn't see," ACU head coach Chris Thomsen said. "That was much like a couple of other shootouts we've had this season, but unlike those, we just came out on the wrong end of this one."

After Chadron got the game tied with a miraculous 36-point fourth quarter, the Wildcats wasted little time regaining the lead as Billy Malone – who finished 23 of 38 for 361 yards and five touchdowns – hit Jerale Badon for a 25-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime to make it a 63-56 ACU lead. Chadron answered, though, as quarterback Joe McLain capped a seven-play drive with a 1-yard scoring run to make it 63-all.

ACU answered again as Johnny Knox caught his second touchdown pass of the day, this time a 7-yarder from Malone in the second overtime period to push the lead out to 70-63. But the Eagles – now 12-0 on the season – answered again, this time on a 4-yard touchdown pass from McLain to Isaac Stockton.

The Wildcats got the ball first again to start the third overtime, but this time they had to settle for a 21-yard field goal from Matt Adams that gave them a tenuous 73-70 lead. But that wouldn't be enough as Chadron needed just two plays to end it as McLain scored on a 12-yard scramble, setting off a wild on-field celebration for the Eagles and their fans.

"Abilene Christian has the best offense we've played, and they played very well," Chadron State head coach Bill O'Boyle said. "But give our guys credit because they made plays at the end of the game when they had their chances to make them."

Trailing 49-20, Chadron State scored two quick touchdowns to start the fourth quarter, both on touchdown passes from Joe McLain, the second one a 16-yarder to Woodhead that made it 49-34 with 13:13 left in regulation. But ACU answered with its longest drive of the day, moving 77 yards on seven plays and taking 2:14 off the clock to push its lead back to a seemingly comfortable 56-34 lead with 10:52 left.

But the Eagles scored the final 22 points of regulation to send the game into overtime.

Aaron Cooksley scored on a 16-yard pass from McLain with 8:52 to play, but the two-point conversion was no good, leaving the Wildcat lead at 56-40. Then with 4:39 to play, Woodhead capped a nine-play, 74-yard march with a three-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 56-46 with 4:39 to play. The two-point conversion pass clanged off the hands of Kent Russell and the ACU lead was 10 points.

The Wildcats were unable to move the ball, and punted after a three-and-out series. Chadron took over on the ACU 35-yard line and went 27 yards on seven plays to a 25-yard field goal from Travis Atter, cutting the lead to 56-49 with 1:54 left. But the Wildcats recovered the onside kick attempt and they took over on the Eagles' 45-yard line with a chance to run the clock out.

But the Eagles' defense – which outside of giving up the 90-yard touchdown run to Scott in the third quarter – at least slowed the Wildcat running back in the second half. ACU went three-and-out and gave the ball back to the Eagles at the Chadron 8-yard line with 1:29 left. On second down, McLain found Woodhead for 16 yards, and he stepped out of bounds to stop the clock at the 24-yard line. On the next three plays, McLain found wide-open receivers for gains of 18, 16 and 17 yards to move the ball down to ACU 25 with less than 45 seconds on the clock.

After completions of 17 and 8 yards got the ball to the 17-yard line, McLain found Joel Schommer all one in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left to play. Atter drilled the PAT and Chadron had come all the way back to tie the score at 56-56.

The Eagles then outscored the Wildcats in overtime to pull out the win and send the Wildcats home with a crushing defeat.

"I don't think there was a letup by our guys in the fourth quarter," Thomsen said. "We understood that Chadron had a great team, and they proved today why they're the No. 2 team in the country."

During the first three quarters, it was ACU which appeared to be on its way to the national quarterfinals as Malone, Scott, Badon and Co. ripped through the Eagle defense for 35 first-half points. Chadron entered the game in the nation’s tp 15 in both total defense (allowing just 268.1 yards per game) and scoring defense (allowing 8 points per game), but the Wildcats had easily topped both of those totals at the half.

Scott set the ACU single-season scoring record in the game with six touchdowns to give him 39 on the season and he set the LSC single-season rushing record with 2,165 yards. He had 132 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in the first half as he scored on runs off 44, 2, 5 and 46 yards to give the Wildcats a big 35-14 halftime cushion. He seemingly put the Wildcats on cruise control in the third quarter with two more touchdowns, one on a 55-yard reception and the other on the 90-yard run, which is the third-longest run from scrimmage in ACU football history.

But Chadron State had other ideas.

"This one hurts, there's no doubt about it," Thomsen said. "But I'm so proud of the character and fight that our guys showed throughout the game and throughout this season. Everyone told them they were done after we lost to West Texas A&M (on Oct. 20 to drop ACU to 6-2 on the season), but they kept fighting and we got back in the playoff picture. And then we got down big at Midwestern State and we kept fighting and eventually won that thing to get into the playoffs. And we fought out there today through four quarter and three overtimes. I am very proud of each and every guy in this program and what they laid on the line every week this season."

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