Catholic Memorial’s epic comeback stuns West De Pere
MADISON – This was just unbelievable. It was epic. It was the stuff of legends.
Catholic Memorial, one of the state’s premier programs, pulled off one of the greatest comebacks ever in a state championship game Friday. Down, 24-0, early in the second half, the Crusaders went on a rampage during the final 221⁄2 minutes and scored a 37-24 victory over West De Pere in the WIAA Division 3 state title game at Camp Randall Stadium.
There are no official records kept for the largest deficit a team has rallied from to win a state championship, but the Crusaders' effort Friday won’t be soon forgotten by those who saw it.
“Everything that could have went wrong went wrong in that first half and we knew that,” junior quarterback Luke Fox said. “We knew that they hadn’t seen our true selves yet. They had no idea what was coming.”
No one did.
In the first half, Memorial was outgained, 253-124, and had the ball just 5 minutes 13 seconds of the first 24 minutes. The Crusaders also trailed in the turnover battle, 3-1, with one of the turnovers leading to a Phantoms touchdown and another, just 3 yards from the end zone, spoiling a possible scoring chance
for Memorial.
The team fell behind, 4-1, in turnover margin after Fox threw an interception at the start of the third quarter that set up the Phantoms’ third touchdown, a 2yard run by junior Cody Cavil that made it a 24-0 game.
The rest of the game, Memorial didn’t have a turnover, out-gained West De Pere, 290-48, allowed just three first downs and, of course, lit up the scoreboard.
“We knew we were a third-quarter team and we had to turn it on,” said senior defensive end Luke Hubley, who finished with 15 tackles, four tackles for a loss and one sack. “We just fought the whole game and never gave up, kept our heads up even when we were down at halftime. We just believed.”
Fox orchestrated the comeback, completing 11 of 18 passes for 160 yards two touchdowns in the second half and finishing the day 19 or 29 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 84 yards, 70 of which came on a touchdown run with 7 minutes 47 seconds left that proved to be the game-winning score.
Senior Tate Kopulos finished with 112 yards in 18 carries and carried 10 times for 59 yards in the second half when he scored one touchdown and 2 two-point conversions. Sophomore Alex Oechsner caught six passes for 105 yards, helping
Catholic Memorial coach Bill Young delivers the trophy to his team after its 37-24 win over West De Pere.
spark the comeback with a 42-yard touchdown reception from Fox with 3:41 left in the third.
West De Pere (13-1) got 154 yards passing and 87 rushing from sophomore quarterback Josh Blount, but in the second half had no response to Memorial’s in-game adjustments.
“Plays that were working in the first half against a similar defense weren’t working in the second half,” Phantoms coach Jack Batten said. “We were trying to find things offensively that we could move the football, but we just weren’t able to come up with answers.”
So how quickly does it take to come back from 24 points down? About 13 minutes?
Here is a Cliff Notes version of the comeback.
❚ 7:14, third quarter: Junior Cole Dakovich catches an 8-yard touchdown pass from Fox to cap an 11-play, 61-yard drive. Kopulos runs in the two-point conversion.
❚ 3:41, third quarter: Oeschner takes a pass in the flat, finds a block and races down the sideline for his 42-yard score. Fox connects with junior Joe Sikma for the two-point conversion. Memorial trails, 24-16.
❚ 9:30, fourth quarter: Kopulos makes a nice cut up the middle for a 15yard score. He also catches the twopoint conversion to tie the game.
The scores set up Fox for an unlikely go-ahead score. He entered the day with 180 rushing yards, but on this play showed his speed with a burst down the Memorial sideline.
Senior Joe Oechsner put an exclamation point on the win with a 56-yard interception return for a touchdown.
The Crusaders had gone from the despair of possibly losing a state championship to the thrill of bringing home another title, all in about an hour of real time.
Wow!
“I’ve been blessed to be at Memorial for a long time,” Catholic Memorial coach Bill Young said. “This is (15) state championship games, seven state titles and to come back like we did, it goes almost right to the top. That was incredible.”