Erie’s message to Barnett: “Keep your head up”
As Blake Barnett’s last pass lay on the turf in the Chatfield end zone at Empower Field, a last-second Hail Mary that fell incomplete, the Erie quarterback dropped to his knees.
The first player to console him? Chatfield senior linebacker Caden Logan, who crouched down next to Barnett, put his arm around the 15-year-old sophomore quarterback and delivered a message.
Keep your head up. You’re going to do great things. I hate seeing wasted potential, so I better not be seeing it from you.
It was a fitting gesture after an instant classic that saw Barnett’s No. 5 Erie Tigers fall just short of completing a perfect season in a 41-34 loss to No. 7 Chatfield in the Class 4A state title game Saturday afternoon.
Barnett had nearly willed his team to its second fourth-quarter comeback in as many weeks, throwing for 247 yards and two touchdowns and running for another 153 yards. But in the immediate aftermath of the loss, all he could think about were his two mistakes: a pair of interceptions in Chatfield territory that likely took points off the board.
“I’m so proud of those seniors and I’m just so sorry I let them down,” said Barnett, who completed 21 of 29 passes. “We should’ve won. It was my fault. I gave too many takeaways, I gave them the ball too much.”
Of course, the Tigers (13-1) neven
er would’ve been in the title game if not for Barnett.
The young quarterback guided his team on a pair of touchdown drives to rally Erie from down 3420 with 9:52 left in the fourth quarter. Caleb Theisen plunged into the end zone from one yard out for his third touchdown of the game to bring Erie within one score. And, after a big stop from the Tigers’ defense, Barnett threw on his cape with a couple of plays that tied the game at 34-all with 1:54 to go.
The first was a fourth-and-9 scramble that saw Barnett leap over a defender with his arms outstretched to secure a first down. The second was a jump ball to Aidan Achtziger that the senior leaped to grab for a 17-yard touchdown. “It was just a one-on-one matchup between me and a good corner and my quarterback trusted me to go one-on-one,” Achtziger said. “I just went up a little bit higher than he did.”
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the incredible catch only delayed the Chargers’ celebration, with Chatfield driving 80 yards in sevplays on its next possession to score the game-winning TD with 11 seconds left.
The Tigers only had time to set up a last-ditch Hail Mary. And Barnett ran out of magic, his pass batted down to the Empower Field grass.
“Blake’s a 15-year-old kid who comes out here and plays against 18-year-olds and just makes them look silly,” Achtziger said. “It’s not fair for him to take that all on himself. He has one of the most challenging and most important jobs on the field, and every time he messes up everyone sees it, unlike a lot of other positions.
“… It just shows how much of a leader he is that he has the confidence to say that it’s on him. I just commend him for that. I love him.”
First-year head coach Jeff Giger expressed the same affection for his Tigers in the wake of the deflating loss. The two turnovers, 10 penalties (92 yards) and one special teams mistake — a fumbled punt snap that set up a Chatfield score late in the first half — lingered. But so did Giger’s pride.
“It’s the heart these guys have, these leaders, this senior group is an amazing group,” Giger said. “To come together the way they did in one year with a new staff and everything, you can’t say enough about them. I’m just so proud of them.
“I wish they could’ve got it, because it hurts to see them hurt.”