By Mike Ramczyk
WILMOT – The comeback kids were at it again Friday night.
One week after the Burlington football team won with a dramatic, come-from-behind last-minute touchdown, the Demons put on an encore for the ages, one fans, players and coaches are sure to talk about for years to come.
With the Southern Lakes Conference championship on the line, the Demons got five touchdown passes from Brad Burling and outlasted the Panthers in four overtimes for a 42-35 victory.
With the win, Burlington improves to 5-3 overall and 5-1 in the SLC, clinching a share of its first conference championship since 1996, when head coach Steve Tenhagen was a senior catching passes from junior Tony Romo. Burlington hosts Elkhorn Friday night, and a win will mean the outright championship.
Burlington senior Brian Dankle, who caught a touchdown in the second overtime, was excited after the game.
“It feels great to get this after 18 years,” he said. “I’m glad for the entire team. We fought hard. We were pumped to keep playing and never had a doubt we wouldn’t win.”
Frank Bucci Field was rocking for Homecoming, and the Panthers scored 21 unanswered points to take a 21-14 lead early in the third quarter. But Burling came back on the ensuing possession to find Frank Hozeska for a 23-yard touchdown.
Neither teams scored in the fourth quarter, but the Panthers were driving late and threatening to score. However, Burlington’s Lucas Shenkenberg picked off a Bryce Kothe pass at the Demons’ 10-yard line with 1:20 to play to send the game into overtime.
Like overtime in college football, each team gets the ball at the opponent’s 25-yard line. In the first extra frame, both teams missed field goals.
Burlington started the second OT with the ball, and Burling found Dankle in the end zone for an 18-yard score to put the Demons up 28-21. On Wilmot’s next drive, Chris Marks and the Demon defense recorded two tackles for losses to set up a third and long. But Kothe found Marcus Lindstrand for a 14-yard score, and the extra point tied things up at 28-28.
In the third overtime, Wilmot kept the momentum going with a Lindstrand 14-yard touchdown run.
Down 35-28, Burlington showed the same heart and resiliency it’s displayed all season. With first and goal, two Burlington runs were stuffed. Then, Hunter Melby seemed to be stopped at the 1, but he lunged into the end zone on a second effort to knot things back up at 35-35.
On the first play of the fourth OT, Burling rolled out to his right, drawing the Wilmot defense to him. He calmly looked back the other way and tossed the ball to a wide-open Melby with nothing but daylight ahead. Melby did the rest, scoring from 25 yards out and giving Burlington a 42-35 lead.
“It was a great call by coach,” Dankle said. “It was a rollout throwback that we missed earlier in the game. He called a timeout and told us we were going to score.”
After Kothe was stuffed on first down and Ethan Scott gained five on second, Kothe misfired on third and six, setting up a fourth and six at the 11 for the ball game.
Kothe hit his man for the catch in the back of the end zone, but the Panther receiver landed out of bounds, and Burlington escaped with the thrilling victory.
Burling completed 21-of-31 passes for 256 yards and five touchdowns, two in OT, with just one interception. He also ran for 99 yards.
James Tully caught two touchdown catches from Burling in the first quarter to give Burlington a 14-0 lead. He finished with three catches for 48 yards.
Dankle and Ty Wiemer each had six catches to lead the Demons. Hozeska had five catches for 69 yards.
Hegeman Tiedt and Kramer Brown led the Demons with 13 tackles apiece. Isaiah Brenner added 11.
Check out Thursday’s Burlington Standard Press for a full story.
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