By Levi Payton
sports@joplinglobe.com
COMMERCE, Okla. — Four quarters weren’t enough to determine whether Commerce or Woodland would move past the first round of the Class A playoffs on Friday at Tiger Field. Instead, the teams went two overtimes before the Commerce defense stuffed the Cougars on a two-point conversion attempt to pull out a thrilling 32-31 victory.
Tigers head coach Willie Ng choked back tears as he spoke of the effort his team put forth in the win.
“I don’t even know what to say man. I’m speechless,” Ng said. “That was a great football game by two great football teams.”
There was plenty of drama in this one, particularly from the fourth quarter on. With time winding down in the fourth quarter the Tigers marched 80 yards on 12 plays before quarterback Joey Bowling connected with Mikey Morgan on a seam route that went for 38 yards and a touchdown.
Bowling then hit Tyler Maxville in the end zone to complete the drive and knot the score at 18-18 with 4:16 remaining.
“I think our conditioning set us apart tonight,” Ng said.
Overtime was just as dramatic. Woodland’s Travis Taylor scored on a 5-yard run to make it 25-18. But the Tigers answered when Bowling connected with Bryson Sullivan from two yards out to tie the game again at 25.
The Tigers wasted no time in the second overtime. Morgan scored from 10 yards out and Bowling knocked in the kick to make it 32-25. Just as Commerce had done, Woodland came right back and answered on the next play with a 10-yard scamper by Tommy Hillsberg to make it 32-31.
Once the Cougars called timeout right after the touchdown, it seemed like a formality that they would go for two and the win. Their kicking game — especially in the extra-point category — had gone awry on several occasions.
As expected, they did go for two, but Morgan and Sullivan teamed up to bring down Hillsberg short of the goal line.
“I told our guys, ‘big players make big plays in big situations,’ ” Ng said. “There you go right there.”
After the stop, the celebration began for Commerce. Players posed for pictures on the field after the game and Ng dished out bear hugs to anyone in sight.
“Be careful, I might give you one too,” he warned.
Then emotions sat in. After a moment to gather himself, Ng added tearfully, “I just can’t say enough about how hard our kids have worked. They deserved to win like that.”
That same kind of emotion seemed to be what drove the Tigers throughout the entire game. They continued to scrap with the Cougars despite having a 44-yard punt return called back due to holding. Several more drives stalled out in enemy territory as the Cougars defense stepped up with big plays.
The first half was marked by a 36-yard interception return for a touchdown by Cougars cornerback Michael Ben to give Woodland a 12-7 lead with 5:10 remaining in the second quarter. That marked the second touchdown by the Cougars in the span of 27 seconds, and seemed to change the tempo set by the Tigers up to that point in the first half.
The teams traded early 4-yard touchdown runs in the second quarter as Bryson Sullivan went in to give Commerce a 7-0 lead. Willie Zackery then added a four yarder off the left side for Woodland, but a failed two-point conversion attempt pulled the Cougars within a point, 7-6.
The next play from scrimmage turned sour for the Tigers as Ben jumped a quick slant from Bowling and returned it the distance to give the Cougars the lead.
Bowling redeemed himself on the next drive by nailing a 27 yard field goal to make it 12-10 going into the half.
