It’s up & it’s good! Last-second FG lifts Ontario past Lex

LEXINGTON — Trey Booker had never kicked a game-winning field goal until Friday night.

Then again, the Ontario senior has never missed a kick, either.

As the final three seconds drained off the clock, Booker kept his perfect varsity string alive by nailing a 26-yard FG to beat cross-county rival Lexington, 17-14.

(Below is a photo gallery from Ontario’s 17-14 win Friday night at Lexington. The gallery includes images from both marching bands, as well.)

The kick capped a 13-play, 74-yard drive in the final 5:41 that gave the Warriors their second consecutive nail-biting win over the Minutemen. In 2022, Ontario mounted a 10-play, 72-yard TD drive that gave the Warriors the lead and a 21-17 win.

Booker’s kick came after Ontario coach Aaron Eckert called a timeout with three seconds left, facing a fourth-and-one at the Lexington 8-yard line.

“The closer the clock ticked down, I knew it was coming to me,” Booker said afterward. “I don’t know. It was crazy. I knew we were going to kick it.”

Booker, who also nailed two extra points Friday night, was perfect on 38 PAT tries last season and connected on all six of his FG attempts in earning second-team, All-Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference honors.

Also an outside linebacker, Booker admitted he kept his head down on the winning kick and never saw it sail easily through the uprights.

“I didn’t want to see it. I just waited for everyone to scream or go ‘Dang, you missed it,'” Booker said with a grin.

Booker, who played soccer growing up, said his longest kick in a game was 37 yards, though he has hit from just over 50 yards out in practice.

“I was telling myself it’s just a normal kick. A routine kind of practice kick. I just gotta make it. That’s all,” Booker said.

Eckert said he never had any doubts about trotting Booker out onto the field after junior quarterback Bodpegn Miller and senior running back Chase Studer drove the Warriors down the field in the final minutes.

“No debate. I was going to run the clock down. To be honest, if we had been at the 25, we were kicking it,” the second-year coach said. “In practice, he has hit from over 45. Comfortable, I would like the ball to be inside the 20, but he’s a good kick and he’s got a good leg on him.”

The veteran Warriors have a roster that features 21 seniors, compared to just seven for Lexington second-year coach Andrew Saris.

“They’ve got a ton of grit on that on that side,” Eckert said of Lexington. “They don’t have a ton of depth, but they’ve got kids who just kind of battled and battled and battled and put themselves in a position to win the game in the fourth quarter.

“Kudos to those guys. I thought we’d have more depth and be able to outlast them a little bit. But they played tough and it came down to the wire again. Fortunately for us in the fourth quarter in both years, we’ve been able to pull it out,” Eckert said.

The Ontario coach was referring to Lexington taking over at the 50-yard-line with 6:54 left to play after a 35-yard Warrior punt.

But the Minutemen went three-and-out, losing five yards on the three plays.

“We did a nice job of grinding it out. Ultimately, (both teams) are tired at that point. We have a lot of guys playing both ways on the front end. No excuse, though,” Saris said.

“We made plays defensively. Offensively, we have just got to get into a groove. We didn’t help ourselves on offense. We were able to run the ball at times. But us, and some of our playmakers, we have to make the plays when it comes to us,” Saris said.

Just as in 2022, Lexington took a 7-0 lead on a big play. The Minutemen scored on their first play from scrimmage when senior running back Mason Green raced 57 yards for a TD with 7:16 left in the first quarter.

Ontario tied the game three minutes later when Studer capped a drive with a three-yard run.

The Warriors took a 14-7 lead with 9:44 left in the third quarter on a 22-yard run by junior Mason Vantilburg.

Another big play on the ensuing kickoff set up Lexington’s second score. Sophomore Seven Allen gathered the ball in at the 2-yard line and raced 80 yards before he was brought down at the Ontario 18. Fellow sophomore Markale Martin scored on a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 7:30 left in the third.

“Our seniors and our upperclassmen are giving us everything they have on the field. But we have a lot of 10th graders out there and they’re going to have to learn,” Saris said. “They have got to take their lumps.

“But I am super proud of the kids. They played hard. I didn’t see any quitting,” he said.

Ontario may not have needed a last-second field goal if the Warriors had not hurt themselves with untimely penalties and turnovers.

“You look back at probably about every drive and we either had a penalty or a turnover that hurt us.Going forward, obviously we can’t have those things and expect to be a good football team or beat a good football team.

“It’s week one. Hopefully, we got those jitters out, but we’re gonna be pretty critical in film tomorrow and try to get better from this one tonight,” Eckert said.