YATES CENTER — Talk about ending things with a bang.
Yates Center High’s Wildcats ended a 21-game losing streak in the most dramatic of fashions Thursday.
Freshman Gavin Busteed’s five-yard touchdown run in overtime capped a wild 56-50 win over visiting Northeast-Arma in a non-playoff game that ended both teams’ seasons.
The win is the first for the Wildcats since they defeated Cedar Vale/Dexter on Sept. 30, 2022.
It was anything but easy, with the teams trading the lead seven times in the first half alone, and then putting together a finish that will be talked about for ages. (More on that later).
Gavin Busteed scored on touchdown runs of five and four yards midway through the third quarter, as the Wildcats looked poised to take control
Things were looking even better when Yates Center’s Evan McVey picked off a Viking pass deep in Wildcat territory to end a scoring threat.
But disaster struck suddenly. The Vikings’ Conner Hill swooped a fumble two plays later on his way to the end zone to cut Yates Center’s lead to 42-38.
The Wildcats punted on their next possession, leading to a 48-yard touchdown run from Northeast quarterback Camryn Stansbury. Just like that, Northeast was back on top, 44-42.
The Wildcats took advantage of a key fourth-down conversion on their next possession, before Marcus Cummings scored on a 20-yard jaunt with 5:30 left in regulation to restore the Wildcat lead, 50-44.
The Vikings weren’t done yet.
Stansbury’s 1-yard quarterback sneak with 13 seconds left knotted the score at 50-50. The Vikings nearly took the lead, but McVey deflected and then picked off the 2-point conversion.
Near calamity followed.
Northeast’s line drive kickoff didn’t roll either into the end zone or out of bounds as the Wildcats were expecting, and Northeast’s Justin Busse recovered the ball to give the Vikings possession at the Wildcats’ 12 with nine seconds showing.
Yates Center’s defense held on the next two plays, before Cummings intercepted a Stansbury pass at the goal line as time expired.
