The seniors on Goodrich’s varsity football team had one more chance to win on their home field.
However, visiting Corunna dashed those hopes with less than three minutes in their Oct. 14 game against the Martians, scoring a go-ahead touchdown to earn a 14-7 win.
With the win, Corunna improved to 4-4 on the season, while Goodrich fell to 1-7.
The Martians were leading 7-6 in the fourth quarter when they fumbled with 3:05 left in the game. The Cavaliers then scored on a 79-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ashton Porter to senior wide receiver Matthew White with 2:53 left in the fourth.
Porter then connected with senior tight end Tyler Aspey on the two-point conversion to provide the final margin of victory.
On the first drive of the game, the Martians controlled the action, going on a 14-play, 69-yard drive that took 7:08 off the clock. The drive culminated when senior Joe Leppek scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 4:47 left in the first quarter. Jessica Engler’s extra-point conversion gave the Martians a 7-0 lead, which they would maintain for the rest of the first quarter.
The Cavaliers got on the scoreboard just before halftime, when Porter fired a five-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Jacob Zdunic on second-and-goal with three seconds left in the second quarter. Corunna mishandled the snap on the extra-point attempt, and a subsequent two-point coversion failed, leaving the Martians ahead 7-6 at halftime.
In the third quarter, both teams had apparent touchdowns called back due to an illegal block. Corunna’s Zdunic returned a Goodrich punt for a touchdown with 8:07 left in the third, which was called back, and then Goodrich’s Bennett Gillam had a 62-yard touchdown run off an end around called back with 6:20 in the third.
The game remained at a stalemate until the fourth quarter, when Goodrich’s Tyler Bouck recovered a fumble on a Corunna punt return with 6:11 left in the fourth.
About two minutes later, the Martians converted a fourth-and-eight attempt at the Corunna 33 with 4:21 left in the fourth, as Goodrich quarterback Tyler Moncrieff connected with junior tight end Chris Tanner on a 13-yard pass to the Corunna 20.
The Martians were driving and looking to put the game away when they committed the fateful fumble on the Corunna 21-yard line, setting up the late touchdown by the Cavaliers.
Goodrich’s last gasp came on fourth-and-10 at their own 48, but Moncrieff’s pass was batted down by the Cavaliers with 36 seconds left, preserving the win for Corunna.