MUKWONAGO – Arrowhead football coach Matt Harris was just like any other Wisconsinite on Sept. 28.
He was tuned in to one of the wildest NFL games you’ll ever see with a 40-40 tie between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. Five days later, he was a part of the first overtime game of his 114-game coaching career as his Warhawks survived a 26-23 barnburner for the ages against Mukwonago to place Muskego in the driver’s seat for the Classic 8 Conference title with just two weeks to go in the high school football regular season.
“I watched Matt LaFleur and I thought, ‘What would I do?’ I’ve been coaching for 113 games and I’ve never been in an overtime,” Harris said. “I told my coaches that I was like, ‘I’ve never been in an overtime and Coach (Steven) Petersen was like, ‘You just jinxed it.’ “
The Warhawks trailed 13-7 at the halftime break after facing an early 10-0 hole but kept the home side off the scoreboard and played field position for much of the second half, along with some stellar kicking from Cam DeBoer and punter Evan Wozniak to help flip the field and level the contest at 13 with a quarter to go.
The two teams exchanged touchdowns in about 63 game seconds when Jacob Siner scored from 16 yards out to give Arrowhead its first lead at 20-13 before a 41-yard strike from George Molitor to Max Baehman brought it all square again with 4:28 to go in regulation.
Mukwonago got the ball first in the extra session with collegiate overtime rules in effect. Each team would get a possession at its opponents’ 25-yard-line. After Mukwonago drove to the Arrowhead 8-yard line, three straight negative plays had the home side set up for a 46-yard field goal attempt that Gavin Meyer banged through for a 23-20 advantage.
A field goal would force double overtime. A touchdown would help erase the misery that followed from Arrowhead’s lone defeat of the season in a 21-17 thriller at Muskego a couple weeks prior after some crucial mishaps in the red zone.
Nolan Hanson found Tre Oiler on third down and the tight end rumbled his way to the Mukwonago 6-yard line to set up first-and-goal for the Warhawks on their first overtime possession. A couple of stern reps from Mukwonago’s defensive front later, Siner took a third-and-goal handoff from just outside the 4-yard line, juked and sprinted past one defender and beat a second to the corner of the end zone, sending the red, white and blue section of Arrowhead fans into a frenzy and also sending the Mukwonago student section showing its support on Military Appreciation Night by also wearing red, white and blue home disappointed on the game’s final snap.
“We take a lot of pride in putting all three aspects together,” Harris said. “I think the first half was not a true representation of our team. I thought we made some mistakes that were costly and that’s what Mukwonago does. They force you into mistakes every single game. It doesn’t matter the team, but our guys we knew that’s how the game was gonna go. We tried to prepare for them, but you can’t prepare for some things that happened, but holy cow. Just amazing.”
Harris couldn’t have asked for a better response from his program in the following two weeks since the Muskego loss. The Warhawks had as many touchdowns as Oconomowoc had first downs the week prior in a 38-0 stomping and then went on the road to take down the only other unbeaten in Classic 8 play outside of Muskego with two weeks left in the regular season where offense, defense and special teams all played a significant role throughout the classic encounter.
“We needed this. Our team needed this, especially after the tough Muskego loss,” Harris said. “To go through another one of those, we would’ve rallied and we would have came back and been fine, but to gain the confidence … my three pillars are hard work, confidence and togetherness. You lose a game like this and it can eat at your confidence a little bit and it makes my job a little harder (laughs).”
Harris’ belief in his running back paying off after years of faith
Prior to Siner’s sophomore year two seasons ago, Harris called Siner “the most talented running back I’ve ever had” in terms of his talent and athletic abilities. That’s high praise coming from the same coach who taught talent such as current New York Jets defensive end Will McDonald during his time at Waukesha North earlier in his coaching career.
At times, it’s been a mental battle for Siner with high expectations and some injury struggles over the last couple of seasons, but Siner is putting himself deep into all-Classic 8 Conference and potentially all-state talk as a running back with an excellent senior season. Siner came into Friday’s game averaging just under nine yards per attempt with 723 yards and nine scores on just 81 total attempts through seven weeks, including four 100-yard games and two 200-yard games.
Siner cleared the 100-yard mark again against Mukwonago, but it was the toughness he showed in the second half and into the overtime session that made Harris proud. The senior plowed through Mukwonago defensive back Max Migazzi 15 yards downfield on a carry as the Warhawks had hoped to take the lead for good in regulation a few plays later. Not too bad for a guy who has been battling cramps in recent weeks that have interrupted some strong performances, including 202 yards on 29 carries in Arrowhead’s lone defeat of the season.
“What rings in my mind was a late drive where he just put his helmet down and just ran over the safety,” Harris said. “He doesn’t do that two years ago. He tries to avoid it or do something else. I think it’s just his hard work. He’s a little guy, but he’s just gotten tougher and tougher every year and I’m glad. He cramped early on again, having issues with cramping, but he gutted it out and finished it. That’s what I’m proud of.”
Siner heard just about every heckle in the book from the Mukwonago students, but he who laughs last laughs loudest as the senior sprinted his way to pay dirt in the direction of the student section before being mobbed by the rest of his teammates in the biggest win of the season for the Warhawks through seven weeks.
“They was yapping the whole game,” Siner exclaimed about the student section with a smile after scoring the walkoff touchdown.
“I mean, calling me trash … my forehead big, my hairline messed up. I’m like, ‘Come on, bruh, I’m only 18! I don’t have it all figured out!’ It was wild, but I had to, and there’s no offense towards (Mukwonago). They were a very respectful team. But when you got that much, I mean, I have to say something.”
When asked about the belief his coach has in him, Siner gave his coach nothing but love for always supporting him through the tough times and the fun times.
“He’s always had faith in me, even when I didn’t have faith in myself,” Siner said. “When I was a freshman, I was coming up, I came in against really good teams, had some touchdowns and then fumbled. He kept telling me it was going to be OK. Throughout the years, he’s just been a stand-up guy and he’s always helped me and gave me confidence. I mean, when you give someone that much confidence, I have to give it back to you.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jacob Siner’s walkoff for Arrowhead in OT classic with Mukwonago shakes up C8 title race
Reporting by Michael Whitlow, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
