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Pine-Eagle scored the winning points with 30 seconds left in the game Friday in a 56-54 non-league football win at Garden Valley, Idaho. Kyle Dennis caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jake Traw with 30 seconds left to tie the game at 54-54. Dennis then ran the two-point conversion for the winning margin. “It was quite a game for everybody involved,” said Pine-Eagle coach Blake Dennis. “It was good to come up with the win.” Even after the Spartans took the final lead, they had to withstand one final Garden Valley challenge. “We stopped them on three downs, two running plays and a long pass that Jake Traw knocked down,” Dennis said. “But on that play we looked back and they had called us for roughing the passer.” That gave Garden Valley new life in Pine-Eagle territory with eight seconds left. Garden Valley’s Casey Hileman, who finished with more than 450 yards rushing and scored all of Garden Valley’s touchdowns, then broke into open field. Hileman raced for the pylon at the goal line. As he dove for the pylon he was hit by two or three Spartans. The ball hit the pylon but the trailing official ran to a point just outside the end zone, signaling that Hileman had stepped out of bounds before breaking the plain of the end zone. “It was Garden Valley’s Homecoming and the crowd had been very loud all afternoon,” Dennis said. “But when the official made that call you could have heard a pin drop.” Hileman scored the first of his eight touchdowns on the first play from scrimmage to give Garden Valley a 6-0 lead. Kyle Dennis threw a touchdown pass to Traw, and Traw scored on a 1-yard run to give Pine-Eagle a 14-6 lead. Hileman answered with his second TD run to knot the game at 14. Pine-Eagle then took a 22-14 lead at the break when Traw threw a TD pass to Richie Gonzales. Hileman and Dennis then squared off in the second period. Hileman scored on a pair of TD runs and a kickoff return. Dennis answered on two TD runs and caught a scoring pass from Traw to give Pine-Eagle a 42-36 halftime edge. Hileman scored twice more in th ethird quarter to give Garden Valley a 48-42 advantage. Dennis added another touchdown run to even the game at 48-48 entering the final period. Hileman scored his final touchdown early in the fourth quarter and Garden Valley made the 54-48 lead stand up until about three minutes remained in the game. Pine-Eagle then drove down the field for the winning score. But, at first, it didn’t look like that would happen. Traw threw what he thought was an apparent interception, but receiver Justice Walker took the ball away from the Garden Valley player as they tumbled to the ground, giving Pine-Eagle a first down instead. “Jake was on the ground with his head in his hands when Walker took the ball away. He didn’t see that happen,” Dennis said. “Then when he looked at me and saw me give him the first down sign he realized what had happened. That was a big play for us on that drive.” Kyle Dennis finished the day with 345 yards on 45 carries. Traw finished 8-of-15 passing for 133 yards and thre touchdowns. Gonzales caught three of those passes, Dennis two and Josh Deen two. Defensively, Deen had seven solo tackles, seven assists and recovered an onside kick. Spencer Waterland had four tackles and nine assists, Traw three tackles, five assists and a fumble recovery, Walker four tackles and six assists, and Dennis three tackles and six assists. Pine-Eagle (2-1) hosts Prairie City Friday at 2 p.m. in Halfway.
Garden Valley 14 22 12 6 — 54 G — Hileman 48 run (PAT failed) P — Traw 5 pass from Dennis (PAT failed) P — Traw 1 run (Gonzales pass from Traw) G — Hileman 7 run (Hileman run) P — Gonzales 13 pass from Traw (Dennis run) G — Hileman 15 run (Lindstrom run) P — Dennis 10 run (Gonzales pass from Traw) G — Hileman 65 run (Lindstrom run) P — Dennis 15 run (PAT failed) G — Hileman 80 kickoff return (PAT failed) P — Dennis 22 pass from Traw (PAT failed) G — Hileman 10 run (PAT failed) G — Hileman 35 run (PAT failed) P — Dennis 9 run (PAT failed) G — Hileman 51 run (PAT failed) P — Dennis 13 pass from Traw (Dennis run)
(Pine-Eagle only) Rushing — Dennis45-345, Traw 12-90, Gonzales 3-4. Passing — Traw 8-15-0-133, Dennis 1-1-0-5. Receiving — Gonzales 3-35, Deen 2-40, Dennis 2-35, Walker 1-23, Traw 1-5.
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