DECATUR — In a season that saw the Cassopolis football team lost two of its three games due in part to a missed extra point, it was especially gratifying that Matt Locke’s kick just cleared the cross bar in the Rangers’ 29-28 win over Decatur in the opening round of the Division 7 playoffs Friday night.

Locke’s kick was partially blocked by the Raiders, but it had just enough to get over the cross bar to snap a four-game losing streak, including three in the postseason.

“We were due for one of those,” Cassopolis coach Dan Purlee said. “We lost two games because of the kicking game, but finally we came through and we couldn’t have come through at a better moment.”

The kick also capped an incredible final five minutes of football between the Rangers and The Raiders.

After Decatur grabbed a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter, Cassopolis stormed back to cut the lead to 14-13 in the second quarter. Only a blocked extra point by the Raiders kept the game from being deadlocked at halftime.

Neither team would find the end zone again until the Rangers took their first lead of the game with 2:40 remaining in regulation on a 1-yard run by quarterback Nick Murphy.

The Rangers went for the 2-point conversion, but the pass attempt was broken up leading Cassopolis with a 19-14 lead.

Decatur took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards to reclaim the lead.

The Locke kick bounced to Decatur’s Cody Huston, who flipped the ball back to Matt Botti inside the Raiders’ 1-yard line. Botti went the distance down the Rangers’ sideline to make it a 22-19 lead for Decatur after he hit Hunter Bell with a conversion pass.

Needing something big to happen, Cassopolis’ Isaiah Crider returned Huston’s kickoff to the Decatur 44-yard line to set up a final drive for the Rangers.

Cassopolis worked the ball inside the Decatur 30-yard line where Locke connected on a 34-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.

The Rangers won the toss and elected to play defense.

Decatur scored on a 2-yard Bell run, but Huston’s extra point attempt was no good. Cassopolis was whistled for roughing the kicker, which gave the Raiders another shot. This time they went for two, but Botti was stopped well short of the end zone leaving the Rangers down 28-22.

It took just one play for Cassopolis to score as fullback Austin Green raised virtually untouched into the end zone to tie the score and set up the dramatic kick from Locke.

“We have a lot of respect for Decatur,” Purlee said. “This is a big win for our program. We have come close in games like this, but it always seems like we are on the other end it. It was time. It was time for us to win one of these big games.”

The Rangers finished with 302 yards of total offense, including 256 yards on the ground as Crider, Green and Noah Woods pounded the inside and the outside of the Raiders’ defense.

Murphy, who had a pair of touchdown runs, was 4-of-9 for 46 yards and a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tymari Brown.

Decatur finished with 237 yards of total offense, including 218 on the ground. Jonathan Grosvenor, who had a 45-yard touchdown run in the opening quarter, led the way with 98 yards on 10 carries for the Raiders.

Cassopolis (7-3) will travel to Bridgman (7-2) for the district title game Friday night at 7 p.m.

 

Cassopolis                  0          13       0          9          7 – 29

Decatur                      14       0          0          8          6 – 28

D – Hunter Bell 5 run (Cody Huston kick)

D – Jonathan Grosvenor 45 run (Hustin kick)

C – Tymari Brown 3 pass from Nick Murphy (Matt Locke kick)

C – Murphy 1 run (kick blocked)

C – Murphy 1 run (pass failed)

D – Matt Botti 99 kick return (Botti pass to Bell)

C – Locke 34 field goal

D – Bell 2 run (run failed)

C – Austin Green 10 run (Locke kick)