This is the lastest article in the local paper on Cy. This was a nail biting game. This is one of the games that Cy wanted to win so badly. We are so proud of him!
“All week in practice we talked about overcoming adversity,” said Smith, who accounted for 276 of Conner’s 278 yards total offense and all four touchdowns, three rushing and one passing. “Coach Trosper before every fourth down said, ‘Tell your players in the huddle what we talked about: overcoming adversity.' ”
Smith, who completed 21 of 28 passes for 221 yards and rushed 29 times for 54 yards, accounted for all 65 yards on the game-winning drive. He passed five yards to senior Taylor Miller on 4th-and-4 from the Cougars 46 early in the drive, although Miller, who caught eight passes for 84 yards, fought for the last couple of yards on his own.
Later on 4th-and-1 from the Boone County 31, Smith scrambled three yards for a first down on a designed pass play. On 4th-and-7 from the Boone 25, Smith scrambled to keep the play alive before firing a 10-yard pass to junior Jacob Mullderink, who had six receptions for 87 yards.
Two plays later Smith took it into the end zone on an option keeper for the game-winner.
“You play behind Nick West for two years and you see some things he does,” Trosper said of Smith. “He can create and we talk about creating and moving your feet. He’s a playmaker and that’s what you want out of your quarterback. I tell him every week this is your football team and I feel very comfortable with him improvising and having to make a play.”
Boone County (2-4, 0-2) turned the ball over on downs but got it back one more time on its own 10 with just 43 seconds left. Conner senior linebacker Logan Kremer intercepted backup quarterback Kameron Schwartz to seal it.
Conner raced to a 20-0 a little over two minutes into the second quarter, and it could have been worse as the Cougars took advantage of a 77-yard kickoff return to start the game and three Boone County turnovers to begin each of its first five drives inside the Boone County 40 (starting at the 4, 18, 39, 26 and 37).
The Cougars then took their sixth drive from their own 45 to the Boone County 4 before turning it over on downs when officials erroneously ruled a third-down play that was stopped inches short of a first down had been a fourth-down play.
“I really had no clue that happened,” said Trosper. “I was discombobulated because the chains snapped as they came to measure for the first down, so I was upset about that and didn’t notice what down it should have been. I know the momentum shifted after that.”
Boone County, which had been outscored 117-28 in losing its previous three straight game since a 2-0 start to the season, proceeded to drive 96 yards after the officials’ snafu to close within 20-7 on junior Drew Stuck’s two-yard TD run with 26.9 seconds left in the half.
The Rebels tallied on the first drive of the second half when junior quarterback Bryson Thompson raced 36 yards on a broken play and took the lead on their first possession of the fourth quarter when senior Jordan Oppenheimer, who carried 25 times for 164 yards in the game, bulled in from four yards out with 7:54 remaining.
That set the stage for Conner’s game-winning drive.
“Sudden change and adversity when you preach it enough your kids start understanding it and start feeling it,” said Trosper. “We talked before the game if we overcome adversity and make it habitual we’re going to win, and this is a great win for us.”
The Conner Cougars rallied after blowing a 20-point, first-half lead to beat Boone County on the road, 27-21.
Conner (4-3) got the go-ahead score on an 11-yard touchdown by Cy Smith, his third rushing score of the night, with 2:04 left in the game. Smith had a big night, finishing with 228 yards and a touchdown on 21-of-28 passing and tallying another 54 yards on the ground.
