Escobedo Kicks East Central to Overtime Win

The Cardinals' senior nailed a long field goal to send his team into overtime against Bartlesville. East Central battled back for the win.

Thursday, July 28th 2011, 5:46 pm

By: News On 6

Escobedo Kicks East Central to Overtime Win

Originally Published: Sep 11, 2010 2:14 AM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

BARTLESVILLE, Oklahoma – The East Central Cardinals have a flair for the dramatic. After building up a second half lead, Travis Hill’s team saw Bartlesville pull ahead and nearly ice the game. But East Central caught a few lucky breaks and made enough plays in the game’s final minutes to pull off a thrilling 24-23 overtime road win.

“It means everything,” said wide receiver Cody Colbert, who made an amazing one-handed catch to keep East Central’s final drive alive. “It was hard for us.”

Antonio Escobedo, the converted soccer player, sent the game into overtime with a 41-yard field goal inside of twenty seconds to play. The Cardinals won the game in overtime after the Bruins’ place kicker missed the extra point try that would have knotted the game at 24 in the extra frame.

The win came against one of 6A’s top teams.

“We weren’t out here to make a statement. If we did, we did,” said Hill. “We weren’t after anything else besides coming down here and being better than we were before we got here.”

East Central converted multiple fourth down attempts on its final drive, which covered 98 yards in less than two minutes. They were helped out by a few penalties, including a costly pass interference call.

Colbert and Willie Wise both made clutch catches on the team’s final drive. Travis Hill called the game a nice win for his squad, but was more focused on growing closer as a team at this point in the season.

Bartlesville dropped to 1-1 with the loss. They will visit Skiatook in Week 3. The Cardinals improved to 2-0 and will host the Booker T. Washington Hornets on Thursday night.