Jaw-dropping Hail Mary-turned-lateral wins championship for Minnesota high school team
The last seconds of a Minnesota high school football championship game on Saturday featured a play so jaw-dropping that it might go down in the history of U.S. Bank Stadium.
New London-Spicer High School played Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School at the Minnesota Vikings' home stadium for the Class 3A state title on Saturday, and New London-Spicer pulled off a Hail Mary that almost went wrong before turning into the winning touchdown.
Down 26-21 with four seconds left, New London-Spicer quarterback Blake Schultz reared back and launched a giant pass from his own 44-yard line, which flew all the way down the field and somehow into the arms of receiver Grant Paffrath at the 20-yard line. Paffrath was surrounded by DGF defenders and was quickly taken down in what could have been the game-ending tackle, but what happened next won the title for New London-Spicer.
Minneapolis Miracle: Part 2.
Incredible finish at the Prep Bowl on @kstc45 as @NLS_Wildcat_AD scores the game-winning touchdown as the clock hits zero in the Class 3A championship game.#SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/KalKhQ8a22— James Monical (@jwmonicalKSTP) December 3, 2022
Paffrath lateraled the ball to senior Brycen Christensen before he hit the ground, and Christensen ran it in the final few yards for a championship-winning touchdown, just the second in NLS history.
Paffrath and Christensen told Michael Lyne of the West Central Tribune that their exchange was not planned or designed; they were just reacting to what was happening in the moment.
“I knew that I could throw him the ball, so I threw him it. Then I got tackled,” Paffrath said. “I didn’t even see the end of the play. I just heard everyone yelling.”
Christensen added, “It was a perfect throw from Blake to Grant. I saw [Grant] was getting tackled, so I was yelling his name and he found me.”
That heads-up final play received one of the highest honors a viral sports clip can get: it was No. 1 on the "SportsCenter" Top 10.
They made it.@NLS_Wildcat_AD at # 1 on #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/gM3OJbFfrH
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) December 4, 2022