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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.

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.

American football stadium goalpost and confetti - stock photo
A Minnesota high school football team won their state title on a jaw-dropping last-second Hail Mary that almost went wrong before turning into a touchdown. (Getty)