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The craziest play of the weekend decided an NAIA conference title (Video)

Sam Cooper
·College football writer
Screen Shot 2016-11-14 at 5.00.25 PM
Screen Shot 2016-11-14 at 5.00.25 PM

The best play of the weekend, and maybe even the entire season, came from the NAIA level on Saturday.

First, let’s set the scene. Morningside College (Sioux City, Iowa) was 8-1 overall and had a perfect 7-0 record in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The Mustangs already claimed at least a share of the league title heading into Saturday’s home game against Northwestern College (Orange City, Iowa), which was 4-5 overall and 4-3 in conference play. With a win, Morningside would clinch its sixth straight GPAC title.

Per the Sioux City Journal, Morningside led the nation with 608 yards per game offensively, but struggled mightily on Saturday. The Mustangs defense picked up the slack with a 73-yard pick six in the second quarter before the offense finally struck on one of the wildest plays you’ll ever see.

We’ll show you the video first, and then describe what the heck you’re seeing:

With his team leading 7-0, Morningside’s Tyler Kavan took a handoff and scampered 23 yards deep into Northwestern territory, but had the ball ripped from his hands by Northwestern’s Donavan Weldon. Weldon then took off in the other direction, running nearly 30 yards before inexplicably trying to pitch the ball back to a teammate.

That’s where Kavan re-enters the play. He stepped in front of the lateral near the 45-yard line and ran more than 55 yards back in the opposite direction for a wacky touchdown.

That play gave the Mustangs a 14-0 lead, but the Red Raiders battled back with two touchdowns. The second touchdown came with 1:43 left in the ballgame and cut the Morningside lead to 14-13. Instead of trying to tie the game with an extra point, Northwestern went for a two-point conversion. The two-point try failed and Morningside was able to run the clock out to seal the conference title with a 14-13 win.

And for Kavan’s effort, he earned No. 1 on SportsCenter’s Top 10. Pretty cool.

(H/T SB Nation)

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!