Independence moves past Williamsburg with fourth-quarter rally capped by touchdown pass in final minute

INDEPENDENCE — Same play, different half. Different result, too.

A winning result.

Bryce Christian hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass from E.J. Miller with 21 seconds left to cap a huge fourth-quarter comeback that gave Independence a 21-14 win over Williamsburg in a Class 3A state football playoff first-round game Friday night at Lyle Leinbaugh Field.

Eighth-ranked Indee (8-2) was down 14-0 going to the fourth quarter but scored three TDs to ensure there will be a new 3A state champion. Seventh-ranked Williamsburg (7-3) was ranked No. 1 by The Gazette just two weeks ago but lost its regular-season finale last week to Benton Community and then this one.

“This is awesome, but we’re not done, yet,” Miller said. “We’re not finished, we want to keep going obviously ... Celebrate this and then on to next week.”

Independence gets another crack at second-ranked Dubuque Wahlert in next week’s quarterfinals. The Golden Eagles beat the Mustangs in the regular season, 17-10.

“This is huge,” said Indee Coach Justin Putz. “Our pod is pretty tough, Wahlert got us earlier in the year, and we felt like we wanted another shot at them. But to knock off the defending state champs, who I think were No. 1 most of the year, in that fashion means a lot to our guys.”

Independence took over the ball at its 37 with 1:30 left and one timeout remaining. Running back A.J. Kitner popped off a 30-yard run over the middle on the first play to move it to the Williamsburg 33.

A couple more runs brought it to the 29 on third-and-6. The Mustangs called timeout and went back to a play they ran in the first half that went incomplete.

Christian was the inside of three receivers to the left of the formation and took off outside on a deep corner route. He got past a Williamsburg defensive back, and Miller hit him in stride.

“Before that play, we were huddling, and I told Coach we should go back to it,” said Christian, of his only catch of the game. “I knew it was going to be open, I just had to make the play. I knew my quarterback was going to put the ball on the money. And it worked.”

“I just overthrew it in the first half,” Miller said. “Coach saw it on the iPads, so we wanted to come back to it. We came back to it and executed it.”

Indee continually gashed the Williamsburg defense in the final 16 minutes of this game with runs over the middle. Kitner finished with 106 yards and Miller 103, as the Mustangs were able to seize control at the line of scrimmage and not let go.

Independence finished with 201 yards rushing, 169 in the second half.

“It was just sustaining blocks,” Putz said. “We thought we had the looks that we wanted the first half. We just didn’t quite sustain the blocks. We didn’t have a ton of plays, thought we left some pass plays out there in the first half, too. But really just great effort from our guys.”

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Williamsburg had an 18-play, 66-yard drive that took six minutes and 54 seconds at the start of this game, with quarterback Grant Hocker hitting tight end Cael Moore for a 3-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. The Raiders went 74 yards on their next offensive possession, a 15-yard TD pass from Hocker to Grady Wetjen making it a 14-0 game toward the end of the first quarter.

But Indee’s defense held true the rest of the game, intercepting Hocker three times: two by Cael Troutman, the other by Christopher Meyer. That latter pick was huge, as Williamsburg had responded to Independence’s first touchdown (a Brady Kurt 1-yard run) by marching to the Mustangs 11.

Meyer stepped in front of a slant pass intended for Williamsburg star receiver Rayce Heitman.

“Our coaches did a great job of preparing us for that play in specific,” Meyer said.“ They were going to go to their guy, we knew they were going to go to him in the red zone. I just kind of saw my opportunity, broke on the ball, had no regrets.”

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Photos: Williamsburg at Independence in high school football playoffs

Indee then drove 81 yards in eight plays to tie the game: Miller and Zeke Symonds hooking up for a 28-yard touchdown pass play. The extra point tying it at 14 with 3:17 left.

Williamsburg self destructed on the ensuing possession, three penalties forcing a punt. The Raiders were penalized 12 times in the game, including multiple false starts, a very key statistic.

“I just think this is what we’ve seen the last couple of weeks,” Williamsburg Coach Curt Ritchie said. “We got that 14-0 lead, but we weren’t sharp all night on offense. Just unforced mistakes, penalties, couldn’t get set. You could just see it coming, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.”

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Independence 21, Williamsburg 14

(At Independence)

Williamsburg 14 0 0 0-14

Independence 0 0 0 21-21

Team Statistics

First Downs - Williamsburg 13, Independence 15. Rushes-Yards - Williamsburg 41-151, Independence 37-201. Passing - Williamsburg 11-23-3-120, Independence 9-22-1-104. Punts-Average - Williamsburg 2-28.5, Independence 5-32.4. Penalties-Yards - Independence 2-10, Williamsburg 12-57. Fumbles-Lost - Williamsburg 0-0, Independence 1-0.

Individual Statistics

Williamsburg - Rushing: Nile Sinn 24-89, Grant Hocker 8-30, Grady Wetjen 7-22, Rayce Heitman 2-10. Passing: Grant Hocker 11-23-3-120. Receiving: Rayce Heitman 2-41, Grady Wetjen 2-32, Nile Sinn 3-25, Cael Moore 3-19, Connor Westcott 1-3.

Independence - Rushing: A.J. Kitner 15-106, E.J. Miller 17-103, Brady Kurt 3-5, Cameron Roth 1-3, Team 1-(minus) 16. Passing: E.J. Miller 9-22-1-104. Receiving: Bryce Christian 1-29, Brady Kurt 4-28, Zeke Symonds 1-28, Christopher Meyer 2-12, Cael Troutman 1-7.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com