With one play, Rockwell Millburn flipped the annual gridiron grudge match between South Summit and North Summit on its head.
The Braves had the ball on the Wildcat 10-yard line after a 15-play, 70-yard drive that chewed up most of the third quarter. On first-and-goal, quarterback Crimzon Crittenden stepped back and fired a pass over the middle, hoping for a touchdown that would break a 6-6 tie.
But the ball never reached its intended target.
Instead, Millburn, a South Summit junior, dove and intercepted the ball in the end zone for a touchback.
On the ensuing possession, the Wildcats drove the length of the field and scored the eventual game-winning touchdown to put them up 13-6 early in the fourth quarter.
South Summit never looked back and emerged from the rivalry game with a 19-6 win to extend the school’s winning streak over North Summit to eight games. The interception was one of four turnovers on the night for North Summit, and it was ultimately too much to overcome in the second half.
“This huge rivalry, anything can happen, they have a great team,” South Summit coach Mike Grajek said. “You couldn’t have written a script better for these kids fighting like that.”
South Summit received the ball first, and after recovering an onside kick on the opening kickoff, started to drive down the field. The Wildcats capped off a 15-play, 55-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyler Sudweeks to senior Enrique Perez to take a 6-0 lead, followed by a missed extra point.
After North Summit fumbled on its third offensive play of the game, the two teams traded punts until midway through the second quarter. The Braves, running the triple option, bulldozed their way deep into Wildcats territory, four-, five-yard chunks at a time, along with a couple of South Summit penalties. Crittenden finally put North Summit on the board with a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line to tie the game with 30 seconds to go in the half before a failed two-point conversion.
South Summit switched from a four-man defensive front to a five-man front at halftime to try to stop the Braves’ triple-option attack, but it didn’t work at first. North Summit continued to pick up just enough yards to keep the chains moving until Crittenden’s costly interception.
South Summit’s rushing duo of junior Caleby Thompson and burly senior Treyton Sargent helped the Wildcats march down the field before Sudweeks punched it in from five yards out.
“They shifted a ton of guys to the right, so I checked it right,” Sudweeks said. “Took one step right and just strolled in left, and that was it.”
South Summit put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Sargent reeled off a 17-yard run after spinning past one defender and breaking a couple more tackles to set up a touchdown from the 1-yard line.
“I saw a lot of great blocking, shoutout to the O-line, they did a really good job of blocking for me today,” said Sargent, whose big night also included stiff-arming his brother who plays for North Summit. “One of the biggest games of the season, but we’ll be even stronger next week.”
After a tough first half, Grajek’s adjustments on defense worked, and the Wildcats shut out North Summit in the second half with the help of some key turnovers. A sack on the Braves’ final drive sealed a sweet victory for the Wildcats.
“We made some adjustments at halftime that went our way, and so then they had to start pitching and putting the ball on the ground,” Grajek said. “Our defense just played awesome.
“(North Summit) could be a state championship team in (Class) 1A — they’re that good — if they stay healthy.”