It has been a work in progress for Holt football. Following a coaching change and a 0-10 record in 2015, the Holt squad began the 2016 season 0-3 with losses to excellent Ritenour, Battle and Timberland teams, all of which could be state contenders by season’s end. The Indians dropped a nail-biter to Washington, 28-20, on September 12th to move their record to 0-4. Then the Liberty Eagles came calling…

Rain (and a lot of it) fell on the Show-Me State that Friday night, and the two teams knew they had to contend with Mother Nature as well as with each other. Holt Assistant Coach Andrew Hammond notes that the Indians had to slightly alter their game plan to counter the elements. “We had to run the ball more than we wanted to,” Hammond said, “but it ultimately turned out to be a good thing.”

Yes it did, Coach. Yes it did.

In the driving rain, the Eagles jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with a six-yard touchdown run by quarterback Branton McCain 3:38 into the first quarter. The Indians answered with a three-yard run from Cole Mueller with 4:15 left in the first to tie the score at 6. At the time, this was Mueller’s fourth touchdown run in the last five quarters dating back to the Washington game.

The score remained knotted at 6 for nearly a full quarter before McCain gave Liberty a 12-6 lead on a four-yard scamper with 6:45 remaining in the first half. The Eagles quarterback followed that up with another six-yard touchdown run with 2:30 left to give Liberty a commanding 19-6 lead and, perhaps even more importantly, momentum heading into the half. The Eagles were rolling, and the Indians were having a difficult time stopping the Eagles run game headed by McCain. To say the least, the Indians looked lost, unable to contain the Eagles potent rushing attack.

The Indians must have found something in the second half because they sure turned it on.

Shane Marion brought Holt to within 6 on a five-yard run with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. The teams traded defensive stops for the next six-plus minutes, neither offense able to muster much of anything. Then, with the clock winding down to five minutes to play, the Indians desperately searching for a big play, Mueller broke a huge 37-yard run to even things up at 19. Liberty was unable to answer, and the two Wentzville schools, about as close geographically as they were on the football field that night, went to overtime tied at 19.

Liberty opened up the extra period with a 26-yard field goal from Tyler Murphy, a rare occurrence on such a rainy night as this, to pull the Eagles ahead, 22-19. The Indians received the ball following the kick with one shot, one more possession to win the game and break the streak. This was it.

Marion did not get very many touches (he gained just 12 yards on 3 carries), but he stepped up in crunch time. He punched it in from four yards out to give Holt their first win since October 17, 2014, in thrilling fashion, 25-22.

In total, Cole Mueller rushed for 251 yards on 32 carries, averaging 7.84 yards per carry. Mueller’s line for the last two games looks as follows: 63 carries, 544 yards, 5 touchdowns, 8.63 yards per carry. Not bad, Cole, not bad.

This win is a huge boost of confidence for the Indians as they head into their next match-up at the 4-1 Fort Zumwalt North Panthers, but Coach Hammond knows that they cannot get ahead of themselves. “We have to stick to our game plan,” Hammond said. “We have to put in a good week of practice and preparation, and we need to focus on what we can do to be successful.”

The Indians square off against the Panthers this Friday, September 23rd, at 7 pm.