Sam Eggleston
Republished with permission of the Novi News
October 13, 2005
It's a single play everyone in Hartland will be talking about for years to come, but it was so much more than that, too.
The Novi Wildcats, heavy favorites heading into Eagle country last Friday, found themselves on the wrong end of a 15-14 Kensington Valley Conference decision.
Hartland came ready to play, stopping Novi through the final three quarters and winning the game on a two-point conversion that found runningback Brian Hanner squirting out of the backfield and snagging a pass from quarterback Ryan Wilkins with 7:36 left in the third quarter.
Despite "the play" being the deciding factor in the game, Novi fans
and players were well aware as they left the field last week that it
was much more than that. It was the little things. Ball control, field
goals and tackles. Broken coverage, bad decisions and overconfidence.
It all equaled a shocking loss for the Wildcats, who were expected to
clinch a playoff berth.
The game started much like it was expected to. David Carnegie broke
out for a long sprint around the end for a 68-yard touchdown before
adding a second from two yards away to end the first quarter with Novi
up, 14-0.
The Wildcats were well on their way to winning until the packed
home stands started cheering, screaming and pumping up their Eagles. It
was homecoming for Hartland and they played like it was the state
championship.
Though the Eagles held the one-point lead throughout the scoreless
fourth quarter, it wasn't until less that three minutes remained on the
clock that the game was actually decided. The Wildcats, who had fumbled
earlier in the night to lead to Hartland's first score and missed a
field goal to end the first half, began marching on their way to a
potential game-winning situation. Junior quarterback Adam Chandler -
the hero from the South Lyon game the week before - fumbled the
football, which Hartland jumped on and ran out the clock with.
The victory marked the Eagles' first win over Novi since 1999. It
was a game Hartland, which climbed to 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the KVC,
will remember for a while and one Novi can't forget soon enough.
Novi (5-2 overall, 4-2 KVC) will play host to Milford tomorrow night at 7 p.m. for their homecoming game.