Beavers come back, defeat Durant in final moments

Wilton win stops 2-game Durant win streak in series

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Wilton defeats Durant 24-22

It was a game that had everything — great defense, big plays, turnovers, momentum swings, and a come-from-behind victory. Yet in the end, before the dust could settle and fans of the Wilton and Durant football teams could begin analyzing an instant classic on the field, the mood quickly changed as a player collapsed moments after the game.

Wilton tight end Caden Kirkman had exited the football field and climbed the hill toward the Durant High School parking lot to see and talk with his father. Moments into their interaction, Kirkman collapsed. He was down in a heavily trafficked area as folks were leaving the game.

The collective hearts of all in attendance stopped while medical personnel attended to Kirkman, who was eventually loaded into a Durant ambulance and taken to the hospital.

It was later revealed that Kirkman had suffered a concussion on one of the game’s final plays. His mother, Kelly Kirkman, confirmed the concussion the next day, and said, “I have been overwhelmed with the support and thoughts from both Wilton and Durant people. Long night in the ER. CT scan was fine, just a major concussion. Lots of rest and recovery. I had tunnel vision at the end there when it happened. But I do remember glancing around and thinking about all the support and wonderful people around us. That was awesome … Caden was glad to hear that we won the game. He didn’t remember playing after he hit his head.”

Despite the records coming in — 3-0 for Wilton and 0-3 for Durant — it was the host Wildcats who controlled much of the annual Backyard Challenge game.

Despite being down 14 points late in the third quarter, the Beavers came back to defeat the Wildcats 24-22 in the game’s final minutes to move to 4-0. It was the third time at home this season that Durant had a third quarter lead, and the Cats failed to win any of the games, falling to 0-4.

Wilton head coach Ryan Hetzler told his team all week to beware of the big play from Durant running back Nolan DeLong. It happened in the first quarter. After a fourth down attempt from Wilton failed, DeLong took the opening handoff 77 yards for a touchdown to give Durant a 6-0 lead.

The teams combined for eight turnovers on the night — four each — and they started in the second quarter with an interception of Wilton quarterback Aidan Walker by Durant’s Brady Meincke. Walker was 10-26 for 97 yards and four interceptions, and Meincke had two of them.

However, Durant had trouble holding onto the ball, fumbling four times and losing three of them.

Meincke got his interceptions on back-to-back Wilton second quarter drives. Clayton Guyer answered with an interception of Durant quarterback Charlie Huesmann, who was 4-10 for just 13 yards and an interception on the night.

Neither team could capitalize on four turnovers in the second quarter. Durant led 6-0 at halftime.

The Wildcats got another pick in the third from Drake Shelangoski, that they turned into a scoring drive, capped off by a 33-yard touchdown run from DeLong to give the Cats a 14-0 advantage with two minutes left in the third quarter.

DeLong ran for 212 yards and two scores on 34 carries.

“He’s one of the toughest backs I’ve seen. Every time he gets the ball there is a different gear. You have to respect him,” said Hetzler of DeLong. “I told our defense he’s going to break one. He’s got a motor that doesn’t stop. Our defense played phenomenal tonight, except for two plays.”

On the next play from scrimmage, Wilton awoke with a 62-yard touchdown run from Jackson Hull up the middle, cutting the lead to 14-8.

On the next play, Carter Wichelt took the Wilton kickoff 71 yards for a score to swing the momentum back Durant’s way with a 22-8 lead. In a game with just one score, there were three touchdowns scored in 28 seconds.

After the fourth interception of the night by the Wildcats, this time by Ethan Gast, Durant began driving. Hull then made the defensive play of the night for Wilton, stripping the ball from DeLong and running with it all the way to the Wildcat 5-yard line. He scored on the next play and cut the Durant lead to 22-16 with 6:41 to play in the game.

“The guy put the helmet right on the ball, it just popped out,” said Durant head coach Joel Diederichs of the fumble.

“Our defensive coaches wanted four turnovers and we got four. That fumble was huge. (DeLong) has fumbled once every game and that’s what we needed. That was a huge momentum swing for us,” said Hull.

“It’s the Wilton-Durant game, there is no other explanation. Some of these things don’t happen very often, it was a crazy game,” said Hetzler. “My proud moment is that they didn’t give up. They could have given up after that kick return, but our guys did a nice job responding.”

With less than three minutes to play, Durant was driving, but had a first down called back on holding. They punted with 2:32 left to play. On Wilton’s first play from scrimmage, Walker tried a long pass play to Kirkman, who dove for the ball. The Durant defender was called for pass interference and it was on that play that Kirkman hit his head on the field.

“One more first down; I’m disappointed the ref took it into his hands to call that huge holding penalty. We had a first down. You can call holding on every play, why now on such a huge play?” said Diederichs. “When you’re fighting to get that first win, something has to go your way.”

The Beavers were handing the ball to Hull during their two-minute offense, and he scored from 21 yards out on a rushing touchdown that tied the game with 1:03 remaining. He converted on the two-point conversion run to give Wilton a 24-22 lead that would end up being the game’s final score.

Hull ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. Wilton outgained Durant 272-203 on the night. Alex Kaufmann led Wilton with 13 tackles, while Guyer had 10 and Karson Willey had nine. Elliot Fortin and DeLong each had seven tackles for the Wildcats.

Afterward, Wilton coach Hetzler told his team it was one of the best games he had been a part of, and admired how the Beavers didn’t give up, being down 14 twice on a night where most things weren’t going their way.

“This game to me was a playoff game. You don’t know how the district is going to go, but it’s huge to get this win, it puts us in a great spot,” said Hetzler.

“We went out and we competed. We played good football. I’m tired of giving the same speech. In the last two years, all the games we’ve lost at home have been in the fourth quarter, we’re never out of a game,” said Diederichs.

“We came out soft and they banged us up. They played hard. But we didn’t give up, our effort was there,” said Hull. “It’s great to come out here and beat Durant after two years — two long years.”

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