Carroll-Northwest comes down to game-winning field goal
Carson Arndt had never kicked a field goal before.
Wichita Northwest’s sophomore kicker was forced to make his first with two seconds left Friday night at Bishop Carroll. If he hit it, they won. If not, the Grizzlies would have slim chances to win the City League. He made it to give Northwest a 23-22 win.
Before the kick, Northwest coach Steve Martin found Arndt and told him he wouldn’t send him out there if he didn’t trust him.
Arndt ask Martin how long the kick was. Martin said 20 yards.
“That’s easy,” Arndt said.
The kick was set up with a dime pass from junior quarterback Reagan Jones to senior receiver Kale Patterson. The play went for about 20 yards on third down and got the Grizzlies inside the Carroll 20-yard line.
Much like it was Arndt’s first kick, it was Jones’ first game at quarterback with Northwest after transferring from Andover Central. Standout running back Breece Hall said his quarterback, nicknamed “The President,” was stellar on Friday.
“He knew how big this game was, but he didn’t actually realize it until he got out here to experience it,” Hall said. “So he was kind of shocked at first, but I just talked to him and said, ‘Slow down. You’re fine. I trust you to lead this team.’ And he did.”
The atmosphere was fantastic and felt more like a Class 5A semifinal than a season opener. Carroll’s Dalton Nichols made sure of that with a blistering touchdown on the opening kickoff. He slipped through a hole and went untouched.
It was Carroll’s first kick return touchdown since 2014 with now-Kansas State safety Denzel Goolsby.
Special teams started the game, dictated it throughout and ended it, too. Northwest wouldn’t have had a chance at a game-winning field goal if not for a pair of blocked extra point attempts, including one after Nichols’ touchdown.
Martin said he was frustrated with a lot of aspects in his team’s play but he was certainly happy with his field-goal units.
“I said beforehand ‘I think special teams is going to decide the game,’” Martin said. “And I think it did.”
With the win, Northwest become the pole-sitter in the City League. The Grizzlies and Golden Eagles are figured to be at the top of the league standings again come week 8, but Carroll coach Dusty Trail said there is much more football to be played.
“This is game 1,” Trail said. “We’ve been through this before. We’ve lost games before. It’s a learning process to get to where we need to be.”
For Carroll, it is the first City League loss since the 2016 season-opener against the same opponent on the same field in the same uniforms.
For Northwest, it is a milestone but not the end of the road, Hall said.
“I feel great, but I don’t want our team to be satisfied because we’re going for something bigger than this game,” he said. “And we know that we’ll have to see Carroll again in the playoffs, so this is just a little sneak peak.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 10:43 PM.