Northeastern (7-2 overall, 4-2 Atlantic-10) and Richmond (3-5 overall, 3-3 A10) combined for 45 points and over 600 yards in their contest Saturday, but it meant nothing.
The only thing that did matter was Miro Kesic’s 57-yard field goal with less than a minute remaining. The record-setting kick would be the deciding factor in a 24-21 Husky victory on Saturday in Richmond, Va.
At 57 yards, it was the longest field goal in A10 history. It was the longest NU coach Don Brown has ever seen, and one NU football players will surely never forget. And with just four seconds remaining in the contest, Miro Kesic’s mammoth boot was exactly what No. 20 Northeastern needed to dispense their conference foe.
“As soon as I hit it I knew it was good,” said Kesic in an interview with GoNU.com. “I knew I had the distance to kick from 57. I just wanted to relax, keep my head down and swing through the ball.”
Coach Brown was faced with a tough decision with the fourth down play at the Richmond 40-yard line. Kesic had already missed a 39-yard field goal in the game, as well as having a 46-yard second quarter blast blocked.
“We had warmed up in that end zone [where Kesic kicked the game-winning field goal] and there was a bit of a wind. In pre-game Miro hit three kicks from 55 yards. Obviously, three 55 yard field goals in warm-ups is a lot different than a 57 yarder to win the game, but I knew that he could have a chance at doing it.
“We had to decide whether or not we were going to go for that first down and take a time out, or if we should just kick it. I knew we had a chance at the thing and I really felt we had to take it. It was the only way we were assured an opportunity to win the game,” said Brown.
Brown watched intently as the ball cleared the posts. “When I saw it clear the line [of scrimmage] I knew it had a real chance. His kick from 46 was blocked because on long kicks like that you have to drive it lower to the ground. So when I saw it pass that I knew he might have done it, but going into it I didn’t have any expectations.”
NU jumped out to a quick 14-0 first quarter lead when Shawn Brady connected with true freshman Eric Thomas on touchdown strikes of eight and 40 yards.
“It was a somewhat heroic performance by Shawn,” Brown said. “He’s still not at 100 percent with that shoulder, but he lead us again today. He’s the leader of this football team.”
In the third quarter Richmond found an answer to the NU attack with the first of quarterback Stacy Tutt’s three one-yard scoring plunges on the day.
“We’re two very even teams, with similar styles of play. I think it played out that way too. When you’re on the road in the A-10 you’ve got to have a difference-maker and sometimes you need a hero, Miro Kesic stepped into that role on Saturday,” he said.
With just 50 seconds left in the third quarter the Dogs extended their lead back to 14 on a Tim Gale two-yard TD charge. Gale had the best performance of this season, rolling up 159 yards on the ground, as well as catching the ball three times for 14 yards. It was the third NU runner of the year to post a 100-yard day.
“When I came here a few years ago we ran out of running backs due to injury. At that point I said we’d never have that happen again. So this year we’ve got a bit of a ‘running back by committee’ approach.
“I think all of our runners bring something to the table. Tim Gale had knee surgery last year and was a bit of a question mark entering the season but in practice this week he seemed to show no effects of it. He’s found his stride. We wanted to see if we could use Tim Gale and pound the defense on Saturday, and we did exactly that,” Brown said.
Heading into the fourth quarter with a two-touchdown lead and one of the top conference defenses, most in attendance probably didn’t expect to see NU give up 14 straight points, but they did.
The first of two fourth quarter touchdowns was the result of a drive marred by NU penalties. A roughing the passer call put Richmond at midfield, while a personal foul penalty two plays later gave Richmond the ball on the 7-yard-line. Tutt finished off the drive with his second one-yard scamper of the afternoon.
The second Spider touchdown drive of the quarter was fueled by witty running on the part of QB Stacy Tutt.
“Give them credit, they made big plays too. Their quarterback eluded three guys on one run,” Brown said of the fourth quarter drive. “[Jake] Schools made a heroic catch over Charles Cameron too.”
Tutt’s third one-yard dive of the game tied it up with just over a minute to go, but NU was not yet finished.
“This week we tried to always stay positive. We’ve been grinding the guys hard this year, and I think it might have been too hard,” Brown said. “This time we just said we’re going to make it a 60-minute game, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Make that 59 minutes and 56 seconds to be exact.
