When junior quarterback Kiernan Tiemeyer threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Reynolds with under four minutes remaining in Friday night’s Jackson Bowl, he took special note of how open Reynolds was.
Tiemeyer said he put that information in his memory bank so when another opportunity materialized in the closing seconds, he knew what he wanted to do.
Tiemeyer and Reynolds teamed up on a 53-yard pass play with two seconds left and Cooper Wolka added the extra point to give the Braves a 43-42 win over Seymour.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
“I rolled out to the right,” Tiemeyer said, describing the final touchdown throw. “On the play before, when I threw, their defensive backs came up, and the same thing happened over there That’s just from playing a lot of Madden video games, just what can come up like that.”
A junior now, Tiemeyer originally lined up at quarterback in middle school through freshman year but was hampered by a broken collarbone. Then last fall, he switched to running back, so this is the first year he has played quarterback in three or four years.
Tiemeyer was glad he had enough arm strength to throw the ball as long and accurately as he did.
The Braves have scored 98 points in their last two wins.
“Our offense is a lot better than it was at the beginning of the season,” Tiemeyer said.
Blevins Memorial Stadium was surrounded by fans. Not only were the spectators on Elm Street yelling, but fans were packed along both ends of the field outside the fence letting those inside know of their presence.
Tiemeyer said the atmosphere couldn’t have been better.
“This is a big-time rivalry,” he said.
Reynolds, also a junior, who caught four passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, said he watched Tiemeyer while running his route.
“I saw Kiernan rolling out and I went (toward the end zone) and he just threw it,” Reynolds said.
The wild ending culminated swift touchdown exchanges as the clock wound down with the lead constantly changing.
“We never gave up,” Reynolds said. “It was a pretty big game, pretty exciting. The emotions were pretty high. Our offense is really playing well. Our offensive line is doing great.”
Seymour (3-3) led 21-7 in the first half and tried to hang on, but Brownstown, 4-1 on the season and 8-6 in the Jackson Bowl rivalry, used every bit of the clock.
“It was definitely a roller coaster,” Braves coach Reed May said. “The first half, they took it to us pretty good. I thought in the third quarter, we took it to them pretty good. In the fourth quarter, they jumped back on us. Then we got ahead, and unfortunately on the kickoff return, we didn’t play real well. Give them credit. It was a great game.”
May analyzed the success of the key pass.
“I think what happened, we had a certain play, and I think when Kiernan took off running, they came up and Brandon was able to get over the top of them,” he said.
Brownstown repelled a serious challenge.
“We’re starting to figure out stuff,” May said. “Our linemen are blocking a lot better. I’m very proud of our offense, and we changed our defense, trying to screw things up for them, and they did a good job of adjusting. I don’t think we played as well as we hoped to, but again, we got a win. It was a big-play game. I didn’t think it would be 43-42, but it was a great game.”
Each team scored six touchdowns, and five of them went for 30 yards or longer.
“Our run blocking was pretty good, and the pass protection was pretty good,” Tiemeyer said of the biggest play to Reynolds. “I had plenty of time to get it off. On that last play, I kind of got chased, they were blitzing. It was just a hectic play. I just threw it up.”