CANTON, MI - Things did not look good for the Livonia Stevenson Spartans.
Down by 14 early in the fourth quarter, they had been unable to stop the option offense of the Canton Chiefs, but Austin White emplored his teammates not to quit, not to give up and then, he did something to shift the momentum permanently in the favor of the Spartans.
"I knew that we weren't out of it," said White. "I know this team has a lot of heart. We worked real hard and I knew we could fight our way out of it."
But with the Chiefs moving the ball seemingly at will, it looked like just the opposite would occur. However, Stevenson forced a Canton fumble and recovered the ball near midfield.
That's when White took over. He took the handoff and rambled 45-yards unofficially to paydirt and Stevenson was back in the ball game.
The Chiefs turned it over a second time and Stevenson scooped and scored to come within one. After briefly considering a two-point conversion, Coach Tim Gabel instead settled for the extra point and the tie score.
A revved up Spartans defense took the field and sent Canton off the field with a three and out. On the next possession, Stevenson quarterback Jacob Gudeman hit White on a wheel route, setting up White's five yard plunge to give Stevenson the 38-31 advantage.
Canton was unable to mount a charge on their last possession and the Spartans simply ran out the clock.
Click HERE for White's postgame interview.Ed note: Stats were provided for GSN by a student manager and were not official at the time of this article