Dad gets assist on Reddies' game-winning FG

ARKADELPHIA -- Henderson State's Temo Martinez -- with an emotional assist from his father -- kicked a 40-yard game-winning field goal with five seconds left Saturday afternoon at Carpenter-Haygood Stadium.

Martinez's kick, after a Southeastern Oklahoma State timeout to ice him, gave the Reddies a weird and wild 20-17 victory over the Savage Storm in a Great American Conference game that included 8 turnovers (4 by each team), 17 punts, and 476 yards of offense.

The game-winning field goal created a dramatic finish, but it wasn't the prettiest of kicks, barely clearing the 10-foot high crossbar.

Martinez said he was not sure he could have kicked the field goal at all if not for a familiar sound he heard -- his father, Manuel Martinez, somewhere in the crowd of 5,025, whistling to get his attention -- while waiting for the play to start after the Savage Storm timeout.

"I was just really nervous," said Martinez, a 19-year-old freshman from Dardanelle. "I looked up in the stands and I heard somebody whistling. I said, 'I think it's my dad, you know. So I looked at him and he stood up, and he waved. ... After I saw him, I said, 'I got this.' He accomplished what I needed."

Martinez, who kicked a career long 49-yard field goal to pull the Reddies within 14-3 in the second quarter, twice gave the Reddies what they needed on a day when they were held without a first down in the first quarter, had 68 total yards at halftime, and were 2-of-12 passing for minus-5 yards after three quarters.

They ended up with 72 total passing yards, 40 of those coming in the game's final 24 seconds.

Martinez's 49-yard field goal with 8:50 to play in the first half came after Malik Brown intercepted a Rollin Kinsaul pass as the Savage Storm were driving in Reddies territory and leading 14-0.

Brown's interception, the first of four by Reddies defenders, gave Henderson State the ball at the SOSU 21. The Reddies, like they did for most of the first half, lost ground back to the 32 before Martinez trimmed it to 14-3.

"It was backwards, upwards, downwards, all-aroundwards," Henderson State Coach Scott Maxfield said. "But we hung in there."

The Savage Storm led 14-0 early and the Reddies rallied to take a 17-14 lead in the third quarter.

Southeastern Oklahoma State (5-3, 5-3 GAC) tied the game 17-17 on Joel Carlos' 42-yard field goal with 3:32 to play after the Savage Storm recovered a muffed punt at the Reddies 38.

The Reddies (5-3, 5-3) were moving past midfield when quarterback Kodi Whittaker was ruled to have fumbled after advancing to the Savage Storm 37 with 2:15 to play.

The Savage Storm couldn't move the ball, and Carlos' 22-yard punt gave the Reddies possession at their 41 with :24 left to play.

Whittaker, who replaced starter Richard Stammetti (2-10 passing, minus-5 yards) in the first half, found Chase Lodree in single coverage down the right sideline, and Lodree made a diving catch at the SOSU 19 with 17 seconds to play.

Logan Moragne lost 4 yards on first down as the Reddies put the ball in the middle of the field to set up Martinez's kick.

Holder Julio Cervantes said the snap, hold and the sound of the kick were all solid.

"I knew he had a lot of leg behind it," Cervantes said.

Martinez said he wasn't so sure.

"I just kicked it as hard as I could," he said. "It was more of a line drive than anything. It tipped off one of their helmets. I don't know how it went in, honestly.

Martinez's kick wasn't textbook, but the celebration afterward was.

Martinez was hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates at midfield after the team met with Maxfield, and all Martinez could do was smile.

"I thought of my parents, and all my teammates," Martinez said. "I just felt really good, you know."

Sports on 10/21/2018

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