Airport's defense makes a stand in thrilling victory over Flat Rock

CARLETON – Nolan Zajac didn’t even know he was a hero.

The junior made a key hit on a play that saved the game for Airport’s football team Thursday night, but he thought someone else deserved the credit.

“Nah, that wasn’t me,” he said when Airport coach Jim Duffy praised him for the big hit.

Then, Duffy produced a tablet and showed Zajac video of the play.

“I did make that hit,” he exclaimed as a smile crept across his face.

Zajac can be excused for not remembering. Too much was going on in the final seconds of Airport’s thrilling 21-19 win over Flat Rock in the Huron League opener for both schools.

Flat Rock scored a touchdown on the final play of the game as Brian Booms powered in from the 1-yard line to slice Airport’s lead to 2-points.

The Rams tried the same play on a 2-point conversion attempt to tie the score, but this time Airport was ready.

Zajac fired into the hole and drove the lead blocker back into Booms, then Kaden Kull and Chase Johnson finished off the game-saving tackle.

“It was just read and look,” Zajac said. “It was an instinct play. … Basically, we had two chances to stop them. The touchdown was from the 1-yard line and the 2-pointer was from the 3, so obviously we had a better chance on that one.”

Photo Gallery:Flat Rock at Airport Football

Kull and Johnson agreed that there isn’t much of a chance to think on short-yardage plays.

“It’s see ball, get ball,” Johnson said.

“You just have to attack,” Kull added. “It’s all instincts. You see it and go.”

Flat Rock coach Buck Reaume said Airport simply made a play at the right time in a battle of two evenly matched teams.

“We had a play that we liked that had been working for us,” he said. “It looked like we had it lined up. Their linebacker just shot the gap and made a play.”

Flat Rock called its final timeout before the touchdown run by Booms. Duffy told his players during the stoppage that the game could come down to a 2-point conversion.

“We talked in the huddle about how we had two chances to stop them,” he said. “We told them, ‘You can’t get your heads down if they score on the first one.’”

The coach wasn’t surprised to see Zajac step up.

“He met the lead back in the hole and pushed him into the runner,” Duffy said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached.”

The stop on the 2-point try was one of many big plays by the Airport defense.

“We made some mistakes, but we played hard on defense all night,” said Duffy, praising the work of linebackers Shade Daniels and Zakary VanBuskirk, a sophomore who was playing his first varsity game.

Flat Rock opened the scoring with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Graham Junge to Corey Lannon. Airport tied it before the end of the opening quarter on a 5-yard run by Kyle Harvell.

A key sequence happened midway through the second period as Airport’s defense stopped Flat Rock on downs to get the ball back on its own 8-yard line.

On the Jets’ first play after the stop, Jack Mills found a hole on the left side and sprinted 92 yards for a score.

Airport made it 21-7 at the half when Colin Nowak mad a nice over-the-shoulder catch on a pass from Cooper Nye for a 10-yard TD.

The score didn’t change until Booms scored from 5 yards out in the fourth quarter, setting up the dramatics at the end.

Mills rushed 183 yards for Airport and Junge completed 26-of-37 passes for 253 yards for Flat Rock.

Airport is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2017.

Booms made 12 tackles for Flat Rock and Andrew Given added 8 as the Rams dipped to 1-1.

“This is a tough group,” Reaume said. “They never quit. They keep fighting. This is a great group. I told the guys that we would know a lot about our team after this game. I am very proud of where we are at.”

First Quarter

FR – Corey Lannon 29 pass from Graham Junge (Mitchell Smith kick)

A – Kyle Harvell 5 run (Nolan Zajac kick)

Second Quarter

A – Jack Mills 92 run (Zajac kick)

A – Colin Nowak 10 pass from Cooper Nye (Zajac kick)

Fourth Quarter

FR – Brian Booms 5 run (pass failed)

FR – Booms 1 run (run failed)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing: Jack Mills, A, 19-183; Joey Godfrey, FR, 14-62; Brian Booms, FR, 13-61; Graham Junge, FR, 6-25; Kyle Harvell, A, 5-21.

Passing: Graham Junge, FR, 26-37-253; Cooper Nye, A, 7-11-91.

Receiving: Corey Lannon, FR, 5-73; Aaron Salazar, FR, 7-61; Colin Nowak, A, 5-49; Joey Godfrey, FR, 3-47; Jack Mills, A, 1-42; Rocco Breslin, FR, 3-27; Jaycob Pieprzyk, FR, 4-24; Adam Szalay, FR, 2-12; Brian Booms, FR, 2-9; Brett Moore, A, 1-0.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Airport's defense makes a stand in thrilling victory over Flat Rock