One for the record books: Amery’s astonishing Comeback by the numbers

With just under four minutes left to play in the third quarter, the Warriors trailed the Somerset Spartans 52-20. While Somerset celebrated what they thought was the exclamation point on a fun filled homecoming week, the Warriors had other plans. The Warriors led the most improbable comeback in the modern age of not just Amery High School football, but after discussing with a WIAA member, “Maybe the greatest comeback in recent memory, the last 20 years or so, since reporting of the stats has become more common.”

Watching the game back, a “team win” doesn’t begin to describe what the Warriors put on display. Koy Hopke led the way with 205 rushing yard and 3 total touchdowns (3 rushing and a kickoff return). Hopke also had a 35-yard punt return to take the ball deep into Spartan territory to set up his fourth touchdown, which happened to be the winning score. Not to be outdone, Kruse Yuhas scampered his way to a massive day totaling 129 yards and two touchdowns only seven carries. That electricity leads to 18.4 yards per carry! Wyatt Graff also helped on the ground taking his five carries for 25 yards and a touchdown. While the Warrior rushing attack will get praise (rightfully so), the Carter Wollan to Grant Cook connection was locked in, as the two connected on the only two pass completions for the Warriors, but it led to 111 yards and two touchdowns. Wollan’s two touchdown passes to Cook were of 74 and 37-yard scores. 

They also connected for two 2pt. conversions on the day. On the day, the Warrior offense totaled 500 yards leading to the way to the 52-58 victory. Of the 500 yards, 389 yards came on the ground on only 41 attempts, making them average nearly 9.5 yards per rush. In comparison, the Warriors were coming into the game averaging just over 6 yards per rush (among rushers with over ten attempts on the year).

With any magical comeback, special teams needed to make plays and boy did they ever. As stated earlier, Hopke returned a kickoff for a touchdown to get the Warriors on the board in the Second quarter. To go with a kickoff returned to the house, Jacob Maxon perfectly executed an onside kick in the Third quarter following a Kruse Yuhas touchdown, which led to a Koy Hopke touchdown shortly after. This allowed to the Warriors to score 14 points in 14 seconds of game time! The special teams magic didn’t stop there as Grant Cook blocked a punt in the Fourth quarter to set the Warriors up for first and goal. This game cannot go without mentioning placekicker for the Warriors, Ashley Benysek. Benysek has been simply fantastic as of late, including Friday night, connecting on 6/6 PAT on the night. Between a night of unbelievable feats, the special teams was crucial in not only keep the Warriors within reach, but securing one of the most inconceivable wins in school history.

All in all, this win was something like the state may have never seen previous. As I stated, after reaching out to the WIAA and Kevin Patrowsky, a comeback of this magnitude hasn’t been recorded since the statistic was kept and hasn’t been seen in 20 years. Somerset’s 58 points now ties for fourth in state history with the most points in a loss. Amery’s 62 points is the most since 2001, and potentially more! The last time the Warriors even eclipsed the 50-point mark was in 2004 when the Warriors scored 52 points in a win against New Richmond.

 In a season where the Warriors look for building blocks to develop into a winning program, Coach Ryan Humpal said, “This type of win is something that can take a team to the next level, but it will not do it alone; it takes all involved to make it happen.” With a team led by seniors and many talented underclassmen, look for this team to make exciting wins a thing of the future.