Delavan shocks Wilmot in legendary double-OT thriller

 

Eighth-ranked Comets earn D3 playoff berth despite losing SLC mark

 

Wilmot's Linc Bennett has plenty of running room Friday night. (Earlene Frederick/Westosha Report)
Wilmot’s Linc Bennett has plenty of running room Friday night. (Earlene Frederick/Westosha Report)

 

It was like something out of an edge-of-your-seat, pulse-pounding Batman movie.

A superhero comes down from the sky when all is lost, the town peoples are hopeless and the invincible villain is on his path of terror.

The police can’t save you, and you definitely are losing all bodily functions.

Your only fleeting chance is a man who can do everything at the press of a button and fix everything. Humanity’s survival depends on this knight in shining armor, the one everyone is looking at for salvation.

OK, enough of my rant, but let’s just say hard-charging Delavan-Darien running back Fabias Shipman was that man Friday night in one of the most inexplicable, astonishing finishes in sports history, high school or any level.

SPORT CHECK LOGO ad size I know, the kid didn’t cure cancer or stop global warming, it’s just high school football.

But tell that to the Delavan faithful after Shipman’s four touchdowns, including one in double overtime to essentially win the game, lifted the Comets to a 47-40, double-OT victory over visiting Wilmot and subsequent WIAA playoff berth after trailing 34-6 in the fourth quarter.

Don’t rub your eyes or put on your glasses. That’s real.

Delavan was down by FOUR TOUCHDOWNS with less than eight minutes left in the football game.

So, with 34 points to take a lead, 40-34, and seven more in overtime, Delavan scored roughly four points per minute. And the 5-foot-8, 190-pound human wrecking ball known as “Ship” (sorry, I just made that up) took the whole, play-hard-because-it-may-be-your-last-game thing to heart.

He scored three rushing TDs in the fourth alone before scoring the game-winner in the second overtime.

Wilmot had things under control. Many fans on Twitter said the game was over, and were congratulating the Panthers on a share of the Southern Lakes Conference championship.

Lost in the hoopla of the final score was the fact that Wilmot quarteback AJ Frisby connected for three touchdowns, all to Christian Janssen, to help Wilmot build a commanding 34-6 fourth-quarter lead. Frisby added a rushing touchdown.

Mason Nindl and Linc Bennett added rushing scores, and Wilmot was cruising.

The Panthers even decided to play their backups with such a big lead.

The home fans were starting to leave in the third quarter of this sure-fire blowout.

That’s when Superman saved the city of Delavan.

The sheer insanity of this box score may give you a better idea. The number “33” is the player number, for Shipman:

 

1st quarter

Wilmot Run 5yds 21 xp good 7-0

 

2nd quarter

Wilmot run 5 yds 6 xp good 14-0

Wilmot pass 55yds 14 to 2 xp blocked 20-0

Delavan pass 20yds 5 to 8 xp no good 20-6

Wilmot run 1yd 14 xp good 27-6

 

4th quarter

Wilmot pass 21yds 14 to 2 xp good 34-6

Delavan run 8yds 33 2pt failed 34-12

Delavan fumble return 52yds 18 2pt failed 34-18

Delavan run 6yds 33 2pt good 5 to 8 34-26

Delavan pass 26yds 5 to 81 2pt good 5 run 34-34

Delavan run 20yds 33 xp blocked 34-40

Wilmot pass 65 yds 14 to 2 xp no good 40-40

 

OT1 no score

OT 2

Delavan run 4 yds 33 xp good 40-47

 

Around 10 p.m., I tweeted that since Badger had beaten Waterford, the two along with Wilmot would share the Southern Lakes Conference championship. Multiple people had DM’d me that the Panthers were routing Delavan.

First, this happened on my Twitter:

 

Mike Ramczyk ‏@mikeramczyk17 13h13 hours ago Burlington, WI

Lake Geneva Badger 14, Waterford 7 FINAL. Badger, Waterford & Wilmot TIE for Southern Lakes CHAMPIONSHIP! @lgbadger @WilmotSports

 

Wilmot Sports ‏@WilmotSports 13h13 hours ago

34-6 in the 4th over @DDHSAthletics. @lgbadger 14 -7 over Waterford. Looks like another 3 way tie for SLC. All 3 teams for 3 straight years

 

We were both thinking the same thing, until our freelance photographer, Michael Hall, pointed out the comeback of all comebacks.

 

Michael Hall ‏@MichaelHallFoto 12h12 hours ago

@mikeramczyk17 I show up at DDHS at half its 0-26… Now 40-40 in overtime @SidelinePsychos #cometfam

 

Soon, Michael’s excitement turned into flat-out pandemonium.

 

@mikeramczyk17 @SidelinePsychos I have no idea what I just witnessed… Comet win in double overtime over Wilmot! @SidelinePsychos #Cometfam

      It’s one of those games that everyone will remember for decades, Delavanites will tell their future Comets about.

“Back when you were just a little baby star and not yet a Comet, Oct. 17, 2015 HAPPENED,” says a 2035 mother on family trip to Lake Lawn Resort.

I’m getting ahead of myself, but the point is that Delavan was left for dead after losing 55-0 at Waterford just a week earlier. I mean, there was literally nothing. The Wolverines were a steamroller, and the Comets were freshly-laid blacktop.

Delavan TOTALED -30 rushing yards.

Explosive offense always has a shot. And an Ethan Cesarz fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter was the one break Delavan got. If there hadn’t been any luck, Wilmot would’ve held on. That’s how impossible this comeback was.

Delavan went from a destiny of watching the playoffs on cold, frozen bleachers, sipping hot chocolate just to avoid frostbite, to preparing for a playoff opponent and a chance for each player to live out a dream. And it all happened in friggin’ 10 minutes.

Count your lucky stars, or Comets, and feel blessed you saw this game, heard about it or read this story.


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