By MIKE MCLAIN

sports@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

All that was missing was a little slow motion and the familiar sounds of NFL Films.

The moment in question was filled with classic drama that made Senior Night memorable for the Struthers Wildcats, who prevailed in a showdown with the Hubbard Eagles, 20-14, in an All-American Conference White Tier game Friday at Laddie J. Fedor Field.

Tommy Kopnicky made the play of the night when he jumped the route on a pass from Eagles quarterback Davion Daniels for Ray Minniti on third-and-goal from the Wildcats’ 5 with less than one minute to play. Kopnicky intercepted the pass in the end zone and returned it to the 1 to seal the win.

“They tried the same play before,” Kopnicky said. “I knew they would come back to it, so I sat right in the spot where he (Minniti) was. I played it perfectly,”

The game had major playoff implications for both teams. Struthers (6-2 and 3-0 in the White Tier) should improve on its eighth place standing in Division IV, Region 13. Hubbard (4-4 and 3-2 in the tier) was 12th in Region 13.

It appeared a 4-yard touchdown run by Daniels late in the third quarter that gave the Eagles a 14-12 lead might have been enough to send Hubbard home with a win. That changed when Wildcats quarterback J.D. Hall tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Kevin Caldwell at the 2:27 mark of the fourth period.

The Wildcats offense had been struggling, but coach Curt Kuntz made a great call when he had Hall fake a handoff to the speedy Nick Adams on what appeared to be a jet sweep. The Eagles safeties bought the fake, leaving Caldwell an open path in the secondary.

Adams was a focal point of the Eagles defense, especially after he took a jet sweep 53 yards for the opening touchdown of the game. Adams, who rushed for 102 yards on just five carries, also returned an interception for a touchdown, only to have the play nullified by a penalty.

“Just helping us get in the end zone and being a decoy, whatever way we’ve got to do it,” an emotional Adams said.

The Eagles needed just two plays to find the red zone on the ensuing possession. The big play came when Daniels, unable to find an open receiver, took off on a 44-yard run to the Wildcats’ 15. Lukas Mosora gained 8 yards on three carries before Daniels powered behind the left side for 3 yards and a first down to the 4 on fourth down.

Mosora was stopped for a loss of 1 yard on first down. Daniels wasn’t able to connect with Shannon Slovesko on a second-down pass before Kopnicky’s interception.

“The only thing I wasn’t positive about with my team this year was how they were going to respond to a situation like this,” Kuntz said. “In Week 2 [against Crestview] we scored with a couple minutes left to win, and this week it was our defense hanging in there and having a goal-line stand.”

The Wildcats weren’t able to convert the extra two points on a run following Adams’s touchdown. The Eagles took a 7-6 lead on a 12-yard pass from Daniels to Mosora and an extra point by Chase Powell, but Struthers assumed a 12-7 halftime lead on a 1-yard touchdown dive by Nate Richards.

The teams traded interceptions in the second half. The only score in the third quarter came on a 4-yard run by Daniels. Powell’s point-after kick gave the Eagles a two-point lead.

“How can you be disappointed in your players?” Eagles coach Brian Hoffman said. “They played their hearts out. We had an opportunity at the end of the game to win. That’s why you compete. They made a play at the end of the game and got the win.”