Blocked punt sparks powerful performance

Conventional wisdom said the Newman football team maxed out by making the Class 3A quarterfinals.

Forget that, the Comets said.

The junior-stacked team paid no mind to next year, instead focusing on the opportunity that presented itself Saturday.

Some teams would look at a date with Stillman Valley with trepidation. The Comets saw it as their big chance.

“They’ve been destroying people,” said Carlos Salazar, one of Newman’s talented 11th-graders. “But we didn’t think they’ve played anybody hard-core like us.”

Salazar clearly announced the Comets’ intentions at the end of Stillman’s second fruitless possession, which started at its 6 and ended at its 9. The 5-foot-7 fireball of a defensive tackle squeezed through the Cardinals’ line and launched himself toward the foot of punter Dane Green.

The kicked ball smacked off Salazar’s gloved hands, making a double-thud that snapped every player, coach and fan to eyes-wide-open attention. It bounced twice, back to the 5, where Joe Blessman scooped it and scored.

It was a ballgame, and everyone at Roscoe Eades Stadium knew it.

“That sparked everything,” said Newman senior Stephen Wilson, who caught two touchdown passes. “It kicked everything into gear.”

“Coming in, our kids thought they could do it,” Comets coach Mike Papoccia added. “After that play, they knew they could do it.”

The next 41 minutes of game action thrilled all, and left the outcome in doubt until the final horn sounded.

When it did, tears flowed freely on Newman’s side of the field. Papoccia fought back his own during his postgame speech.

“Someday,” the 30-year sideline veteran told his players, “I will tell your sons about this game.”

The coach wasn’t lying. All week, he told this team the story of the 1991 Comets. That team finished 4-5, one of the three Newman teams of the past 18 not to make the playoffs. They lost 14-0 to Fulton, Class 2A’s eventual state champ, on two trick plays.

Papoccia always referenced that game when trying to teach his players about how to compete against a championship-caliber opponent.

Until now.

“There’s no All-Staters on this team,” Papoccia said. “Not even close. But our kids were not going to be denied today. It hurts, bad, to lose, but down the road this is going to feel so good.”