STILLMAN VALLEY – When Shay Bubnack intercepted Genoa-Kingston’s pass to win Friday’s game in overtime, the Stillman Valley senior sprinted up the field to celebrate with his teammates, the Cardinal fans erupted in the stands, and coach Mike Lalor crouched down silently with his head in his hands.

"I’m exhausted," Lalor said after his team’s 36-28 thrilling OT home win against the Cogs. "We did just enough to win this ballgame."

With the scored tied 28 apiece after regulation, Genoa-Kingston headed into overtime with momentum. The Cogs shut down Stillman Valley for most of the second half and scored the last two touchdowns in regulation.

Stillman Valley (8-0 4-0 Big Northern West) had the ball first in OT, and its first three tries to score resulted in a loss of seven yards. On fourth down, Cardinal quarterback Cody Brewington threw a 17-yard TD pass to Keegan Myrvold and then added a Myrvold run to put Stillman up 36-28.

Then it was Genoa-Kingston’s turn. Quarterback Chris Wilkins, who threw for 297 yards in the game, threw his first overtime pass into the arms of Bubnack to end the game.

"We’re so excited," said Bubnack, who added that this was the most exciting football game he had ever played in. "This was top of the line. We just had to play power football, and we won the battle."

The win sets up a much-anticipated Week 9 showdown between the Cardinals and Oregon (8-0 4-0). After starting the season 6-0, the Cogs (6-2, 2-2) suffered their second straight loss and can finish no higher than third.

"We should have won this game," said Genoa-Kingston receiver T.C. Holterhaus, who finished with nine catches for 163 yards and two touchdowns. "We just didn’t pull it out at the end. I feel like we had the momentum, but one play can change the whole game."

Brewington passed for a season-high 181 yards and two TD’s on an 8-of-18 night. Genoa-Kingston held Stillman Valley’s rushing game to a season-low 113 yards.

"They were shutting us down," Lalor said. "They gave us no other options."

Stillman Valley led 20-14 at halftime with first-half touchdowns from Brewington (14 run), Brandon Schwengels (7 run) and Bubnack (35 pass from Brewington). G-K scored on a 4-yard pass from Wilkins to Holterhaus and a 35-yard pass from Wilkins to Nick Lopez.

The Cardinals opened the second half with an 85-yard interception return by Bubnack to take their largest lead 28-14, but the Cogs responded with solid defense and two more Wilkins’ TD passes to Ethan Menges (25 yards) and Holterhaus (78 yards) to send the game to OT.

"I didn’t have a very good feeling going into overtime," Lalor said.

"Our first three plays were absolutely nothing, then (Myrvold) had a tremendous catch that turned it all around."

Next week’s conference championship game will be at Stillman Valley. Oregon is the two-time defending champ.

"It’s a little bit of luck to have two 8-0 teams playing each other the last week," Lalor said. "We have tremendous respect for their program. It should be an unbelievable atmosphere."

— Emily Tropp, rrstar.com