Heading into the fourth quarter, the Manitou Springs football team had a 7-0 lead over the Lamar Savages.

The first four minutes of the quarter were scoreless until a muffed punt by Johnny Swanson gave the Savages great field position on the 12 yard line.

With hands on their hips and heels on the goal line, the Mustangs gave up their first points of the game on a 5 yard run by the Savages.

The Savages then caught the Mustangs off guard as they faked the extra point and converted the 2 point conversion to give them an 8-7 lead. ” After they scored I was worried but confident that we could answer right back,” Chad Sienknecht said.

After a couple of stalled drives by both teams, the Mustangs got the ball back with just over 3 minutes left in the game.

After running the  clock down, the Mustangs were faced with a game deciding 4th and 18 on the 45 yard line. To keep the drive alive Sienknecht dropped back and heaved a pass towards the sideline where Dustin Bohnert made an incredible adjustment and caught the ball on the 11 yard line.

With just under a minute left, the Mustangs were in position to score the game winning touchdown.

After three plays, Manitou was faced with another fourth down on the three yard line with 11 second left and no time outs.

With the clock running down Sienknecht dropped back for the pass, scrambled, and ran it up the middle where he squeezed into the end zone to give the Mustangs the 13-8 win. “All I was thinking was score. I didn’t care how I did it I just knew I needed to score,” Sienknecht said about the last play of the game.

With the win, Manitou took control of the 2nd spot in the tough Tri Peaks League.

They finish their regular season Oct. 19 against Trinidad and Oct. 26 against Alamosa.

By Drew Faloon