Once the clouds parted and play resumed, the turn of the elements apparently also lifted the fog from the offense of the Florence Huskies.
Florence, the top-ranked team in Class 2A, was on the ropes in its nonleague showdown at No. 3 Kent Denver on Saturday when a thunderstorm sent the teams to the locker rooms. When the squads returned about 40 minutes later, a vastly different Florence club emerged.
Trailing 20-6 when the rain was unleashed, Florence scored four touchdowns over the final 12:17, including two during a decisive 61-second span midway through the fourth quarter, to post a 35-20 comeback victory.
“It was kind of down when we first got in (the locker room), but everyone started talking and we were saying we were a better team,” Florence quarterback Cody Nichols said. “This was the first time Florence has been down in the second half, and we knew what we had to do.”
Kent Denver (2-1) got two touchdown passes from Matt Florence to lead 20-6 in the first quarter, but after that the Sun Devils struggled against the rugged Huskies defense. After the weather delay, Kent managed 7 yards and had two turnovers.
On its first drive after the delay, Florence (4-0) used a 5-yard run by Johnnie Krien, followed by a two-point conversion from Nichols, to trim Kent’s lead to 20-14 with 16.9 seconds left in the third. A 1-yard dive by Nichols gave Florence its first lead at 21-20 and, after the Huskies recovered a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff, Krien’s third touchdown run turned the momentum for good.
“It’s a funny deal—you can get it in a hurry and lose it in a hurry,” Florence coach Mark Buderus said. “We were lucky it wasn’t 35-6 at the half. It was still doable.”
Florence 6 0 8 21 — 35
Kent Denver 20 0 0 0 — 20
KD — Hargrow 6 run (Petre kick). F — Krien 1 run (kick failed). KD — Pettyjohn 38 pass from Florence (kick failed). KD — Gantz 34 pass from Florence (Petre kick). F — Krien 5 run (Nichols run). F — Nichols 1 run (Faoro kick). F — Krien 6 run (Faoro kick). F — Nichols 1 run (Faoro kick).
