BIRMINGHAM—In a game that kicked off an hour and 42 minutes after its intended time slot of 7 p.m., an extra point in overtime made the difference.

Fultondale senior Jonathon Victoriano-Aguilar swung true on his third point-after attempt of the evening, sending his Class 3A Wildcats home with a 21-20 overtime win over Class 5A John Carroll (2-4) Friday night.

“We talk about it and we work on it in practice—going out there and making a game-winning kick,” said Fultondale head coach Don Dover. “We executed, and that’s what you like to see for the kids.”

After surrendering a 14-point lead in the second half, Fultondale (4-1, 3-0 Class 3A, Region 5) slipped into the overtime period tied at 14-all and allowed John Carroll running back Jeremiah Gibbs to charge 10 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the Cavaliers’ only extra possession. The point-after attempt bounced off the upright, turning the ball over to Fultondale.

Needing a touchdown to tie and an extra point to win, the Wildcats fed senior running back Eyren Boyd who needed just two carries to travel 10 yards to the end zone. He went 4 yards on first down and followed up with 6 yards for the equalizer.

“We said, ‘Look, let’s go with the big back and pound it in. We’ve got four downs to do it,” said Dover of his decision to feed Boyd in overtime.

After Boyd broke the goal line and evened the score at 20-20, Dover took advice from his defensive coordinator David Reed and called a timeout. John Carroll would also call a timeout in an effort to ice Victoriano-Aguilar, but the strategy failed. The senior place kicker split the uprights to send his Wildcats home with a 21-20 victory.

“I just wanted to calm my guys down,” said Dover of his decision to call a timeout prior to the point-after attempt. “Dry my snapper’s hands off, dry my holder’s hands off, calm my kicker down… you don’t want to rush things out there.”

From start to finish, things were far from ordinary on Friday night at John Carroll Field. Kickoff was delayed until 8:46 p.m., due to a lighting issue, but Dover likes the maturity his team showed during the hour-and-46-minute-long postponement.

“I was really nervous because our guys are really playful and it’s hard for them to stay focused for too long, but they did a better job than I did and I was really pleased with them for that,” said Dover. “And we came out ready to play. I thought we played a really good first half.”

Fultondale punched in a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to claim a 14-0 lead. Boyd started it with a 1-yard score midway through the frame. That drive was sparked by a three straight completions from quarterback Willie Smith, the last of which went 20 yards to Ryan Madison down to the Cavaliers’ 4-yard line.

The Wildcats needed only four plays on their next drive to reach paydirt, as Smith rolled to his left and feathered a 14-yard pass into the back corner of the end zone where junior William Handrick cradled it for a 14-0 lead with 4:14 left in the second quarter.

The second half was all John Carroll. Quarterback Jharad Johnson slipped a screen pass to junior running back Martice Smith, who bolted 40 yards down the home sideline for the Cavs’ first score of the evening midway through the third quarter. Gibbs later punctuated a 14-play drive that was aided by a roughing the kicker penalty with a 3-yard touchdown run. The game was tied at 14-14 with 10:07 remaining.

For Fultondale, Smith completed 17 of 31 passes for 172 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions (two by Joseph Harris). Boyd finished with 81 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

Fultondale is back in region play next week when Vinemont comes to town.