Robinson

RUSSELLVILLE — I walked for 36:22 at Robinson High School way out on Arkansas 10 on Friday night. By the way, my latest great infatuation is for a Robinson athletic trainer. In truth, I went kind of nuts for her five or six or perhaps seven years ago, but last night, she drove a four-wheeler to the edge of the field as I walked from George Stadium and said, "It was nice to see you again, Pete. I hope you'll be back this season." I guess she reads the paper. There is no way she and I will ever date, but I live for brushes like this one. ...It rained far too hard all day today to walk any more than around Thone Stadium for the Arkansas Tech game. Here's the story I wrote:

PETE PERKINS

RUSSELLVILLE — The meaningfulness of this game-winning field goal was clear the moment it banked in.

A rain-soaked Thone Stadium crowd of 1,104 and a sideline manned by approximately 100, including players, coaches, staff, and cheerleaders wrapped in emergency ponchos erupted with delight when senior kicker Jesus Zizumbo’s 44-yard field-goal attempt at the fourth-quarter buzzer bounced off the right upright and over the crossbar to give Arkansas Tech a 22-21 Great American Conference victory over the Southwestern Oklahoma Bulldogs on Saturday.

The field goal was the 40th of Zizumbo’s career and a Tech record.

“I’m just happy we won the game,” Zizumbo said. “We needed this win. I don’t really like looking at records. All I want is for my kicks to fall in. If they do that, I’ve done my job.”

Late in the game, it seemed unlikely Zizumbo would get a chance.

Tech (4-5, 4-5 GAC) was out of timeouts when its defense stopped Southwestern freshman running Gerald Palmer for a 1-yard loss on 4th-and-1 at the Tech 39 with 1:16 left in the game.

Tech was 60 yards from the end zone. After a first down on an 8-yard run by senior back Devontae Dean, Tech faced 3rd-and-9 from its 46, when senior quarterback Jack Grissom completed a 16-yard pass to sophomore receiver Mason Ross.

“He doesn’t drop passes,” Grissom said. “He’s very reliable.”

Ross made it sound simple.

“I watch the ball all the way in,” he said. “We emphasize that every day in practice, so I think it’s very important.”

After a 3-yard run by Dean and a spike left time for one more play, onto Buerkle Field marched Tech’s field-goal unit, including junior deep snapper Garrett Scott and holder Aaron Winn.

Winn said he could feel the anxiety.

“We practice that mayday situation every week, just in case something like this happens,” Winn said. “It was routine, but at the time when it’s an actual game, you have some pressure on you.”

Winn said he watched through a jumble of linemen as the kick headed right and struck the upright. He said he figured it had missed. Zizumbo, 5-9, 225, was knocked on top of him, and Winn hoped to see a flag on the field for roughing the kicker.

Zizumbo said he never watches his kicks. He instead listens for the crowd’s response to present results.

“He looked at that one, I can tell you that,” Winn said.

This kick bore watching. As it rose above the 22 special-teamers in play, it became obvious it was pushed. The football traveled straight and right from Zizumbo's foot until it hit the upright on a direct line. Luck then came into play, as sudden and violent deceleration leads to unpredictable outcomes. In this case, the ball rotated left and maintained adequate momentum to flutter over the crossbar before it fell onto Tech's artificial turf.

An insightful diagnosis of this game-winner was unnecessary for Tech Coach Kyle Shipp.

“The snap and hold looked good to me,” Shipp said. “As long as the kick went in, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll watch it on film tomorrow to see if it was perfect or not, but I’ll take it any way we can get it.”

Southwestern (3-6, 3-6) had turned a 14-10 halftime lead into 21-10 on Palmer’s 1-yard touchdown run with 12:09 left in the third quarter, but Grissom’s 39-yard touchdown run on Tech’s next series cut it to 21-16. Zizumbo, who had earlier missed a 20-yard field goal attempt, missed the extra point.

“When you miss, you have to forget about it,” Zizumbo said. “Life goes on after a kick.”

“I don’t think I’ll say anything to him about those misses,” Shipp said.

Zizumbo’s 23-yard field goal midway through the third tied the Tech career field-goal record of 39 set by Pitor Stychen from 1993-96.

The record-breaker took care of everything else for Tech.

“We practice that all the time,” Grissom said. “We were ready for it.”