The Wildcats won a nail-biter on Saturday against the University of Northern Colorado 24-22 to improve their record to 2-1 on the season. The game went down to the very last seconds as Ritse Vaes, senior kicker from Wichita Falls, hit a 54-yard field goal to give ACU the win.
The game started out in Northern Colorado’s favor as it took a 10-0 lead in the beginning of the second quarter. Sam Hicks, redshirt senior from Fort Worth, was able to give ACU its first touchdown of the game with 1:09 left in the half.
To start off the third quarter Hicks scored again, this time on a 65-yard run giving ACU its first lead 14-10. The Wildcats scored again in the third quarter, this time with a five-yard touchdown run from Isaiah Johnson, redshirt senior from Lubbock.
ACU’s defense was able to keep Northern Colorado from scoring in the third quarter making the score 21-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
Northern Colorado came back and scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take the lead 22-21 with 1:10 left in the game. Leaving the Wildcats with little time to complete a game-winning drive.
After a touchback on the kickoff, ACU started the drive on its own 25-yard line. The first play was a run that resulted in a loss of three yards. The next two plays were two big pass plays that moved the Wildcats into Northern Colorado territory.
A 14-yard pass to Nehemiah Martinez, senior wide receiver from Lubbock, put ACU at the Northern Colorado 22-yard line. The Wildcats were forced to move back 15 yards after receiving a personal foul penalty.
Head Coach Keith Patterson was now faced with the decision of deciding to kick the field goal or go for the Hail Mary.
“Right there at the end, after we got the 15-yard penalty, I was sitting there and I just asked how far it was and they said 54,” said Patterson. “I thought you know what he was kicking into the wind in the pregame and I thought there was a little bit of a breeze, slight. I thought you know what, he had the distance kicking into the wind, so I think the chances of making a field goal are a lot better than throwing a hail mary at that particular time. So, I just went with my gut feeling and just made the call to kick it.”
With five seconds left on the clock, Vaes stepped onto the field to attempt a 54-yard field goal, a career-long that he had only made once.
“Just trying to stay calm, just trying to stay positive and just relying on my long snapper Devin Daugherty and my holder Hugo Nash,” Vaes said. “Thanks to them, it all starts with them.”
The distance didn’t bother Vaes as he wasn’t even paying attention to where the ball was.
“I didn’t know it was going to be that long, honestly,” Vaes said. “I just knew I had to be ready in case we were going to get in range for a field goal and then we had that penalty, but I wasn’t paying attention to where the ball was on the field. I didn’t know how far it was.”
This is Vaes’s first season as a Wildcat after he joined the team through the transfer portal during the offseason. He previously played three seasons at Midwestern State, last season making a game-winning 54-yard field goal.
“It feels great, it feels like I’m able to help my team win a game,” Vaes said, “but also, I can’t just stay on that, this week is another game.”
The Wildcats will face their first-ranked opponent in Wildcat Stadium when number four University of Idaho comes to Abilene this weekend. ACU will look to improve its record to 3-1 and get its first win over a ranked opponent since 2019.
