Walk-off FG Lifts Mesa Past O'Connor 31-28

Last week, Mesa lost 58-18 to Liberty and knew they had to leave tonight with a win.

For Mesa head coach Ryan Felker, it was his first win as the head coach for the Jackrabbits.

He was happy with how his team fought.

“What a way to do it, (the team) they never quit,” Felker said. “At the end of the day, they showed we have a special group.”

It wasn’t an easy start for Mesa, though, as, opening the game, O’Connor got off to a quick 14-0 lead.

It started on the defensive side for the Eagles.

2028 defensive back Braylon Lopez snagged an interception to set up his team with great field position.

The Eagles wasted no time getting on the board.

4-star Washington running back commit Jeremy Adeyanju scampered in for an 11-yard touchdown.

Two drives later, O’Connor once again got great field position and relied on their star running back to score.

In what was the first play of the second quarter, the Eagles fed the ball to Adeyanju, who then scored a 5-yard touchdown.

Seemingly out of nowhere, O’Connor took a 14-0 lead.

Through the first five quarters of the season, Mesa struggled.

Needing to get some momentum rolling, the Jackrabbits rattled off 20 unanswered points to end the first half.

For one of the first times in the game, Mesa was able to get the ball into O’Connor’s territory.

Scoring the first touchdown of the game for the Jackrabbits, Mesa relied on a brotherly connection to get in the end zone.

2027 quarterback Kane Anetema found 3-star ASU wide receiver commit Kingston Anetema for a 27-yard touchdown.

Kingston Anetema knew his team didn’t perform the best last week and wanted to change that in week two versus O’Connor.

“The previous week it wasn’t our best showing,” Kingston Anetema said. “We’re off of that now; we are ready to go make something shake.”

Only a few minutes later, Mesa tied the game.

Once again the Jackrabbits would get the ball near O’Connor’s goal line.

Mesa was aggressive and decided to go for it on 4th down.

Kane Anetema rolled out to his right and fired it to the left side of the field to 3-star Idaho defensive end commit Joe Haynie for a 6-yard touchdown.

The Jackrabbits defense then came through to cause a turnover.

Mesa 2028 3-star defensive end Sione Taueli forced a fumble to give his offense the ball back deep into Eagles territory.

It gave Mesa the extra momentum they needed.

30 seconds later, Mesa took the lead before the end of the half.

Kane Anetema threw a quick slant to Kingston Anetema, who did the rest and scored a 20-yard touchdown.

Mesa held a 20-14 lead at halftime.

The third quarter was slow for both sides.

Fast forward to the later part of the third quarter, the Eagles were able to take back the lead.

After a short punt from Mesa, O’Connor started with the ball on the Jackrabbits' 25-yard line.

On the first play of the drive, 2029 quarterback Arnel Ahmetovic lofted a pass to Lopez for a 25-yard score.

In the final 12 minutes of the game, both teams traded blows, and it went to the final whistle.

The Jackrabbits regained some of their first-half momentum to get back into the end zone.

Early in the fourth quarter, 2027 running back Lance Briggs Jr. trucked a defender, then was able to bounce to the outside to score a 33-yard touchdown.

The chaos only just began.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, the Eagles stole the life out of theJackrabbits's sideline.

2029 running back Colton Fahndrich got the ball and hit the outside to score from 40 yards out and once again even the game.

With only a few minutes left in the game, Mesa put together one last drive to seal the victory.

Multiple times throughout the drive, the Jackrabbits converted crucial third downs to keep the series alive.

Eventually, the Jackrabbits got the ball down into O’Connor’s 30-yard line with only three seconds left.

The Jackrabbits relied on a kicker who was called up to play earlier this week on Monday to win the game. Wiith the game on the line, he pulled through.

As time expired, 2029 kicker Cage Moore hit a 47-yard field goal to give his team the victory.

Moore said he knew it was going in as soon as he kicked it.

“Was just focused on getting it through,” Moore said. “Once I got that hit, I knew it was good from there.”

A new era in Mesa football has arrived, and what a way to get a first win in the new season.

Football seasons are not decided by one game; Mesa knew that and made sure to get back on track and secure their first win of the season.

The hard work during the week paid off with a win.

“They worked really hard this week,” Felker said. “Went to work, and it paid off tonight.”

Next up: 1-1 Mesa looks to keep it rolling when they take on 0-1 Cactus Canyon. 1-1 O’Connor looks to bounce back when they face 1-0 Red Mountain.