Huygens would take the first possession after Halftime. In the locker room, Griff had given his much rehearsed but little used "break the tie" speech. He was about to review playbook options when Big Dog spoke: "Path to Glory."
The series of plays Huygens Center Wyatt Gideon Barker (Big Dog) called was Joe Montana's legendary 92 yards in 2:46 minutes drive in the final seconds of January 1989 Super Bowl XXIII. On their own initiative, the Huygens team had staged this in football summer camp.
First AKA Harvey's uncalled for mention of Franco Harris, now -- from his own team -- this not-Raiders moment of glory. "It's an end of a game legend", Griff said, "not something to try in our first possession after Halftime." But he had a feeling that his objections were going to be parried.
"It was Bengals 16 - Niners 13 with only 3:10 minutes to go. A penalty forced the Niners back to their 8th." Big Dog was on a roll. "Montana to Running Back Roger Craig; Montana to Tight End John Frank; Montana to Jerry Rice; handoff to Craig; Montana again to Rice. With only one incomplete pass, they cross midfield. Montana to Craig; an ineligible receiver penalty puts the Niners back 15 yards; Montana to Rice; Jerry running; 27 yard gain; 52 seconds to go; without a huddle Montana to Craig; the Niners are at the Bengals 10th; timeout; 34 seconds remain; Montana to Taylor. Touchdown."
It was, Griff thought, a good enough series of plays to begin the second half. Obviously, a sustained sequence of perfect passes and perfect catches was not usual in D3 football, but inspired by Montana and
Rice, his team had done it nearly perfectly in practice. Griff looked at his assembled in the locker room entire team. "This is against The Wolves. Surely you know that football plays are not theater. How the other teams reacts will radically change what occurs." Griff grinned, paused to heighten the suspense. "Go", he said.