Overcoming a Devastating Play: QB Millner's Short Memory

A pick-six can be the most devastating play at any level of football.

One second, the offense is driving, looking to score points, and suddenly the defense is the one that scores off an interception. It can be a 14-point swing. There’s been a game-changing pick-six in four of the last five Super Bowl games, including Kelvin Hayden’s against the Bears.

So when Andrew junior linebacker Patrick Elget intercepted a Lincoln-Way West pass and returned it 30 yards for the score Friday night, the momentum was definitely on the Thunderbolts’ side as they went up 17-6. Granted, it was the first half and there was lots of time left.

But even with time, a pick-six can shake a quarterback’s confidence, making him shy away from certain passes. So how did senior quarterback Kyle Millner lead the Warriors to the 25-17 comeback win?

“I just wanted to get over it,” he said. “Have a short memory.”

It was more than a short memory: It was learning from the mistake and making good reads. In the first half, Millner completed three passes to wide receiver Adam Slattery. Each time, he rolled out to his right and hit Slattery neat the sideline. Seven yards here, 11 yards there.

But on the pick-six, he tried dropping back instead of rolling out and passed to Slattery on his left instead of his right. The only problem was that he telegraphed the pass; from the second the ball was snapped Elget could tell it was his ball for the taking.

Still down 11 points midway through the third quarter, Lincoln-Way West needed something to get its offense going. But offensive coordinator Dave Ernst called a play to keep throwing the ball to the edges. He said Millner just made the right read to go deep down the middle.

“That’s just great play by the quarterback,” Ernst said. “That was his third or fourth read.”

The Andrew defense caught on early to the tendency to throw to the sidelines, but that ended up hurting the T-Bolts. Millner beat a blitz to hurl a 60-yard touchdown pass to Brian Skowronski, and later did a superb job of looking off the defense and putting the perfect touch on his pass in the back of the end zone to Nick Andrade.

Andrew quarterback Tyler Hook also responded pretty well to a turnover. He fumbled the ball away in the first half, but that didn't deter him from trying to get his team a win. After West went ahead 18-17 late in the fourth quarter, Hook ran three times for 25 yards to help move his team to field goal range, though the kick was wide right.

“We moved the ball all right. Defensively we just had to keep the team off the field,” Andrew coach Jim Malec said. “Two quick plays and they’re ahead.”

But for the Warriors, the comeback gets them to 3-1 on the season while Andrew drops to 1-3.

“We’re a resilient team,” West coach Mark Vander Kooi said. “That’s how we’ve been winning games for two years now.”