PLATTE CITY, Mo. — According to Adam Gisler's coach, "He's a kid you hold your breath every time he touches the ball."
You would have had to hold your breath for a long time on Friday, as Gisler took the ball on his own two-yard line and took off 98 yards for a score.
"That play is designed to get a first down, maybe a few yards," Gisler said.
"It's designed to go right up the middle," joked Platte County head coach Bill Utz.
Instead, Gisler ran outside, stayed in bounds, stiff-armed one defender, and then outran the rest.
"He bounced it out, and once he got around the corner, we knew he could go," Utz said.
Gisler said, "Once I got past the first defender, I knew the other two weren't going to catch me."
They didn't, and Gisler turned in the play of the Missouri Class 5 State Championship Game, one which Platte County won 38-34 in overtime.
"It was very big," said Gisler of the second-quarter run. "I think it started a momentum swing for us."
It was the longest run in Show-Me Bowl (the name for Missouri's state championship football games) history.
"Yeah, I found (that) out after the game, and I was kind of speechless because it just happened and I didn't know how to process it," Gisler said. "So it was really special to me."
On a team with the Simone Award winner and three DI pass catchers (two tight ends and a receiver), it was a DII commit who cashed in the biggest play.
Gisler will play football at Northwest Missouri State.
He also scored two other touchdowns that game.
"We obviously have some very 'accoladed' kids," Utz said. "But those kids don't get to do what they do without everybody else."
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