For Omed Habibzai, Friday night’s football game was one of firsts.

Habibzai, a sophomore kicker for Deering, had not converted an extra point all season, and never had attempted an onside kick. On top of that, the Rams were winless.

All that changed against Lewiston, when Deering rallied from an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull out a 19-18 win.

And Habibzai was in the middle of it, kicking the winning extra point with 22 seconds left after putting Deering in position to win with a successful onside kick.

“It’s one of my biggest dreams,” Habibzai said. “I’ve always thought about the game-winning kick and it finally happened.”

Deering quarterback Travis Soule threw three touchdown passes with 6:24 left, connecting with Ben Onek for the tying score. After two unsuccessful 2-point conversions, Coach Jason Jackson asked his offensive coordinator’s advice on what to do. Habibzai was 0 for 2 on extra points this season.

“He looked me in the eye and goes, ‘He’s going to knock it right through,’ ” Jackson said, starting to laugh. “And we did it with 10 players on the field because that’s the type of mental mistakes we make.”

Before that comeback, the Rams turned the ball over six times, including a fumble on their opening possession that set Lewiston (3-2) up at the Deering 45. But Deering held on downs at its 6.

“We’ve been a mentally disrupted team all season,” Jackson said. “We do good things and then we shoot ourselves in the foot.”

The Rams immediately fumbled again, this time on their 13, and Hunter Landry rushed 9 yards for a touchdown to put Lewiston ahead with 4:36 left in the first quarter.

About two minutes later, on the first play of the Blue Devils’ next possession, Garrett Poussard broke free for a 49-yard score and a 12-0 advantage.

With 9:30 left in the half, Poussard capitalized on an interception with a 4-yard rushing touchdown, and it was 18-0.

“We just kept giving them the ball. Whenever your defense is on the field all the time, it’s hard to stop them,” Jackson said. “But what I just love about Travis Soule is that he sticks with it and plays hard.”

Soule stepped up when it counted. He connected with Luc Harrison on a 4-yard touchdown pass to bring the Rams within 18-6.

It seemed like that would be it for Deering when Soule threw another interception with less than four minutes left, but the Rams forced Lewiston to turn the ball over on downs at the Deering 37.

From there, Soule led the Rams (1-4) downfield with an 18-yard pass to Michael Randall followed by a 22-yard touchdown pass to Wenston Dinizio, which cut Lewiston’s lead to 18-12 with 2:14 left.

“I thought we were done. I’ve never onside kicked in my life,” Habibzai said. “I just kind of hit the tip of the ball and it went right through the guy’s legs.”

Keegan Stanton of Deering recovered the ball to keep the Rams alive before Soule found Onek – a 6-foot-5 junior – for the touchdown.

From the far right corner of the end zone, Onek jumped up and snagged the ball out of the air.

“I just knew we had to win. I did it for my seniors,” Soule said. “I just saw my dad in the stands, and he said it was time to turn it on.”

Soule went 11 of 23 for 102 yards with four interceptions and three passing touchdowns. He rushed for 97 yards.

Taylor Vortherms can be contacted at 791-6417 or

tvortherms@pressherald.com

Twitter: TaylorVortherms

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