The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Flyers' incredible play falls inches short

Flyers QB Valentino one yard short of school record

By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer 12:13 AM Sunday, November 8, 2009

This was the moment he had been dreaming about — though not just on their last desperate drive or in that very final huddle.

“I didn’t play last season, but I dreamt about this very moment the whole time I was gone,” University of Dayton receiver JMichael Jonard said quietly. “Every day — every time I thought about football — this was it. A play like this.”

Last season — after a 2007 campaign where he caught a then-Flyers’ record 64 passes for 785 yards and six scores — he left campus to go home to Columbus and take care of a personal problem that remains undisclosed.

In the process he took some classes at Otterbein College and clung to the offer from UD coach Rick Chamberlin that the door to Flyers football would remain open if he made his way back.

“Leaving football was one the hardest things I ever had to do in my life,” Jonard said. “I’d watch the games online and I came to a couple of them and just sat in the stands by myself. I’d dream about making a play with time running out that would win it for the team.”

And that’s just how things were playing out at Welcome Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7 as the 7-1 Flyers and 8-0 Butler — Pioneer Football Conference leaders along with Drake — were involved in a thrilling affair that came down to the final play.

Butler led 31-28. The Flyers had the ball in a fourth-and-four situation at the Bulldogs’ 41-yard line with 6.2 seconds and no timeouts left.

UD sent three receivers sprinting to the end zone and left it up to quarterback Steve Valentino — who’d finish with 413 passing yards, one short of the all-time Flyers record — to heave the “Hail Mary” ball, as Chamberlin called it.

Dodging defenders, Valentino launched his prayer from the 45. “Afterward a couple of their guys said they didn’t think I could throw it that far — and I didn’t either,” he admitted.

As the Butler defenders and UD receivers jockeyed in the waiting scrum, Jonard jumped up and corraled the ball at the 1.

“I was surprised that dude was even able to get between our defenders and get the ball,” said Butler safety Spencer Sommerville. Bulldog cornerback Jack McKenna agreed: “When he came down with it, we just all jumped on him.”

The whole pile fell around the goal line and UD players began to celebrate what appeared to be their winning TD.

But the officials made no initial call and Jonard knew.

“When I went up and got the ball, the first thing I did was try to secure it,” the redshirt senior said. “I didn’t know exactly where I was at when I caught it — if I was in the end zone or not — but when I landed my head was on the goal line ... and the ball was not.

“They say football is a game of inches and I was an inch short. Hindsight is 20/20. All I had to do is reach the ball out another two inches.”

His voice dropped to a whisper: “This hurts.”

Chamberlin — who said he doesn’t remember a game ending like this in his 30 years as a Flyers coach — shook his head at Jonard’s critique: “He made a great catch. I know he’s hurting, all the guys are, but we’re not out of this. Now we focus on Drake.”

Maybe so, but especially after last season, Jonard’s attention was still on one play:

“This moment was one I had dreamed about for so long.... Now it’s something I’ll never forget.”

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

As a mother of a Butler football player, I have to say that I would be proud to have a young man like JMichael Jonard on my team. He showed great poise in a tough situation, never blaming others but understanding the reality of the situation. If the tables were turned and my son was the one hurting, I would tell him that while it came down to one final play, it was a whole series of plays that got you there, so don't blame yourself for the loss. You are a winner in my book.

Connie Poss
1:37 AM, 11/10/2009

REPORT ABUSE

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.