As the Montgomery County football season comes down to its final weeks, Evan Abercrombie is setting his sights on breaking the school record for the longest field goal.

The Montgomery County senior came just three yards short of a school record after kicking a season-best 42-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter in the Wildcats’ come-from-behind, 42-28 win over the Greenville (Ill.) Comets at Jim Blacklock Field on Oct. 1. The record is 45 yards that was set by Luke Longstreet about a decade ago.

“Obviously, he’s one of the better kickers I’ve ever had as a football coach,” MCHS coach John Klekamp said. “I’m super proud of him. He has put in a lot of time and effort.”

Abercrombie’s long field goal cut Greenville’s lead to 28-18 at halftime and gave the Wildcats a big boost of confidence in the second half. MCHS outscored the Comets 24-0 in the second half.
“We made some changes and some big game adjustments with our running game,” Abercrombie said. “I felt really good going into the second half. I really just saw the game with a fresh set of eyes and approached it like it was 0-0.”

With the victory over Greenville, the Wildcats won their second game in a row and improved to 4-2 with three regular season games remaining. MCHS will play a road game against Mark Twain at 7 p.m. on Oct. 8.

The 42 points against Greenville tied a season-high mark that was set against Wright City in a Week 5 game on the road.

“It was pretty cool,” Abercrombie said. “It was a little nerve-racking at first because you didn’t know what they had to offer and you didn’t know what they brought to the table. Coach (Klekamp) does a great job preparing us, crunching numbers and statistics and putting us in the best position to win. I felt really confident going into this game that the coaching staff was going to put us in the right position.”

Abercrombie finished with a season-high three field goals against the Comets (4-2), giving him six on the season. He kicked a 28-yard field goal with just two seconds into the second quarter that gave MCHS a 9-0 lead. He kicked a 32-yard field goal with 2:18 to go in the third quarter that tied the game at 28-28.

“Last year, Evan really put in a lot of time and effort into working on his kicking game,” Klekamp said. “I told him going into last year that if the snap is good and we have a good holder, we’re going to go for the field goal.”

Senior Logan Hutcheson scored a pair of touchdowns, giving him six on the season. He scored a 40-yard touchdown run with just 35 seconds into the game to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead. His 49-yard touchdown run with 10:13 left in the third quarter cut Greenville’s lead to 28-25.

Senior Keenan James gave MCHS a 35-28 lead with 23 seconds into the fourth quarter, when he caught a 90-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Adam Czerniewski. James now has four touchdowns this season.

“We always mess with Keenan because Keenan is our guy who comes in and has this ability to make plays,” Klekamp said. “He’s been doing that for us this year.”

The Wildcats got a touchdown from senior Ty Leu later in the fourth to increase their lead to 42-28.

Junior Dominic Luttrell also scored a touchdown for MCHS. His 43-yard touchdown catch with 2:37 to go in the second quarter cut Greenville’s lead to 21-15.

The Wildcats celebrated Hero Night in the contest against Greenville. They honored all of the military veterans at halftime.

“I think a lot of people forgot what this night was all about,” Abercrombie said. “It’s about the people serving our community. They don’t get a whole lot of recognition for it. This was a really important game for us just to show our appreciation.”