Tight end pulls off stunning no-look behind-the-head pass to win game

2022-08-22

Is this the craziest football pass ever? Moment tight end playing his first high school game pulls out a ‘banana in the tailpipe’ throwing a no-look behind-the-head pass to fellow tight end on winning drive

Senior Connor O’Neill was playing his first ever game for Loganville High School
His coach called for an audacious trick play at 3rd-and-long in overtime
Tight end O’Neill hurled the ball in a basketball-style overhead throw to endzone
Fellow tight end Joshua Ruder managed to catch the ball on the 1-yard-line
Loganville scored a touchdown on the next play to win the season opener
Footage of the incredible play went viral and was picked up by SportsCenter

This is the moment a Georgia high school football player pulled off a miraculous trick play to win his team’s season opener in the fourth overtime.

Connor O’Neill was playing his first ever football game for Loganville High School on Friday night when the newbie tight end received the call to attempt one of the most audacious gimmick plays ever devised.

With the score tied at 39-all against Monroe Area and his team facing 3rd-and-long at the 13-yard-line, Loganville coach Brad Smith had almost run out of options.

So he reached to the depths of his bag of tricks and called for the ‘banana in the tailpipe’.

Described by Smith himself as a ‘joking play just to get the kids excited at the end of practice,’ the move involves a tight end dropping back to toss the ball over his head – basketball half-court trick shot style – in the hopes that a receiver can somehow follow the flight of the ball and snatch it to avoid an interception.

And that’s exactly what happened.

At the snap, the quarterback received the ball in the shotgun and handed off to O’Neill, who turned and flung the ball with all his might towards the end zone before fellow tight end Joshua Ruder slid in to take a scarcely believable catch at the 1-yard-line.

Loganville went on to score a touchdown on the next play before stopping Monroe Area’s final offensive drive to start the season off with an incredible victory.

The quarterback received the ball in the shotgun and handed off to tight end Connor O’Neill, who turned and flung the ball with all his might towards the end zone

Fellow tight end Joshua Ruder slid in to take a scarcely believable catch at the 1-yard-line

Coach Smith told local newspaper Athens Banner-Herald his team had practiced the play three times prior to their season opener, only managing to catch the ball once.

‘We practiced it, we drew it up and told them that it’s just a gimmicky play that we’re probably never going to use, but there’s a good chance that when you do stuff like this it’s going to work,’ Smith said.

‘Nobody is expecting it, nobody would remotely think that someone is going to throw it over their head like that toward the end zone.’

Loganville assistant coach Willie Oglesby posted on Twitter after the game, calling on SportsCenter to share the move on its famous ‘Top 10’ plays reel.

‘@SportsCenter this gotta be in the top ten,’ Oglesby tweeted.

Loganville went on to score a touchdown on the next play after the amazing move before stopping Monroe Area’s final offensive drive to start the season off with an incredible victory (Loganville football stadium pictured)

Loganville’s head coach told local newspaper Athens Banner-Herald his team had practiced the play three times prior to their season opener, only managing to catch the ball once (Loganville high school pictured)

His wish was granted as footage of the outstanding high school trick play quickly went viral across social media and was picked up by Barstool Sports, CBS Sports and Fox Sports, as well as SportsCenter.

The comments in response to the footage were largely positive but Smith said he was amused by some users who said he should lose his job for calling such a ridiculous play.

‘I’m right there with you man… but we’re running out of plays to run! It wasn’t desperation, but it was just ”let’s take a chance here, what have we got to lose?”

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