JACKSONVILLE – September 25, 2005, was a significant day for the Marshall Thundering Herd football program.
Three weeks into the NFL season, the Jaguars played the New York Jets.
Making the game compelling: Jacksonville's Byron Leftwich and New York's Chad Pennington – the game's starting quarterbacks – were alumni of a Marshall program that still felt the lingering effects of a plane crash that devastated a university and community.
Flight 932 was returning members of the football program, university leadership and booster club from a game in Greenville, N.C., to Huntington, W. Va., in November of 1970. The plane crashed in bad weather into a hill just short of Tri-State Airport, killing all 75 people on board.
The crash of Flight 932 so devastated the Huntington community that it nearly led to the discontinuation of Marshall's football program.
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Thirty-five years later, folks in Huntington and around the sports world recalled the tragedy and celebrated a program that persevered and produced a pair of NFL-caliber quarterbacks – Pennington and Leftwich – who were taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Leftwich put the Jaguars in a nice spot midway through the first quarter, passing 21 yards for a touchdown to wide receiver Earnest Wilford. Down 10-0, Pennington passed 30 yards to tight end Chris Baker – and a pass interference penalty on safety Deke Cooper set up a touchdown run by Jets running back Jerald Sowell.
The game changed dramatically early in the third quarter when Jets defensive end John Abraham sacked Leftwich, forcing a fumble that defensive tackle James Reed retuned 35 yards for a 14-10 Jets lead.
With the Jaguars trailing 14-13, Jets returner Justin Miller muffed a punt at the Jets 16-yard line. That set up a three-yard touchdown run by Jaguars running back Fred Taylor.
Pennington led a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives, with the Jets tying the game 20-20 with a field goal shortly after wide receiver Reggie Williams fumbled deep in Jaguars territory with three minutes remaining.
Overtime seemed fitting, and the Jets began at their own 31-yard line after Josh Scobee's kickoff. In 2005, overtime was sudden death – and on second down, cornerback Rashean Mathis' interception of a high pass from Pennington seemed to set up a Jaguars victory.
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Three plays later, Leftwich's pass for wide receiver Matt Jones was intercepted by safety Kerry Rhodes at the Jets 12.
Jacksonville's defense this time stuffed the Jets and Pennington, and a holding penalty on Jets left tackle Adrian Jones – who was trying to keep defensive end Paul Spicer from his fourth sack of the day – forced a Jets punt from their one-yard line.
It was not a good punt, and Jaguars returner Alvin Pearman returned it 11 yards to the Jets 34. Taylor lost yards early on the ensuing drive, but that set the stage for a dramatic finish.
Leftwich dropped to pass on third-and-12 from the Jets 36. Pressured by Abraham and Shaun Ellis, he looked for wide receiver Jimmy Smith – who had escaped the coverage of cornerback David Barrett and was racing down the sideline when he hauled in the game-winner.
It was a magnificent pass and put a storybook finish on a game that was probably more meaningful in West Virginia than it ever would be in Florida or New York.