Mike McElroy described it as “one of the most emotionally-charged five minutes of my life.”
Bethel led Susquehanna by four in the final minute of the NCAA Division-III quarterfinal in Pennsylvania last December when Susquehanna lined up for a 4th and goal attempt from the 1 yard line.
A stop would send the Royals to the semifinals. Josh Ehrlich ran the ball and was stood up at the goalline. Was he in? If so, it was by the smallest of margins. But the official deemed Ehrlich did enough to cross the plane and put Susquehanna in front with 40 seconds to play.
That left Bethel firmly on the ropes. But three Cooper Drews completions in short order on the Royals’ final possession put Bethel on the opposing 31 yard line.
The Royals had a shot. McElroy recalled the chatter on the headset: Joey Kidder was getting 1 on 1 coverage on the outside. Bethel decided to go his direction.
Drews found Kidder in the end zone near the front pylon to rally the Royals to a miraculous victory.
“Holy smokes, we did it,” McElroy thought to himself.
Not so fast.
“Oh my goodness, there’s a flag,” he realized.
Bethel was called for holding. The touchdown was negated. Royals players who rushed the field in celebration were escorted off. Initially, officials ruled the game was over. Eventually, after a lengthy discussion the Royals were given one final down. It was unsuccessful.
Bethel went from appearing to have clinched a national semifinal bid in one moment to eliminated the next.
“Obviously, ended up being on the wrong side of that whole deal. Super unfortunate,” Drews said. “I think it was really sad for our guys, because that’s how we end our season? That’s how we go out? … It definitely stings. After that, I was kind of in disbelief for a little bit.”
A year later, here the fourth-ranked Royals (12-0) are again – back in the quarterfinals, this time as an undefeated team with a date with top-ranked North Central (12-0) at noon Saturday in Naperville, Illinois on deck.
“Being back in the elite eight, same round last year as that whole situation, it definitely brings that stuff back up,” Drews said.
But did it ever really go away? Perhaps the pain does. The lessons don’t.
Drews recalled the best thing the coaches said to the players in the aftermath. The holding call would be the play they remembered. But there were many other players that could’ve been made to avoid that situation altogether.
The challenge moving forward was deciphering how the Royals could reach a point where it wouldn’t come down to an official’s single decision? As a quarterback, Drews feels he’s developed an understanding of the moments that win or lose games, and when they’re in the balance.
“We had chances to take that game and put it out of reach (last year),” he said, “and we just didn’t do that.”
Drews is a better player for it. The same is true for the entire program. That was the message in the immediate aftermath of last year’s heartbreak.
“I said it to our guys afterwards, we talk all the time about how tough stuff grows us, and now we get to actually practice it,” McElroy said. “So I think it’s been fun for our guys of, ‘Alright, we talk about this stuff, now are we going to do it?’ I think it grew us as a program of, ‘Yeah, that was hard, and life is not fair.’”
But no one cares. No one feels sorry for you. Folks building you up while you’re receiving accolades may not be found when the results don’t go your way.
It’s why while Bethel’s program is centered on joy, it’s not joy derived from results. If your circumstances affect your mood, McElroy noted the team will be “fragile.”
“Joy is not dictated by my circumstances or playing time or how many catches I had. It’s got to be deeper than that. Otherwise you will ride the rollercoaster and you will be pretty fragile,” he said. “Just really proud of our guys who’ve really embraced this idea that we’re going to choose to be joyful guys who are rooted in something deeper than our stats and our outcomes. Yeah, we want to be really good and we want to compete at a high level.
“But, man, if you let the scoreboard tell you how you feel, you’re not going to last very long in this profession or as an athlete.”
Tough things happen. McElroy noted that’s true in all phases of life. It only gets harder as people become husbands and fathers.
“How do you respond when you kind of get punched in the face?” he asked.
The way his team responded: Like champions.
Bethel’s defense was entirely reshuffled last offseason via graduation and the transfer of star safety Matt Jung to Wisconsin. The standout receiving core largely graduated. At the season’s outset, McElroy said the Royals roster featured six guys who started more than two games the year prior.
“I remember the first lift we had in the offseason period, and it was like, ‘Gosh, this is weird. Where is everyone?’” Drews said. “All these different faces and younger guys, I was like, ‘Gosh, we are young.’”
But they didn’t mean the Royals wouldn’t be good. As McElroy often tells his players: “We don’t rebuild, we reload.” But less from talent acquisition than talent development. McElroy defined cultivation as taking “something fragile with potential and putting it into an environment where it can flourish.”
That’s taking place on a daily basis in Arden Hills. This season alone, McElroy has watched players – particularly on the defensive side of the ball – spread their wings and fly to new heights ahead of even the schedule he had built into his mind.
It’s a result of what the coach called “A long obedience in the same direction.”
“We are going to slowly build this thing in the correct way with guys who are going to be diligent and really care about the type of player they’re becoming and the type of man they’re becoming,” McElroy said. “I think what that does, you see the fruit of it now. … Really proud of the guys. They’ve stayed in. They’ve chosen this place. They’ve chosen us.”
Guys grow and develop as players and people. That’s what McElroy and his staff encourage – creating a bond with people so strong you’re willing to lay down your wants and desires for the betterment of the whole.
That – win or lose – is choosing joy.
Which, from Drews, stems from his love of the game and those with whom he shares it on a daily basis. That’s been cultivated within a Bethel football team he described as “the most loving and vulnerable group of guys I’ve been around.”
“You don’t think of football in a loving, vulnerable way. But this program really brings that out of you and calls you to be like that,” he said. “Those factors allow us to be really close to each other, and that allows us to push each other, hold each other accountable.
“And then you get the results on the field from that. But it all spurs off the culture of this place.”
