BYU quarterback commit Enoch Watson had himself quite a night Friday.
The senior out of Arizona led American Leadership Academy Queen Creek to a comeback 29-28 win over Pinnacle on Friday night, after ALA Queen Creek went into the final quarter trailing 28-9, per Sports360AZ.
How the game-winner happened, though, was quite unique and caused the moment to go viral on social media.
With the Patriots trailing 28-22 and under 30 seconds remaining, Watson dropped back to pass, then was hit as he tried to release a pass.
Watson alertly caught the tipped pass, then weaved his way through the defense to score a touchdown on a play that officially went down as a 22-yard pass to himself, per MaxPreps.
A successful point-after attempt lifted ALA to 4-1 on the season.
An alternate angle of the play showed that the ball appeared to bounce off the helmet of an ALA Queen Creek offensive lineman before Watson caught the deflection and ran for the score.
“I signaled my best receiver on the team (to run) a Dino route to go in the middle, then I got hit and it hit the lineman and I caught it. I just tried to go make a play and score, win the game,” Watson told Sports360AZ’s Jordan Spurgeon, whose video of the touchdown had nearly 33,000 views on X (formerly Twitter) as of Saturday morning.
“... I knew our team was up for the challenge, and that’s what we’re made of. I think we just showed the whole state what we can do.”
Watson threw for three touchdowns, per MaxPreps, including a 99-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter for the game’s first score.
ALA Queen Creek took a 9-7 lead in the second quarter before giving up 21 straight points, including a pick-six by Pinnacle in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, though, Watson and the Patriots defense led the comeback, as the future BYU quarterback threw a pair of touchdown passes to get ALA Queen Creek within a score heading into its final drive.
Who is Enoch Watson?
Watson is rated a three-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings, and the No. 80 QB recruit nationally.
He committed to BYU in June.
Watson’s older brother, Pierson, signed to the Cougars’ 2023 recruiting class as a linebacker.
Enoch Watson had previously played his high school career at Coconino High, but after his family moved, he is playing this year at ALA Queen Creek.
As a senior, Watson is being coached by two former BYU quarterback greats — Ty Detmer is the Patriots’ head coach and Max Hall the offensive coordinator.
The 6-foot-3 Watson plans to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“If he can put all this together, I’ve got a special player here. I’m looking forward to what he does this season and I’m looking forward to what he can do at BYU,” Hall told the Deseret News in early August. “I think he has the size, talent, skill set and leadership ability to really be something special at the next level. My job this year is to get him ready for that.”