Merrimack QB Sahil Mujawar looks to throw on the run while chased by Windham's Robert Hamwey (52) during Friday night's game in Merrimack. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

MERRIMACK – The Merrimack High School football team was in it to win it Friday night, but unfortunately for the Tomahawks, so was Windham’s Reid Lambert.

Lambert came charging across the line of scrimmage to sack ‘Hawks incredible quarterback Sahil Mujawar to foil a potential game-winning 2-point conversion attempt following a Merrimack TD with six seconds left. That sealed a 28-27 win for the Jaguars at Student Memorial Field.

Mujuwar had absolutely no chance on the play, as he was hit as soon as he took the shotgun snap.

Merrimack coach Kip Jackson weighed the options and felt with the ‘Hawks winning the momentum battle, going for a 2-point conversion rather than kick the PAT was the way to go. Hard to argue after seeing the way Mujawar (30 of 51 for 365 yards, 4 TDs, one INT) took the ‘Hawks down the field and into the end zone 82 yards in 2:17 in 11 electrifying plays.

“At that point in time, with us having the momentum, we’d go for two,” Jackson said. “I liked our chances there better than in overtime at that point in time.

“We’d done well so far with our extra points (in this game), but this season we were only 60 percent with extra points. Same thing.”

“Hats off to (Mujawar), 100 percent,” Windham coach Jack Byrne said. “That kid is an unbelievable player. And our guys know it too. Our guys know what good football is. …and Kip’s clock management was perfect. … I feel like I got outcoached.”

But Byrne also knew Lambert made a heckuva play to allow the Jags to escape with the win, improving to 3-2 in Division I, 3-3 overall.

“How many guys when he momentum is that far out of your hands, go ‘Ahhh maybe next year’? Byrne said. “A lot of that stuff at the end is kid driven. That’s all them.”

The Jaguars, who ran all but two plays on offense on the night, had jumped out to a 28-7 lead late in the first half, snapping a 7-7 tie with three straight scores – a 1-yard run by Jack Koutrobis, a 43-yard breakaway run by Michael Brearley, and a 23-yard jaunt by Koutrobis with 2:11 left in the half.

But Mujawar shockingly, beginning with a third and 10 from his own 33 with 48 seconds left, took the ‘Hawks into the end zone with three quick passes, the final one a 9-yard to Josh Ozog with 22 seconds left to help make it a 28-14 game at halftime.

Yes, the Jags didn’t score in the second half, fumbling the ball away twice but Merrimack (2-3 Division I, 2-4 overall) couldn’t take advantage in a scoreless third quarter. But with 6:04 left in the game, Mujawar hit Cayden Dine for a 32-yard TD and Dine’s PAT kick made it 28-21. Things could get interesting, and they did.

A tired Merrimack defense allowed the Jags to drive down to the 10, but a holding call sabotaged the march with about three minutes to go. Windham opted for a 30-yard field goal attempt, but a bad snap botched the play and the ‘Hawks took over on their 18 with 2:23 to play and everyone buckled up for Air Mujawar.

And they got it,as he went 7 for 11 for 74 yards, including a 2-yard TD pass to Ozog with those six ticks left.

“It was a good game for him,” Jackson said of Mujuwar. “I wish it could have finished the last play. We were in our goalline package, they overloaded on that side and made a good play. He was supposed to run.”

“By the end, we had no idea,” Byrne said. “Honestly, it’s just play good football. Any play we guessed right, that kid could make a whole different play out of it.”

But Lambert didn’t let that happen on the biggest play.