Video: Defensive tackle picks off spike attemptBrian Zahn of Gillett (Wis.) makes a play you've probably never seen before.We've seen some amazing football receptions before. And interceptions.
But never, at any level, have we seen a catch that 6-foot-2, 200-pound
Gillett (Wis.) senior defensive tackle
Brian Zahn pulled off in a 30-6 loss to
Crivitz on Friday.
Late in the first half, Crivitz quarterback
Sebastian Atwood, attempting to kill the clock, spiked the ball straight down — with authority, even.
Somehow, Zahn, anticipating the spike, made a diving attempt and somehow got his hands underneath the ball to make the seen-to-be-believed interception.
Odell Beckham Jr., Willie Mays, Jim Edmonds, Lynn Swann and Calvin Johnson have nothing on this catch. Everything had to be perfectly timed. He had far less than a second to brace for the ball that was fired at such a high velocity.
Simply spectacular.
Zahn told MaxPreps Monday that two plays earlier, he noticed that when Atwood spiked the ball, it bounced up and hit him in the hip.
"It was so close to me, I thought to myself, 'If he does it again, I should just try to catch it,'" said Zahn, a three-sport standout at the small Northern Wisconsin school. "What have I got to lose?"
On the interception, Zahn was chop-blocked at the line and just dove where he thought Atwood might spike it and put his hands out.
"I couldn't believe it landed in my hands," he said. "I just got lucky. I can't believe the referee noticed too."
A student with a 4.14 GPA and the team's starting center, long snapper and defensive tackle, Zahn made his own luck, said his coach Rick Kamps.
"In more than 20 years of coaching, I've not only never seen anyone make that play, but even attempt it," Kamps said. "I don't think anyone has probably ever considered it. ... I had a totally delayed reaction when it happened. I was watching, but it was like, 'What just happened?' I couldn't believe it. No one could."
Zahn said he never ever considered trying to intercept a spike until the first one hit him in the hip.
"If I tried it a thousand times, I don't think I could make that play again," he said. "I think it was just a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
