AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University football team pulled off the most unlikely of victories on Saturday night, kicking a game-winning field goal as time expired to claim a 32-31 win over the Royals of Warner University. The Gyrenes drove the length of the field in the final moments of the contest following a dramatic turn of events that saw AMU get a second chance to win the game.

Ave Maria head coach Joe Patterson said his staff has been preaching resilence all season, and Saturday's game proved to be exhibit A.

"We always harp on effort, and we all believe it to be true, but sometimes we get such obvious proof that it's true," Patterson said. "The effort... shown really underscores the idea of competitive spirit."

Warner scored first on Saturday night, taking the first drive of the game deep into AMU territory before settling for a 25-yard field goal from Santiago Tovar. Ave Maria's first drive also yielded points, as a seven-play, 64 yard drive ended with a two-yard touchdown run from Charles Philias. The entirety of the first quarter was encompassed by two Warner drives and the touchdown drive from the Gyrenes.

The Royals reclaimed the lead on their second drive, taking eleven plays to march 80 yards for their first touchdown. Dylan Blair found Trevon Jackson for an eight-yard score with 13:14 to play in the half, giving the Royals a 10-7 lead. The teams combined for 17 points in the final five minutes of the half, as Ave Maria scored on a Philias run and a field goal, while a 39-yard touchdown run from Javon Wilson accounted for WU's score. The late surge sent the game to halftime even at 17.

Ave Maria took the lead back on their first drive of the second half, a drive that took just seven plays to travel 65 yards. Will Tate tossed his first and only touchdown, a 25-yarder to Christian Jourdain, to give AMU a 23-17 lead. The Royals would then score twice to open up a 31-23 lead, finding the endzone on a pair of touchdown passes from Blair - one to Jackson and a 67-yarder to Keon Brown.

AMU got back within two points with 6:59 to play, as Christian Przybysz punched it in from one yard out after a 56-yard drive. The ensuing conversion was unsuccessful, keeping the score at 31-29. After an intercepted by Dylan Bryan, the Gyrenes drove to the Warner 21-yard line to set up one of the most memorable plays in program history. 

With under two minutes to play, the snap on an attempted go-ahead field goal was errant, and was picked up by Warner's Keon Brown. Brown raced inside the AMU 10, but was chased down by Philias, who forced and recovered a fumble to give more life to the Gyrenes, who now faced first down at their own nine. 

On their own nine, Will Tate completed five passes in a row to move Ave Maria down to the Warner five-yard line. With three seconds left, Derek McCormick completed the improbable ending by drilling a 25-yard field goal as time expired.

Patterson said that despite the earlier struggles in the special teams game, the Gyrenes had full confidence in their kicker.

"We have tremendous faith in the McCormick brothers, and based on the evidence that they exhibit on a daily basis, the team has tremendous faith in them," Patterson said. "There was no doubt that we want games to end in those situations."

Including the 83 yards on the final drive, Tate drew for 327 yards, completing 19 of his 27 passes. His favorite target was Christian Jourdain, who had four catches for 100 yards. Three other Gyrenes - Kevon O'Connor, Roman Newkirk, and Quino Mauricette, had at least three catches. Defensively, Jalyn Robinson, Stephen Killop, and Shane O'Brien all had six tackles in the victory.

The Gyrenes now head into their bye week, and will get two weeks to prepare for their conference road opener against the Warriors of Webber International University on October 10.