On Monday, you would’ve thought you were watching a high-school football team win its final game of the season… You had all the components.. An underdog football team, a star running back, the captain of the cheerleaders, and of course the win.

During the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Boise State won the game over The Oklahoma Sooners in a series of trick plays, that in my opinion, was probably in the top 5 greatest bowl games ever played.

Here’s how the series of events played out.

Boise State blew an 18-point lead midway through the third quarter, then twice rallied from seven-point deficits.

The Broncos appeared to be finished when Oklahoma cornerback Marcus Walker intercepted Zabransky’s pass and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown to put the Sooners ahead 35-28 with 1:02 remaining.

The magic came on a stunning 50-yard touchdown play on fourth-and-18 in the final seconds of regulation. Zabransky hit Drisan James at Oklahoma’s 35, and James pitched the ball to Jerard Rabb, who raced into the end zone with 7 seconds to play.

That play merely set the stage for more Broncos magic.

Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson opened the overtime with a 25-yard touchdown run. It may have been the final college play for Peterson, who ran for 77 yards and two touchdowns in his first game since breaking his left collarbone Oct. 14.

The Broncos answered with Vinny Perretta’s fourth-down touchdown pass to Derek Schouman. With Boise State down by a point, Petersen decided to go for the victory.

On the decisive play, Zabransky looked at three wide receivers to his right, then handed the ball behind his back to tailback Ian Johnson, who raced untouched into the end zone.

Moments after Johnson ended the game, he asked his girlfriend, Broncos cheerleader Chrissy Popadics, to marry him.

In football lingo, a hook and lateral play to tie the game and send it to overtime, a touchdown run by Adrian Peterson for the Oklahoma Sooners, an option pass by a wide receiver to put Boise State 1 point behind, then a Statue of Liberty play to win the game, and a successful proposal to top off the story book game….

Even if you weren’t a football fan or even a sports fan, you knew that this game was special.

In my words. INSPIRATIONAL.

More atBoise State Football, New York Times

Photos courtesy of broncosports.com