Zach Washington stood near his own 20-yard line.

With his St. Francis team in desperate need of a big play, Washington fielded a kickoff and changed the tide of Saturday afternoon’s game against Morgan Park in a matter of 15 seconds.

The senior wide receiver took the return for an 81-yard touchdown to fuel St. Francis to the first of its three second half touchdowns in a 35-28 come-from-behind victory over Morgan Park at Gately Stadium in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.

“We needed a big play to get the energy back up,” said Washington, who also caught a touchdown in the first half. “We wanted this one bad. When you get to this point in the season, every game could be your last. We know what type of team we are and knew what we had to do.”

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