BEREA, Ohio -- Cade York smashed the 58-yard field goal try. With the ball only halfway to the goal post, York stopped watching. He already knew it was good. So he turned away, threw his arms in the air, then pumped his right arm.

“I usually say I don't celebrate kicks,” York said after the 26-24 Browns win, “but that one was a little bit different.”

On Sunday in Carolina, Cleveland’s rookie place-kicker booted through one of the biggest field goals in recent franchise history.

“A rare performance for a rookie,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said of York, who converted all three of his other field goal attempts as well. “Pretty unprecedented.”

Cleveland needed every single one of York’s field goals.

Before the booming game-winning kick, the Browns were on the verge of a disastrous defeat. Former Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield had engineered a furious fourth-quarter rally to put the Panthers up 24-23.

With a little over a minute left, Stefanski told quarterback Jacoby Brissett he just needed to get to the Panthers' 40-yard line, to give York a shot.

Brissett, who had an up-and-down Cleveland debut filling in for suspended quarterback Deshaun Watson, delivered on the final drive -- thanks to a little help.

On the first snap, Panthers defensive end Brian Burns was flagged for roughing the passer while engaged with Browns left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. Two short Brissett completions later, the Browns were in Carolina territory. Officials decided not to penalize Brissett for an illegal fake spike. And after another short completion to receiver Amari Cooper, the Browns were at the Panthers' 40-yard line with 8 seconds to play.

According to York, he had one of the worst pregame warm-ups of his career before Sunday's game. Throughout training camp and before preseason games, York regularly nailed field goals from 50-plus yards out.

Going into his NFL debut, he kept swinging his kicks wide left.

“I took that mentality and just said, ‘All right, screw it. ... do what you know how to do,’” York said. “So [the pregame warm-up] wasn't really in my mind, especially by [the time of the final kick] I had already hit three field goals. ... so [pregame] wasn't really a thought.”

Stefanski said he was aware that York had struggled in pregame. And on Cleveland’s opening drive, which stalled out at the Carolina 36-yard line, Stefanski kept York on the sideline and opted to go for it on fourth down instead. Stefanski said he wanted to give York a chance to ease into the game.

But the Browns drafted York in the fourth round this year for late-game opportunities like the one Sunday. General manager Andrew Berry said in the offseason the team coveted York’s talented leg, but the reason they invested such a high pick in a kicker was because of York’s mentality which was underscored by the LSU-record, 57-yard field goal he once drilled in the fog to beat No. 6-ranked Florida in 2020.

“Confidence is just doing it,” York said. “It's not that you’re never nervous or you don’t have doubt. It's just in that moment, being able to turn all that anxiety and nervousness into drive and confidence and being able to push all the outside noise out and be able to step up in those types of situations.”

York stepped up big. Making the longest Browns field goal since 1984. Lifting Cleveland to its first Week 1 win since 2004.

A moment Brissett called “special.” And a kick he termed “unbelievable.”

“He came through,” Brissett said of York’s game-winner. “Looking forward to more of them.”