Short-Handed Wildcats Scratch And Claw But Come Up Short
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
On paper, Friday night's Three Rivers Conference football battle between archrivals Manchester and Whitko looked like a sleepwalk for Manchester. The 2A 10th-ranked Squires brought in a 2-1 record to face a struggling 0-3 Wildcat team.
When these two rivals meet, you might as well throw out the records.
As if the Wildcats needed any more problems heading into this game, six Whitko players (four starters) were suspended Thursday after they went to Manchester and spread a little too much school spirit.
The heavy underdog Wildcats almost pulled a huge upset, falling to the Squires 35-27 in overtime.
"Our kids played with a lot of heart tonight,' Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger said. "We had some discipline problems and we were playing short-handed."
The Wildcats came out storming on their first possession. The Wildcats went on a 10-play, 64-yard drive that ended on a Trent Burelison 1-yard run.
"We came out of the gate ready to play,' Sprunger added. "We started a lot of younger kids because of the suspensions and they did a great job for us.'
The lead was short for the Wildcats as lightning struck in only 45 seconds for the Squires. The Dynamic Duo of quarterback Klay Bechtold and wide receiver Annon Gaerte struck on a 48-yard pass play that tied the score with 5:25 left in the opening quarter.
"We really are blessed with such great offensive players,' Manchester coach Al Bailey said. "We were able to find Annon on some key situations.'
After Manchester struck quickly, it was strike back time for the Wildcats. Adam Wendel found Adam Hall wide open in the end zone with 59 seconds left to push the heavily underdog Wildcats to a 14-7 lead.
"We really improved from a week ago,' Sprunger added, referring to their 60-6 loss at Southwood. "We ran the ball pretty effectively tonight.'
The Wildcats rushed for 275 yards as Seth Slater led the way with 145 yards on 25 carries.
After carrying a 14-7 lead into the second quarter, lightning struck a second time for the Squires. It took the Squires 10 seconds in the second quarter to tie the score. Junior sensation Josh Peden scored on a 44-yard touchdown run. Peden tore up the Wildcat defense, rushing for 197 yards on 33 carries.
"Give Manchester credit, they ran and threw the ball well,' Sprunger said. "Our secondary hurt us tonight. We will improve, but it takes lessons like this sometimes to get us over the hump.'
The Squires finally took their first lead of the game when Bechtold hooked up with Gaerte again on a 49-yard touchdown pass. The lead was 21-14 heading into intermission.
"Give Whitko some credit,' Bailey added. "They are a lot better football team than their record indicates. They gave us a great game."
The beginning of the third quarter was almost a carbon copy of quarter one. Whitko scored on a four-play, 44-yard drive capped off by a 33-yard touchdown run by Brent Goble. Manchester was beginning to feel the heat.
Talk is cheap in the TRC, and this game was going to be won in the final quarter right? Not exactly. Manchester looked like they had the game in the bag when Peden scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:05 left in the game. Placekicker Kory Rupley missed the extra point, leaving the Squires with a slim 27-21 lead.
Whitko then marched 63 yards on 11 plays and tied the score again on a 2-yard run by Seth Slater. With 27 seconds left on the clock, all the Wildcats needed to do was hit the extra point and send the home crowd home with a huge upset. Again, special teams came up huge. The Wildcats had a bad snap, thus sending this rivalry into sudden death.
"We should have had this one,' Sprunger said. "We fought so hard, with so much adversity."
In high school football, both teams have four downs to score. Manchester received the ball first and scored on fourth and eight. Bechtold hit Tom Hardy with his first reception of the night in a key situation. The Squires then elected to go for two, and again, Bechtold came through, finding a wide-open Chris Lochner in the back of the end zone to give the Squires a 35-27 lead.
"Our confidence really showed in overtime,' Bailey said. "Our kids never quit. They stayed with the gameplan to the end."
After a tense Squire drive, the Wildcats had no other option but to score and then go for two. On third and goal from the one, it looked like Slater crossed the goal line to cut the lead to two, but the referees put the ball on the 1-yard line.
This game came down to one play: fourth and one with the game on the line. What had been a great high school football game was ended on a great play. The Squires pushed Slater out of the end zone on fourth down, thus escaping with a 35-27 win.
"It really looked like we were in on third down,' Sprunger said. "We are playing at home aren't we?"
Manchester had 473 total yards (245 on the ground and 228 in the air), while Whitko had 316 (275 on the ground and 41 in the air).
With the win, the Squires move to 3-1 (2-0 TRC) and host North Miami next week. The tough loss dropped the Wildcats to 0-4 (0-2 TRC), and now they are at Oak Hill next week.
"We need to just keep playing,' Sprunger said. "We are really going to be hungry heading into the Oak Hill game. We are close. We just need to get on the winning track."
Manchester 35, Whitko 27 OT
Manchester 7 14 0 6 8 -Ê35
Whitko 14 0 7 6 0 -Ê27
M W
First downs 15 12
Rushing yards 46-245 47-275
Passing yards 228 41
Comp.-Att.-Int. 8-14-1 5-12-0
Total offense 473 316
Fumbles lost 1-1 1-0
Punts/avg. 0-0 4-38
Penalties/yards 8-70 3-20
First Quarter
W -ÊTrent Burelison 1 run (Thiel kick),6:33, 7-0 W
M - Clay Bechtold to Aaron Gaerte 48 pass, 5:25 (Rupley kick) 7-7
W - Adam Wendel to Adam Hall 9 pass (Thiel kick), :59 14-7 W
Second Quarter
M -ÊJosh Peden 44 run (Rupley kick), 11:50 14-14
M - Klay Bechtold to Aaron Gaerte 49 pass (Rupley kick), 2:11 21-14 M
Third Quarter
W - Brent Goble 33 run (Thiel kick), 7:57 21-21
Fourth Quarter
M - Josh Peden 5 run (kick failed), 5:05 27-21 M
W -ÊSeth Slater 2 run (kick failed), :27 27-27
Overtime
M -ÊKlay Bechtold to Tom Hardy 8 pass (Bechtold to Chris Lockner 2 pt. conversion) 35-27 M
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing - Manchester: Josh Peden 33-197, Gary Young 8-33, John Sommer 3-8, Jon Gratz 2-7. Whitko: Seth Slater 25-145, Brent Goble 10-96, Jeff Shepherd 5-30, Adam Wendel 6-3, Trent Burelison 1-1.
Passing -ÊManchester: Klay Bechtold 8-13-228, Michael Sorg 0-1-0. Whitko: Adam Wendel 5-12-41.
Receiving -ÊManchester: 5-188, Kedric Miller 1-29, Tom Hardy 1-8, Chris Lochner 1-2. Whitko: Brent Goble 1-17, Adam Hall 1-9, J.R. Manuel 1-7, Seth Slater 2-8. [[In-content Ad]]
On paper, Friday night's Three Rivers Conference football battle between archrivals Manchester and Whitko looked like a sleepwalk for Manchester. The 2A 10th-ranked Squires brought in a 2-1 record to face a struggling 0-3 Wildcat team.
When these two rivals meet, you might as well throw out the records.
As if the Wildcats needed any more problems heading into this game, six Whitko players (four starters) were suspended Thursday after they went to Manchester and spread a little too much school spirit.
The heavy underdog Wildcats almost pulled a huge upset, falling to the Squires 35-27 in overtime.
"Our kids played with a lot of heart tonight,' Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger said. "We had some discipline problems and we were playing short-handed."
The Wildcats came out storming on their first possession. The Wildcats went on a 10-play, 64-yard drive that ended on a Trent Burelison 1-yard run.
"We came out of the gate ready to play,' Sprunger added. "We started a lot of younger kids because of the suspensions and they did a great job for us.'
The lead was short for the Wildcats as lightning struck in only 45 seconds for the Squires. The Dynamic Duo of quarterback Klay Bechtold and wide receiver Annon Gaerte struck on a 48-yard pass play that tied the score with 5:25 left in the opening quarter.
"We really are blessed with such great offensive players,' Manchester coach Al Bailey said. "We were able to find Annon on some key situations.'
After Manchester struck quickly, it was strike back time for the Wildcats. Adam Wendel found Adam Hall wide open in the end zone with 59 seconds left to push the heavily underdog Wildcats to a 14-7 lead.
"We really improved from a week ago,' Sprunger added, referring to their 60-6 loss at Southwood. "We ran the ball pretty effectively tonight.'
The Wildcats rushed for 275 yards as Seth Slater led the way with 145 yards on 25 carries.
After carrying a 14-7 lead into the second quarter, lightning struck a second time for the Squires. It took the Squires 10 seconds in the second quarter to tie the score. Junior sensation Josh Peden scored on a 44-yard touchdown run. Peden tore up the Wildcat defense, rushing for 197 yards on 33 carries.
"Give Manchester credit, they ran and threw the ball well,' Sprunger said. "Our secondary hurt us tonight. We will improve, but it takes lessons like this sometimes to get us over the hump.'
The Squires finally took their first lead of the game when Bechtold hooked up with Gaerte again on a 49-yard touchdown pass. The lead was 21-14 heading into intermission.
"Give Whitko some credit,' Bailey added. "They are a lot better football team than their record indicates. They gave us a great game."
The beginning of the third quarter was almost a carbon copy of quarter one. Whitko scored on a four-play, 44-yard drive capped off by a 33-yard touchdown run by Brent Goble. Manchester was beginning to feel the heat.
Talk is cheap in the TRC, and this game was going to be won in the final quarter right? Not exactly. Manchester looked like they had the game in the bag when Peden scored on a 5-yard touchdown run with 5:05 left in the game. Placekicker Kory Rupley missed the extra point, leaving the Squires with a slim 27-21 lead.
Whitko then marched 63 yards on 11 plays and tied the score again on a 2-yard run by Seth Slater. With 27 seconds left on the clock, all the Wildcats needed to do was hit the extra point and send the home crowd home with a huge upset. Again, special teams came up huge. The Wildcats had a bad snap, thus sending this rivalry into sudden death.
"We should have had this one,' Sprunger said. "We fought so hard, with so much adversity."
In high school football, both teams have four downs to score. Manchester received the ball first and scored on fourth and eight. Bechtold hit Tom Hardy with his first reception of the night in a key situation. The Squires then elected to go for two, and again, Bechtold came through, finding a wide-open Chris Lochner in the back of the end zone to give the Squires a 35-27 lead.
"Our confidence really showed in overtime,' Bailey said. "Our kids never quit. They stayed with the gameplan to the end."
After a tense Squire drive, the Wildcats had no other option but to score and then go for two. On third and goal from the one, it looked like Slater crossed the goal line to cut the lead to two, but the referees put the ball on the 1-yard line.
This game came down to one play: fourth and one with the game on the line. What had been a great high school football game was ended on a great play. The Squires pushed Slater out of the end zone on fourth down, thus escaping with a 35-27 win.
"It really looked like we were in on third down,' Sprunger said. "We are playing at home aren't we?"
Manchester had 473 total yards (245 on the ground and 228 in the air), while Whitko had 316 (275 on the ground and 41 in the air).
With the win, the Squires move to 3-1 (2-0 TRC) and host North Miami next week. The tough loss dropped the Wildcats to 0-4 (0-2 TRC), and now they are at Oak Hill next week.
"We need to just keep playing,' Sprunger said. "We are really going to be hungry heading into the Oak Hill game. We are close. We just need to get on the winning track."
Manchester 35, Whitko 27 OT
Manchester 7 14 0 6 8 -Ê35
Whitko 14 0 7 6 0 -Ê27
M W
First downs 15 12
Rushing yards 46-245 47-275
Passing yards 228 41
Comp.-Att.-Int. 8-14-1 5-12-0
Total offense 473 316
Fumbles lost 1-1 1-0
Punts/avg. 0-0 4-38
Penalties/yards 8-70 3-20
First Quarter
W -ÊTrent Burelison 1 run (Thiel kick),6:33, 7-0 W
M - Clay Bechtold to Aaron Gaerte 48 pass, 5:25 (Rupley kick) 7-7
W - Adam Wendel to Adam Hall 9 pass (Thiel kick), :59 14-7 W
Second Quarter
M -ÊJosh Peden 44 run (Rupley kick), 11:50 14-14
M - Klay Bechtold to Aaron Gaerte 49 pass (Rupley kick), 2:11 21-14 M
Third Quarter
W - Brent Goble 33 run (Thiel kick), 7:57 21-21
Fourth Quarter
M - Josh Peden 5 run (kick failed), 5:05 27-21 M
W -ÊSeth Slater 2 run (kick failed), :27 27-27
Overtime
M -ÊKlay Bechtold to Tom Hardy 8 pass (Bechtold to Chris Lockner 2 pt. conversion) 35-27 M
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing - Manchester: Josh Peden 33-197, Gary Young 8-33, John Sommer 3-8, Jon Gratz 2-7. Whitko: Seth Slater 25-145, Brent Goble 10-96, Jeff Shepherd 5-30, Adam Wendel 6-3, Trent Burelison 1-1.
Passing -ÊManchester: Klay Bechtold 8-13-228, Michael Sorg 0-1-0. Whitko: Adam Wendel 5-12-41.
Receiving -ÊManchester: 5-188, Kedric Miller 1-29, Tom Hardy 1-8, Chris Lochner 1-2. Whitko: Brent Goble 1-17, Adam Hall 1-9, J.R. Manuel 1-7, Seth Slater 2-8. [[In-content Ad]]