Football notebook: Lima Senior, LCC end seasons in second round

Sports High School Sports Top Stories Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp LIMA — Lima Senior’s 27-26 loss to Troy on Friday night followed the script of what an instant classic playoff game looks like, with all the momentum swings, the drama and the highlight plays a spectator would want. It just didn’t have the storybook ending the Spartans envisioned as a final drive fell just short of a last-second victory. With 1:51 to go and Lima Senior down one, Eli Kerber made a freshman-to-freshman connection with Amarri Cheatom for 41 yards, setting up the Spartans at Troy’s 39. Two plays later, on 3rd and 12, Kerber found Jeff Williams streaking across the middle of the field for what appeared to be a first down but when Williams extended the ball toward the marker at the 28-yard line, it popped free and Troy’s Jesse Valdez landed on it to preserve the win. “How do you fault a kid who’s giving everything he’s got to get that extra yard,” Lima Senior coach Bill Lawrence said. “They punched the ball out and we didn’t get on it.” Valdez’s recovery capped a 16-point comeback for the Trojans, who trailed 26-10 late into the third quarter. Landen Adkins recovered a fumble in the end zone on a play that originally went from quarterback Colton Akins to Ethan Kirkpatrick to make it 26-16, then Troy opted to try an onside kick, which was pounced on around the midfield logo with 2:44 left in the third quarter. Five plays later, kicker Matthew Barth, who nailed a 41-yarder earlier in the game, sent a 30-yard field goal through the uprights to make it 26-19. “We talked about that onside kick, and we’ll have to look at our technology to see what happened on that, but we’re not going to make excuses,” Lawrence said. “At the end of the day, we lost the game. We didn’t make enough plays in the end.” Carey runs over LCC SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Brady Parker wanted back in Friday’s playoff football game badly. The Lima Central Catholic quarterback even tried to walk back into the huddle after taking a hit to the head on a run that ended with a targeting penalty against Carey. With just 2:29 left in the fourth quarter and the Thunderbirds trailing by 15, they were set up on the 15-yard line. Some things, LCC coach Colin Stolly said, are more important than winning that playoff football game against Carey on Friday night at Shawnee Stadium. “The way that he looked trying to get up off the ground, I couldn’t put him back in the game,” Stolly said of his senior quarterback. “He was wanting to go back in. It’s just I can’t jeopardize his future when we’re down 15 with two minutes left in the game. We just can’t do that, so you know, that kind of stinks.” The Thunderbirds’ ensuing four tries to score all failed, and on the next play Carey’s Mace Puckett ran 77 yards for a touchdown and the final score in a 35-13 Carey upset over the previously undefeated and second-seeded Thunderbirds (10-1). Carey (8-4), the No. 7 seed in Division VI’s Region 22, faces 11th-seeded Delta (9-3), a 28-0 winner against No. 3-seeded and previously undefeated Woodmore, in the regional semifinals next Friday. “There are a lot of things throughout that game that we didn’t execute and play well, and they did,” Stolly said. “So, that’s what happens. I told our guys after the game, sometimes in life you get punched in the chin, and how you react is what people are going to watch.” The Thunderbirds looked like they’d gotten punched pretty hard already earlier in the game. On his first carry of the game, Carey’s Puckett ran 73 yards, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run for Skylar McFadden that gave the Blue Devils (8-4) the early 7-3 lead. Puckett added a 2-yard touchdown run just before the half and an 18-yard scoring scamper on the first drive of the second half to give Carey a 20-3 lead. Puckett finished the day with 34 carries for 270 yards and four touchdowns. “I preach about the offensive line and the defensive lines,” said Carey coach Jonathon Mershman. “We had some signature drives that I thought were playoff-type drives out there.” O-G shakes off slow start against Buckeye OTTAWA — Following a first half where they did not play their best, the Ottawa-Glandorf Titans rebounded with a solid second half in knocking off Medina Buckeye 28-14 in a Division IV, Region 14 quarterfinal contest at Titan Stadium on Friday night. The win secured a second home game this postseason for the Titans, who will host Clear Fork in a regional semifinal. “We ran what we’ve always run, we just did a better job of doing it,” O-G coach Ben Kaufman said of the second half. Tied at seven at the break, the Titans opened the second half by forcing a quick punt by the Bucks. Pinned inside the 20, it took two explosive plays on the ground from Oscar Salsburey to get O-G near midfield. Six plays later, quarterback Tanner Vogt was able to score from 16 yards out to give the Titans their first lead of the night, one the defense made sure it would never give up. “We came out a little slow, but we made some adjustments at halftime,” said O-G senior Riley Trombley, who led the defensive charge in the second half. “We adjusted to the game speed and played a little bit more physical.” The Titans forced a three-and-out, and it took just two plays to strike again. This time, Vogt used his arm to hook up with a wide open Deegan Miller from 34 yards out to extend their lead to a pair of touchdowns. “That was something he (Vogt) saw that he checked to,” Kaufman said of the touchdown pass. Buckeye did come back with its second 13-play scoring drive of the night. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Denis Shevchenko powered his way in to cut into the Titan lead. Ottawa-Glandorf had a chance to put the game away on the ensuing drive. Bogged down at the Buckeye 15, the Titans brought out Larson Kreinbrink for a 32-yard field goal to get the lead back to two possessions. The attempt sailed just left of the goalpost, giving the Bucks another chance with three-and-half minutes to play. FOOTBALL RESULTS AND SCHEDULE Friday, Nov. 6 Division II, Region 8: No. 5 Troy 27, No. 4 Lima Senior 26 Division III, Region 10: No. 1 Celina 41, No. 8 Revere 10 Division III, Region 10: No. 6 St. Marys 42, No. 3 Cloverleaf 21 Division III, Region 10: No. 4 Wapakoneta 14, No. 12 Padua Franciscan 12 Division V, Region 18: No. 10 Coldwater 35, No. 2 Triway 13 Division V, Region 18: No. 4 Archbold 49, No. 5 Bluffton 7 Division VI, Region 22: No. 7 Carey 35, No. 2 Lima Central Catholic 13 Division VI, Region 22: No. 4 Columbus Grove 22, No. 12 Patrick Henry 8 Division VI, Region 24: No. 9 St. Henry 49, No. 1 Tri-Village 14 Division VI, Region 24: No. 12 Versailles 35, No. 4 Cincinnati College Prep 10 Division VII, Region 26: No. 1 Leipsic 60, No. 8 Pandora-Gilboa 30 Division VII, Region 28: No. 1 Marion Local 49, No. 8 Fort Loramie 0 Division VII, Region 28: No. 7 New Bremen 27, No. 2 Ansonia 12 Division VII, Region 28: No. 4 Minster 49, No. 12 Fort Recovery 7 Friday, Nov. 13 Division III, Region 10: No. 4 Wapakoneta (8-3) at No. 1 Celina (10-1), 7 p.m. Division III, Region 10: No. 6 St. Marys (9-3) at No. 2 Ontario (10-1), 7 p.m. Division IV, Region 14: No. 4 Clear Fork (9-2) at No. 1 Ottawa-Glandorf (11-0), 7 p.m. Division V, Region 18: No. 10 Coldwater (8-4) at No. 3 Eastwood (10-1), 7 p.m. Division VI, Region 22: No. 4 Columbus Grove (10-1) at No. 1 Liberty Center (11-0), 7 p.m. Division VI, Region 24: No. 12 Versailles (8-4) at No. 9 St. Henry (9-3), 7 p.m. Division VII, Region 26: No. 5 Mohawk (11-1) at No. 1 Leipsic (11-0), 7 p.m. Division VII, Region 28: No. 4 Minster (8-3) at No. 1 Marion Local (11-0), 7 p.m. Division VII, Region 28: No. 7 New Bremen (7-5) at No. 3 Riverside (10-2), 7 p.m. Featured Local Savings