By Stephen Spiewak
MaxPreps.com
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Montgomery Bell Academy (Nashville, Tenn.) head coach Daniel McGugin relied on the gritty play of senior quarterback Spencer Wise, along with a little trickery to defeat Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati, Ohio) 21-6 in Sunday’s first game at the Burger King Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series at Paul Brown Stadium.
Wise threw for 244 yards, including a hook-and-ladder pass in the third quarter that went for a 54-yard touchdown to lead the Big Red to victory.
“That’s something we’ve been running for years. In the past two years we’ve run it four times, and we’ve gone three for four,” McGugin said. “But to do that, you need great players.”
Wise connected with William Tanner, who then made the crucial lateral pass to running back Patrick Crum. The MBA signal caller said he envisioned the play before it happened.
“It’s exciting to see the play in your head before it happens, and then that’s exactly how it happens,” Wise said.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Wise widened the gap, scrambling into the end zone from eight yards out to push the MBA lead to 21-6.
After a sluggish start for both teams, the three-year starter at quarterback led a drive deep into Moeller territory at the start of the second quarter. A completion to Hooper Paty on the one-yard line set up Dent Shillinglaw’s plunge for the game’s first score.
Shillinglaw finished with 42 yards on the ground. Along with Patrick Crum, who ended with 74 yards rushing, he helped keep drives alive and the Moeller defense on the field.
Moeller made some adjustments offensively, replacing quarterback Andrew Hendrix with David Whitehead, and mixing in speedy sophomore running back Eddie Dyer. Whitehead was able to get top wide out Tony Harris involved and eventually set up a Patrick Blanks one-yard touchdown run. A failed extra point left the Crusaders trailing by one after 24 minutes of play.
Getting the ball to start the half did not help the Crusaders keep the momentum. Moeller quickly punted, and MBA embarked on an impressive drive that featured two third down conversions and a quarterback sneak by Wise on fourth down to keep the drive alive.
That’s when McGugin, hoping to catch Moeller off guard, called a timeout and signaled for the hook-and-ladder play.
“We just executed the plan that we made,” Wise said. “The offensive line made big plays and the wide receivers made big plays. There’s not much more you can ask for.”
Moeller suffered from costly turnovers all afternoon, including a fumble in MBA territory by Dyer, who was spelling Blanks.
Rodenburg, who said he used Dyer to take some of the offensive burden off of Banks, thinks his young running back will continue to improve.
“The fumble certainly hurt us, but we’re not going to condemn him,” Rodenburg said.
Wise is one of the few returning starters from a Big Red squad that was last year’s Tennessee Division II start champ, an impressive campaign that included two wins against Nashville-area rival Brentwood Academy.
McGugin said afterward that he was aware of Brentwood Academy’s upset loss to Ravenwood on Friday night, but that MBA still had several major hurdles to clear before their showdown in early October.
“They’re a great program, and deserve the national recognition,” McGugin said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before then.”
The win was McGugin’s first against an out-of-state opponent. In 2006, under former head coach Jeff Rutledge, MBA beat Dunbar and Trinity, both from Kentucky.
Wayne (Ohio) 20, East St. Louis (Ill.) 12
East St. Louis may have been the more heralded team, but on Saturday afternoon, it was Wayne that looked like a team worthy of national acclaim, as it knocked off the Flyers 20-12 in Sunday’s middle game.
The Warriors used a one-two punch of quarterback Braxton Miller and running back Erique Geiger to stun East St. Louis with 20 unanswered points in the second half.
“Our attitude changed,” Wayne head coach Jay Minton said. “In the first half, I don’t think we were starry-eyed because of the stadium, I think we were starry-eyed because it was East St. Louis.”
After one half of play, it appeared that the Flyers might be on their way to victory. On defense, they were in the backfield all half, harassing Miller and stifling Geiger.
Offensively, running back Courtney Moulton was explosive, accounting for both of the team’s scores, and appearing to be unstoppable.
Miller – Wayne’s budding star sophomore quarterback – said that Minton was very calm at half time, despite being down two scores.
“He told us to not let down, keep playing hard, and play like we play in practice,” Miller said.
The message paid immediate dividends. Wayne opened the third quarter with an impressive drive.
Miller connected twice with junior wide out Shawn Whitehurst before hitting a wide open Brock Lundeen for a 29-yard touchdown pass. A missed extra point left the score at 12-6.
Wayne then capitalized on an East St. Louis mistake. Moulton, who finished with 123 yards and two touchdowns, made his only error of the game, fumbling inside the Flyers’ own 15-yard line.
“We put ourselves in bad situations,” East St. Louis head coach Darren Sunkett said. “There is no play call for 1st-and-15, 1st-and-20.”
Less than 30 seconds after their first score, Wayne found the end zone again, this time on a 14-yard scramble by Miller, who finished with one passing and one rushing touchdown, despite the Flyers using two defenders to spy him the entire game. That made the sore 13-12. The Warriors would not allow the Flyers to regain the lead.
Wayne’s second-half defense bent often, but didn’t break. The Flyers’ entered Wayne territory on three different occasions, but each time, they were turned away. Javon Marshall had 11 tackles while Jordan Smith registered 10 to lead the Warriors’ defense.
Applying more pressure with stunts aimed to disrupt the rhythm of Flyers’ quarterback Detchauz Wray dramatically slowed the high powered East St. Louis offense.
“We stopped moving the ball,” East St. Louis star wide receiver Terry Hawthorne said.
Minton was very happy with the performance.
“I love our defense. They don’t get enough credit,” Minton said. “Sometimes people forget that we play great defense.”
With under nine minutes remaining, Wayne tacked on its third score. Taking over on its own 21 after an East St. Louis punt, consecutive long runs by Geiger (28 yards) and Seth Stuart (35 yards), paved the way for Geiger to dart in from 16 yards out, making the score 20-12.
Wayne moves to 2-0 on the season. East St. Louis will look to get a win in its second game against another out-of-state team, St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C.
St. Rita 28 (Ill.), Lakota West (Ohio) 21
After 20 minutes of scoreless, smash-mouth football, St. Rita head coach Todd Kuska decided to try something a little different to open the second half.
Kuska called for an end-round, and running back Kyle Jachim ran 58 yards untouched into the end zone for an early 7-0 lead to catalyze an offensive-filled second half. The Mustangs hung on for an exciting win, 28-21.
“I couldn’t be happier with how it ended,” Kuska said.
The first half was a stalemate, as neither team was successful advancing the ball. After two quarters, Lakota West had only 66 yards; St. Rita, 47.
Both teams came alive in the third quarter. Shortly after Jachim’s touchdown, St. Rita’s Dave Marciano intercepted Lakota West quarterback John Peters and returned it all the way to the Lakota West three-yard line. Dan Dispensa punched it in shortly after and St. Rita led 14-0.
Later in the quarter, the Firebirds responded. Brandon Neal intercepted a wobbling pass by Larry Garrett, giving Lakota West great field position. That set up Stephen Houston’s seven-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 14-7.
It was the only interception Garrett through all game. He finished 10 for 19 for 129 yards and one touchdown.
“For his first varsity start, I thought he played well,” Kuska said.
After forcing St. Rita to punt, Lakota West handed the ball to the shifty Rick Finley, who sprinted down the sideline on the first play of the series for an electric 59-yard touchdown run. The extra point was blocked and the Firebirds trailed 14-13.
The Mustangs turned to the air in order to strike back. Garrett found Dan O’Niell drifting behind two linebackers playing zone, and lofted a ball just above their reach. O’Niell hauled it in and darted into the end zone. St. Rita led 21-13 with less than 10 minutes to play.
“He’s ridiculous,” Garrett said of O’Niell, who finished with six catches for 104 yards.
Lakota West refused to go down without a fight. After St. Rita was called for a roughing the kicker penalty on a fourth-and-long punt attempt by Lakota West from its own end zone, Firebirds running back Stephen Houston ran right up the gut on the Mustang defense and broke free for a 71-yard touchdown run.
Finley, once again showing great speed, got to the outside on the two-point conversion attempt and snuck in to tie the score 21-21 with 5:14 to play.
Playing with a sense of urgency, the Mustangs drove into Lakota West territory. Marciano, who had an outstanding game playing both ways, converted on fourth down for St. Rita, pushing through the Firebirds’ defensive line for a first down.
Kuska kept feeding the hot hand. Once St. Rita reached the 20-yard line, he went to Marciano on three-straight plays, the last of which was the game winner, a four-yard run with just over a minute to play.
Lakota West got the ball back trailing 28-21, but a jarring hit by Erik Rickert on wide receiver Brian Osinski caused a fumble that St. Rita recovered, securing victory for the Mustangs.
The heated contest, which aired live on CBS College Sports, was the finale of the 2008 Herbstreit Varsity Football Series in Ohio. St. Rita, however, can’t wait to return.
“I’m excited about coming back next year,” said Kuska, whose team will play in the 2009 Canton event.