NORTH ROBINSON — It’s been a long time since Upper Sandusky’s studentsection had the opportunity to celebrate on the Colonel Crawford footballfield, but that’s exactly what happened Friday night after the Rams pulledoff a 30-29 overtime stunner against the Eagles.
Trailing 29-22 in overtime, Upper Sandusky scored a touchdown on a 5-yardpass from quarterback Kaden Holman to receiver Evan Hill to make it 29-28.Upper Sandusky coach Russell Hall then called timeout to decide whether ornot to go for a two-point conversion to win the game.
“I talked to my coaches, and as a group, Coach Fitz (Seth Fitzgerald) had agreat two-point play that he had that we’ve practiced before,” Hall said.“He said, ‘Oh, I’ve got it. He¹ll be wide open,’ and sure enough, he was right.”
On the two-point conversion play, Holman faked to the right, then turnedand found Brady Hart off the left side of the offensive line. Hart caughtthe ball and dashed into the end zone for the win.
“What was going through my head was, ‘Oh, please just catch the ball,’ but once I caught the ball, it was gonna have to take their whole team to take medown, maybe more,” Hart said. “I was just thinking catch it and run as hardas I can. Once I caught it, I was thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, just don¹t falldown. Get in there. We’re winning this game.’ It was awesome. It was ablast.”
The game-winning conversion was the only time Hart touched the ball allgame.
“(Going for two) was the same move I would have made,” Colonel Crawfordcoach Jake Bruner said. “We told our guys that if they score, they’re goingfor two and we were prepared for it and Upper Sandusky did a great jobexecuting the play.”
For coach Hall, this was the type of performance he’s been hoping to see outof his players all season.
“This is what this coaching staff has been waiting for, for us to come outand finally execute against a great Crawford team,” Hall said. “Execution.We’ve been preaching that for years and it’s fantastic to see. I told themearlier this season and this week that Crawford wins because they don¹t makemistakes. They out-execute people, and to play with Crawford and to beat‘em, you have to out-execute ‘em. They really took on that challenge.”
Both teams took advantage of mistakes early as Upper Sandusky (3-4, 2-2Northern 10 Athletic Conference) and Colonel Crawford (5-2, 2-2) lostthree fumbles each in the game. Colonel Crawford fumbled five times intotal, including losing the ball to the Rams on the opening kickoff and thenlosing another fumble on first-and-goal on its opening drive.
“The two early turnovers in the first half for us — any time you turn theball over, you lose a possession and with Upper, they¹re just a reallygood offensive team, so those possessions really add up in the end,” Brunersaid.
Upper Sandusky moved the ball well against the Eagles, but had three firsthalf drives end with fumbles and one drive end in a turnover on downs.“When we made mistakes, we didn¹t hang our heads,” Hall said. “They tookcoaching and came back the very next play, which is always the mostimportant play in football.”
Colonel Crawford jumped out to a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter whenEagles quarterback Kamryn Lohr found receiver Ryan McMichael for a 9-yardpassing touchdown.
The Eagles built on their lead in their next possession on a three-play,76-yard drive. A 34-yard run by Trevor Vogt was followed by a 12-yard runfrom Matt Clinard and then was capped off by a 30-yard passing score fromLohr to Tanner Dyer. A two-point conversion on a trick play with Lucas Foypassing to Jacob Maddy made it 15-0, which was the halftime score.
The Rams got on the board on their third possession of the second half afterrecovering Colonel Crawford¹s third lost fumble.
Holman converted a pair of fourth downs on the drive, including a 6-yardpass to Gavin Fry to make it 15-7 after Aaron Flowers made the extra point.Colonel Crawford responded with a six-play, 70-yard drive that resulted in a4-yard touchdown run from Micah Thomas to make it 22-7, but the Rams weren¹tdone.
After the teams traded punts, Upper Sandusky started a drive on its own45. On first down, Holman prepared to throw the ball, then tookoff nearly untouched down the right sideline for a 55-yard score.
“That play kind of broke down,” Holman said. “I didn¹t know what I wasdoing. I scrambled and found a hole and I was like, ‘Holy crap. There¹s wideopen grass.’ They caught me at the end zone, and I dove for the pylon. It wascrazy.”
Another Flowers extra point made it 22-14 and Upper Sandusky was back within one score.
Up eight points, the Eagles drove the ball to the Rams 12 beforestalling out. Colonel Crawford elected to attempt a 30-yard field goal, butkicker Braxton Morton’s attempt was wide left.
“Every time we thought we were in a position to put the game away, wedidn’t,” Bruner said. “Even in the first half, we’re up 15-0, we’re drivingthe ball and we couldn’t put another score on and they got back in it.”
The Rams then took over on their own 20 with three minutes to playand all of their timeouts.
Holman drove his team to the Colonel Crawford 25, where a pair ofincomplete passes set up fourth-and-8 with 20 seconds left and no timeouts.Holman tossed the ball near the goal line, where Evan Hill caught it and wastackled on the 1.
The Rams offense scrambled to get set, and with Colonel Crawford expectingHolman to spike the ball and stop the clock, Holman instead snapped it andpushed up the middle for a touchdown with 11 secondsremaining in the game.
“They thought we were spiking it and the (Colonel Crawford) middlelinebackers were standing up, so I just ran up the middle,” Holman said. “Ididn¹t even tell my line what I was doing.”
Needing a two-point conversion to tie the game, Holman ran a bootleg to hisleft, turned back to his right, shook off what would have been a game-endingsack, then found Levi Lamb in the corner of the end zone to tie the game.
“We knew that Upper Sandusky’s receivers and quarterback wereextraordinary,” Bruner said. “They’re a quick-fire offense. They’re just apotent offense.”
In overtime, Lohr ran for a 20-yard touchdown on Colonel Crawford’s firstplay, but the Eagles kicked the extra point, giving the Rams the chance to win the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion.
Upper Sandusky had success both passing and running the ball. Lamb led allrushers with 135 yards on the ground. Frey caught 11 passes for 48 yards anda score while Evan Hill caught six passes for 82 yards and a touchdown.
Holman accounted for all four Rams touchdowns, rushing for 71 yards and two touchdowns, and passing for 193 yards and a pair of scores without throwing an interception.
“Hands down this was the best we’ve played for four quarters and then some,”
Hall said. “Hats off to the offensive line. They¹ve really worked to getbetter. It was a great effort.”
Hall said he hopes the victory will help rally the Upper Sandusky communitybehind his team.
“It¹s great for the community,” he said. “I think a lot of people werecounting us as not very good and we¹ve been telling people that we couldhave easily won a lot more games this season. We played clean for the mostpart. I¹m really proud of the boys.”
Next up, Upper Sandusky will look to build a winning streak as it hostsBuckeye Central at 7 p.m. Friday for homecoming.
Box score
Score by quarters
Upper Sandusky 0 0 7 15 8 — 30
Colonel Crawford 7 8 0 7 7 — 29
Scoring summary
First quarter
CC — McMichael 9 pass from Lohr (Morton kick) 1:30.
Second quarter
CC — Dyer 30 pass from Lohr (Maddy pass from Foy) 11:23.
Third quarter
US — Frey 6 pass from Holman (Flowers kick) 2:03.
Fourth quarter
CC — Thomas 4 run (Morton kick) 11:26.
US — Holman 55 run (Flowers kick) 7:49.
US — Holman 1 run (Holman pass to Lamb) 0:11.
Overtime
CC — Lohr 20-yard run (Morton kick).
US — Evan Hill 5 pass from Holman (Hart pass from Holman).
Individual statistics
Passing
Upper Sandusky: Holman 25-39-0 193. Colonel Crawford: Lohr 4-7-0 70.
Rushing
Upper Sandusky: Lamb 24-135; Holman 15-71, Ward 1-2.
Colonel Crawford: Clinard 17-112; Lohr 17-74, Dyer 7-69, Thomas 3-43, Vogt 1-34.
Receiving
Upper Sandusky: Frey 11-48, Ev. Hill 6-82, Et. Hill 3-18, Francis 3-8; Lamb 2-37.
Colonel Crawford: McMichael 2-32, Dyer 1-30, Clinard 1-8.
Team statistics
US CC
First downs 19 17
Yards rushing 40-208 45-332
Yards passing 193 70
Passes 25-39-0 4-7-0
Fumbles lost 3-3 5-3
Punts 3-31.3 2-26.0
Penalties 8-55 4-34