Great catch for naught; Thunder loses to Wolves

By Joe Scalzo

Manchester won, 45-39, after DeMarcus Mathes’ spectacular touchdown catch was overruled.

YOUNGSTOWN — Talk about your off-the-wall endings.

On the final play of Saturday’s game, Mahoning Valley Thunder wide receiver DeMarcus Mathes made one of the most spectacular end-zone catches in team history.

Unfortunately, it didn’t count.

With 2.7 seconds left, Thunder quarterback Josh Swogger lofted a pass for Mathes in the corner of the end zone.

Mathes jumped for the ball and caught it over two Manchester defenders, then landed on top of the back end zone wall.

Mathes thought it was the game-tying touchdown and the referees initially agreed with him. But after huddling for several minutes, the catch was waived off and the Wolves came away with a 45-39 victory in af2 action at the Chevrolet Centre.

Thunder coach Mike Hold erupted when the officials informed him of the decision and the second-year coach declined to talk to reporters afterward.

“They said that DeMarcus didn’t attempt to get off the wall; that’s why they didn’t call it a touchdown,” said defensive coordinator Lucious Davis, when asked about the officials’ ruling. “Apparently they didn’t see the defender push him back over the wall.”

Mathes, who finished with five catches for 52 yards and three touchdowns, was stunned by the decision.

“Coach told me to get off the field so the field goal unit could get on,” Mathes said. “I wasn’t sure what they [the officials] were talking about.

“I feel like I caught the ball inbounds and I was forced out. They said it was no catch.”

Mathes said receivers must get one foot inbounds unless they’re forced out.

“They forced me out,” he said. “When you work hard for something like that and they take it from you, it gets to you. It really hurts deep down inside.”

The Wolves (1-0) appeared to have the game won outright just seconds earlier.

After Mahoning Valley’s Rick Ziska made a 23-yard field goal with 43 seconds left to take a 39-37 lead, the Wolves took over at their own 20.

Manchester quarterback Justin Rummell hit Steven Savoy for a 29-yard completion on the drive’s first play, setting up a first-and-goal at the 1.

Rummell then tried a quarterback sneak, fumbling the ball in the process, but the Wolves recovered on the 1. On the next play, Dan Crozier ran it in and Rumell added a 2-point conversion to make it 45-39 with 15 seconds left.

“When they got the ball down there, we decided to let them score and get the ball back,” said Davis. “They fumbled the ball and some time ran off the clock. Our intentions were to let them score. We thought we recovered the ball. That kind of hurt us.

“If we let them score, we get the ball back with 20-odd seconds left and we’ve got a good chance to win the game.”

Mahoning Valley took over at its own 2 with 12.5 seconds left. Swogger then hit Brian Majors for two straight completions to set up the last-second drama.

“It’s a tough way to lose, but if you look at the game, it shouldn’t have come down to that one play,” said Davis. “Defensively we blew a coverage [on the Savoy completion]. You can’t blow coverage at crucial points of the game.

“When you let a team score with 15 seconds left on the clock, you put your offense in a bind. And you know we shouldn’t have let our offense get into that situation. We should have stepped up and make a play. Unfortunately we didn’t so that hurt us.”

Swogger, an Ursuline High graduate, finished 21 of 42 for 177 yards and five TDs.

Rummell was 22 of 33 for 305 yards and five touchdowns.

scalzo@vindy.com