By Doug Chapin

After a meeting of the minds, the Blue Devils hung on for a one-point win.

VIENNA — A game which featured more than 700 yards of offense came down to just 3 yards — three yards and a meeting of the officials.

Western Reserve’s defense stopped Mathews senior running back Brent Jackson — who gained 235 yards and scored three touchdowns — on a two-point conversion run with just 33 seconds remaining in Friday’s game to post a 28-27 victory.

However, the Blue Devils weren’t sure of the stop until after the officials huddled to discuss the play and then signaled no score.

“What they said was they didn’t call anything because he didn’t get in,” Western Reserve coach Mike Kopachy said. “They were all expecting touchdown and he didn’t get in, we stopped them short. Both line judges confirmed that. I don’t know what the big hoo-ha was, but I’m glad we made the stop.”

Mathews coach Jim Parry said he was told by the officials that no one in a striped shirt saw Jackson cross the goal line with the ball.

“It was tough for the officials, they didn’t see it, nobody saw it. My argument was if nobody saw it why does it go against us,” Parry said.

“They just said ‘We didn’t see it,’ so he doesn’t get the score.

“A whistle blew when our kid was standing in the end zone. They didn’t see it, it’s not their fault, I don’t know the ruling on it, but it was an unfortunate situation.”

The rather bizarre ending did not take away from a competitive game.

In recent years, the game has taken on significance as a season-opener.

The winner has reached the playoffs each of the last three seasons, including the Mustangs’ 10-0 season a year ago which started with a 28-16 win over the Devils.

On Friday, Mathews struck first with a 38-yard scoring pass from Jake Swank to Seth Paddock on the game’s first possession.

Western Reserve took advantage after Bob Banks recovered a Mathews fumble and covered 45 yards in seven plays. The touchdown came on a 23-yard pass from Shane Ewing to Clayton Hull. Ewing finished 9-of-18 passing for 116 yards and Hull had five catches for 51 yards.

The Blue Devils put together a nine-play, 76-yard drive that culminated in an 8-yard scoring run by junior Paul Arditi who finished with 81 yards on 11 carries. That put Western Reserve ahead 14-7 with 3:02 left in the half.

But another long pass from Swank to Paddock set up Jackson’s four-yard scoring run with just 23 seconds left in the half.

“I rate our performance a C,” Kopachy said. “We did some things well and there are some things we didn’t do well.

“We ran the ball extremely well, especially in the second half. The line did a great job against a great defensive line.

“They have a lot of guys back from a 10-0 football team playing in their defensive line, so being able to control the line of scrimmage in this game was great.”

A 41-yard run by Jackson set up his three-yard scoring run to put Mathews back on top midway through period three, then the Devils churned out a 63-yard, seven-play drive, all on the ground, to tie the game again on Arditi’s 11-yard touchdown run.

A 30-yard punt return by Justin Lude set up Western Reserve on the Mathews 35, resulting in Banks’ 14-yard scoring run, putting the Devils ahead to stay, 28-21, with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Mathews rode Jackson — he had eight straight carries for 49 yards — down inside the Blue Devil 10, only to be stopped on downs. Then the Mustang defense forced a punt and Mathews took over at its 48 with 5:07 on the clock.

A fourth-and-3 run by Jackson from the 11 netted just enough for a first-and-goal at the 7 and he scored on the next play after bursting through the line over his right tackle.

“Defensively, I think we missed too many tackles,” Kopachy said. “We’ve been working on tackling the whole off-season. But we made the one tackle that counts and I’m proud of that.”