W. Reserve’s bid for state final 1 point short

By Matthew Peaslee

mpeaslee@vindy.com

MASSILLON

The Western Reserve High football team was new to the sound, the feeling and the overall sensation.

As the Buckeye Central marching band played “Taking Care of Business” in the stands, tears rolled down the cheeks of many Blue Devils players.

They had just lost to the Bucks 22-21 — their first loss of the season.

“It’s tough on us,” Western Reserve coach Andy Hake said. “But it was a great ride for us. We’re playing here in Massillon and it’s the mecca. It just didn’t work out for us.”

It nearly did, though.

With the ball on their own 38 yard line and 2:02 to go, the Blue Devils were amped to continue their dream season by completing a dream-like game.

Nine plays got the ball to the 19 yard line and the Blue Devils were ready to send out kicker Parker Clegg for a 37-yard field-goal attempt. Having second thoughts, Hake called a timeout and sent his offensive team back on the field facing a fourth-and-2.

A Jeff Clegg pass was broken up near the 5 yard line, putting the ball back in the Bucks’ hands for good.

“I didn’t want to put a sophomore kicker in a bad position like that,” Hake said. “He never kicked a field goal that long and I thought we could get another 5 or 10 yards.

“That’s part of life, they just knocked the ball down.”

Just getting in that position was a day late Black Friday deal from the Bucks.

Two minutes 11 seconds remained on the Paul Brown Tiger Stadium clock and Buckeye Central had possession on their 39 yard line in hopes of running time out.

Running back Michael Adkins had already tallied 133 rushing yards. By feeding it to him, that goal looked to be accomplished pretty easily.

Not so fast.

The Bucks took a risk by airing it out, but Clegg picked off the Tyler Erwin pass intended for Jordan Hernstein.

“If we got one more first down, the game is over,” Buckeye Central coach Jason Ratliff said. “We want to put it in our best players hands. We complete it we run the clock out, game over and there’s no dramatic ending at the end.”

Adkins and Hernstein were the driving force of an offense that racked up 314 total yards.

They got started early in the game by scoring on their first possession, an 11-play, 55-yard drive. A running two point conversion gave them an 8-0 lead.

The Blue Devils responded in the second quarter when they put 15 on the board. Tim Cooper hauled in a 24-yard pass for the first touchdown. Then after allowing an Adkins’ 15-yard score, the Blue Devils pounded it in with a 5-yard Clegg run.

The senior quarterback threw for 155 yards, while completing 12-of-23 passes with two interceptions. He toted the ball 11 times for 31 yards on the ground.

Running back Donnie Bolton ran for 141 yards on 21 carries while fullback Tommy Marlowe had nine carries for 35 yards and a TD. Senior receiver Thomas Benyo had three catches for 25 yards.

Those guys round out a group of 10 seniors that Hake won’t soon forget.

“It’s the most resilient crew I’ve ever been around,” he said. “I’m honored and privileged to be their coach.

“It’s not like the pros where you get a five-year deal. The kid’s a senior — he’s done. You can’t sign him for another two years or franchise tag him. We got a lot of miles out of these kids.”

The Blue Devils defense created a lot of second half headaches for the Bucks. The unit created two fumbles and four interceptions.

“They bring people from all over the place and our offensive line did a great job of picking them up for the most part,” Ratliff said. “There was seven, eight or nine guys coming all the time. You hit some and you get hit some.”

Adkins ran the ball 25 times for 134 yards and Hernstein caught nine passes for 98 yards.