Groveport holds on to defeat Canal Winchester 29-27

 

Saturday afternoon I made my first trip to Canal Winchester since the 2017 season; this time it was for a rare afternoon game pitting Groveport-Madison against the Idians from Canal. Due to previous incidents surrounding the game, security was tight, but the crowd was rule-abiding, showing they were there just to watch some exciting football.

Corey Howard would use a twisting, turning powerful run to pick up 36 yards to get the large Indians crowd on their feet, with 9:52 showing on the clock. The Crusiers defense would respond with Jeremiah Moore picking off a pass at the 5-yard line and taking it back to the 43-yard line in Indians territory with a little under 9:00 minutes left on the clock.

The Cruisers used a 23-yard catch from Altrovise Morris-Glenn to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Raishad King, followed by a two-point run by multi-talented Jalen Joyce to make this an 8-0 game with 6:48 left.

Groveport-Madison would light up the score clock again when Imar Dunlap scooped up an Indians fumble and scored from 12 yards out. Christian Guterrez Sanchez nailed the PAT, making this a 15-0 game with 6:06 left in the opening stanza.

Baker Bowden was sacked by Hayden Paschke and Braelon Thomas after a bad snap blew up the timing of the play called by the Groveport O.C. with 3:14 left. The Indians offense would keep their clamps on the Groveport offense, forcing a punt a short time later.

De'Andre Jackson would show some downfield vision and speed to pick up 68 yards to being the Indians fans to their feet, with 1:24 showing on the clock. Howard would pick up 11 yards, taking the ball to the Groveport 11-yard line. From there, Howard waltz into the end zone from 11 yards out to make this a 15-7 game with the PAT coming from Joseph Hair.

With 7:59 left in the half, Canal would top off a 4-play, 57-yard drive on a 44-yard touchdown pass from Quiton McGhee to Iverson Klusman. Klusman ran a nice little slant, and the ball was right on target. After the PAT was blocked, a flag was thrown on the Crusisers, allowing Canal a retry. This time they would go for two and covert the conversion when Jamri Snow crossed the goal line to lock this one up at 15 apiece.

When the Indians offense got back onto the field, they would get a 16-yard power run from Howard that took the ball to the Groveport 1-yard line. Howard would close the drive off with the 1-yard score, making this a 22-15 game as the PAT from Paschke was true.

Groveport would lose their second fumble on the day when Baker Bowden coughed the ball up and Paschke pounced on it like a wild alley cat, with 2:26 left in the half.

On the ensuing drive, a nice first down run on third and tweleve by Jackson set up a 32-yard field goal by Paschke to give us a 25-15 Indians lead, with 1.7 seconds remaining in the action-packed opening half.

The third quarter had 9:00 left when Jackson picked off a Bowden pass, putting the Indians offense on the field. There would be little movement on the ensuing drive as the Groveport defense held strong.

Groveport would end a 4-play, 33-yard drive with a 23-yard touchdown catch by Moore with 1:29 left in the quarter to make this a 25-22 game. Funny thing during the quarter: a passionate Groveport fan was telling a person setting close by, You know there is no way the officials are going to let Groveport beat Canla at Canal. Another fan was complaining about the penalties called on Groveport, making that statement funny to me. The total penalties called against both teams were even at 11 apiece.

The quarter allowed one more big play, and that came on a 17-yard Robert Newhouse-type run from Howard.

Bowden would find Jeriah Golden for 46 yards to aid in the Crusiers next score, which came on a mean run by King from 6 yards out to make this a 29-25 lead for the visitors, with 8:00 remaining in the contest.

The Indians would tease the crowd when they got an 18-yard pass from McGhee to Klusmann, but the drive dried out like the Atacama Desert a short time later.

The last 4:22 in this one would keep the crown on their feet, starting with Paschke recording a sack for Canal, then interception for Groveport by Mekhi Grant. The play that really got the Canal crowd up was when the snap went over the Punters head, resulting in safety, after the punter raced back and swatted the ball out of the back of the endzone to make the score 29-27 with 37.2 seconds left.

Canal would have those 37.2 seconds to try and get the win, but as they were driving, time ran out, and Groveport, along with their fans, erupted as one celebrating the win.

My stats

Groveport

44 plays

176 yards

Passing, 6-10, 1 TD, 1 INT

Canal

63 plays

361 yards

Passing 8-17, 1 TD, 1 INT

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