Osceola Grace 48 Landmark Landmark Christian 46

 

*Using the rosters from Maxpreps and Hudl*

The championship game in the Great Lakes Christian Athletic Conference was as exciting as any game that I have taken this year; that includes all of the high school games and the two Simi-Pro games, which brings my game total to 78 games. Osceola Grace Eagles and the Landmark Christian Eagles left it all on the field, leaving the good size and vocal crown who took this game in at Indiana Wesleyan University satisfied.

Osceola Grace got things started with their defense with Gabe Spencer stuffing Noah Byrant for a loss of two. As the game would move along, the defense from both teams would look nonexistent at times, but the run defense from Osceola would be the one constant as it basically shut down two talented Landmark running backs. Early on, though, the defenses would take turns coming up big. Ace Meckley (5-9, 270) slamed Ian Shay down for a short loss. Meckley has more speed than you would think, and he hits like you stole his lunch money when he was younger and he wants it back. Eli Cocanower would come of age for Osceola when he picked off Landmark quarterback AJ Skoog.

Osceola would light the scoreboard up on a 22-yard touchdown run off of an option pitch to Harrison Colvin. The play would go to the right side of the offensive line and would be a theme that continued as the game got deeper into the game. A two-point try failed, leaving the score 6-0 with 6:32 left in the quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, Hayden John Castro would recover the onside kick to put the Osceola offense right back on the field. Both teams would use the onside kick, or their version of it, all game long, and most of the time it gave the opposing team a short field to work with, putting the defenses behind the 8-ball even before they took the field.

Ian Shay, one of many weapons Osceola put on display last night, went right up the guts of the Landmark defense for a pick-up of 17 yards. Colvin went to his right to pick up 29 yards, taking the ball to the Landmark 1 yard line. The three-play, 47-yard drive closed on a 3-yard touchdown run by Colvin, followed by the PAT from Cocanower, making this a 13-0 game with 5:34 left in the quarter.

Jonathon Cleveland would get to #24 Jordan Jacobson for a loss of four, with 5:08 showing on the clock. Landmark was forced to punt a short time later on the punt, the ball hit an Osceola player, and the Eagles came away with it.Making the recovery was Matthias Homison.

Landmark needed just one play to make this a 14-6 game, with the score coming on an AJ Skoog 38-yard pass to a diving Stefon Harmeling. Harmeling is one of the most exciting players I have watched all of this year. He is as fast as any player that I have watched, and he has, as all great receivers must have soft hands; if not for his size 5-8, 160, he would be having a lot of big name colleges looking at him. The PAT was missed, leaving this a 13-6 game. Landmark would have a lot of problems with PAT's all game long.

The ensuing kickoff, another onside type kick, was recovered by Jacobson, putting the Landmark offense right back on the field with 4:14 left on the clock. AJ Skoog would find Israel Marcu, who broke a tackle as he powered his way to a 17-yard gain. The same combo struck again, this time for a 14-yard touchdown, that was followed with a two-point conversion pass to Harmeling to give Landmark a 14-13 lead with 1:42 left in the quarter.

Osceola would get a 23-yard run by Liam Elkins to end the quarter. The drive would end on a fumble at the Landmark 1-yard line. Neither I nor the Pa guy could see who came out of the scrum with the rock. One of the fans near me said he thought it was Meckly making the recovery.

With 7:49 left in the half, #10 Elkins hit Cocanower for the 11-yard score, then he found Shay for the two-point conversion to make this a 21-14 game.

Cocanower would strike again, but on defense this time with a pick on an AJ Skoog pass, with 6:51 left in the half.

Shay would be taken down by Jacobson for a loss of two, with 5:07 left. Facing a fourth and four from the four, Harrison Colvin blasted in for the score to make this a 27-14 game, with 4:11 left in the half.

Landmark Christian would need just four plays totaling 32 yards to answer back, with AJ Skoog hitting Marcum for the 16-yard score. The PAT was short, leaving the score 27-20. Skoog, I.M.O. is very dangerous when he drops back and throws the ball without any hesitation. From a dumbfan point of view, he almost seems to overthink things or not trust in the ability he has.

A 36-yard run by Shay got the third quarter going. Shay (5-9,153) runs like a bull, as he has way much more power than he should have in his legs. Facing a fourth and one, Shay picked up 11 yards, taking the ball to the landmark one. After a three-yard setback, Shay was back at it again, going four yards to make this a 34-20 game with 8:02 left in the quarter.

AJ Skoog would hit a diving Harmeling for 37 yards. Harmilng makes diving catches like former Dallas Cowboy Tony Hill. The drive climaxed on a 1-yard touchdown run by Bryant with 4:34 showing on the clock, making this a 34-26 game, as the two-point conversion failed.

Osceola responded with a 19-yard catch from Cocanower, followed a few seconds later by a 14-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Engel with 19.8 seconds left in the quarter. The two-point conversion failed, leaving this a 40-26 game.

Just seven seconds into the final frame, Skoog hit his younger brother for a 31-yard gain. He would end the 4-play, 44-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Marcum and top that off with a two-point conversion pass to Judah Schurger to make this a 40-34 game.

Colvin picked up 36 yards on a nice run with a horse collar tackled penalty added on to help set up the next Osceola score that came on a 6-yard pass to Colvin. Shay converted the two-point conversion to make this a 48-34 game, with 9:42 left.

Skoog hit his brother again, this time for 39 yards to the Osceola 6-yard line. A 1-yard touchdown run from Bryant made this a 48-40 game as the two-point conversion failed.

After the Landmark defense got a stop, the offense would come back on the field with all of the confidence in the world, and that showed when Skoog hit Harmeling, who had beaten his guy by five yards for the 80-yard score. Another two-point conversion failed, leaving this a 48-46 game with 4:15 left.

The Landmark offense team got back to work, with Skoog finding Harmeling for 45 yards with 1:59 left. Skoog was on the move, buying time to locate a receiver he looked to be throwing to his brother, but a very alert Liam Elkins would step in from the pass easily, making the pick to secure the victory.

 My stats

Osceola Eagles

69 plays

447 Yards

Passing, 14-20 3 TDs

Landmark Eagles

49 Plays

431 Yards

Passing

18-35 5 TDs 3 Int's

For the game photos copy and paste the link below

https://www.facebook.com/media/set?set=a.10231156404887907&type=3

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