Article: Athens 14 Nelsonville-York 13


Using the rosters from Maxpreps.com and Hudl.com
* The Athens numbers were difficult to read*

Friday night took me to Nelsonville, Ohio, to watch the Buckeyes host rival Athens. The Bulldogs and Buckeyes both came in with 8-1 records. The winner of this one would be the league champs and have bragging rights for a year.

With 10:31 left in the opening quarter, the Buckeyes got a 21-yard run from Grant Elliott. But the Bulldogs' defense stiffened after that, allowing zero points on the drive that totaled 12 plays and went for 68 yards.

The Bulldogs faced a third and two with 4:22 left in the quarter when Cohen Stalder powered his way to the first down. The Bulldogs faced a fourth and one later on the drive and elected to go for it. The Buckeyes' defense was ready, with Gavin Lavy easily stopping Stalder well short of the line needed to move the chains.

With a little under one minute remaining in the quarter, Sam Engle sacked Buckeyes quarterback Cameron Sullivan to force a Buckeyes punt. The quarter ended with the game still locked at zero.

Walker Stone, one of the toughest players I have watched this season, went to the short side of the field and picked up 14 yards to give the Buckeyes a first down, with 8:07 left in the half. On fourth and three later on the drive, Sullivan picked up the first down using his legs. The 15-play, 80-yard drive ended on a 23-yard field goal from Grant Elliott to put the Buckeyes up 3-0 with 1:51 left in the hard-hitting first half.

Unofficially, I had Athens with 61 total yards in the half, while the Buckeyes had 144 yards.

Fifty seconds into the third quarter, Tyriq Cunningham picked up 31 yards with a catch and run, with Briar Thomas providing the throw. Blake Taylor hauled in a sweet pass from Thomas, picking up 29 yards. The 4-play, 77-yard drive ended when Thomas hit Jaxon Warner for the 7-yard score. After #36 Jack Fisher nailed the point-after kick, we had a 7-3 game, with 10:39 left in the third.

Sullivan ran for a gain of 17 to get things going for the Buckeyes' offense. Sullivan would run the ball again with 10:22 left in the third, and he picked up 19 yards. The kid is dangerous running the ball and will be a pain in the rear end for whomever the Buckeyes play in the playoffs. Sullivan ended the 6-play, 65-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge, putting the Buckeyes up 10-7 with 8:56 left in the quarter.

With 2:05 left in the third, Sullivan got an easy completion when Elliott beat his guy, who never looked for the ball. The play went for 35 yards. The drive moved into the final frame and ended on a 22-yard field goal, putting the Buckeyes up 17-7 with 10:33 left.

The Bulldogs' offense responded with a 5-play, 72-yard drive that came to a close on a Thomas to Cunningham 48-yard touchdown. The all-important point-after kick from Fisher was true, moving the score to 14-13 Bulldogs with 7:34 remaining in the game.

With 2:58 left, it looked like the Buckeyes were going to score the winning touchdown when Sullivan threw to a wide-open Elliott, who seemed to have an easy catch, but the ball hit his hands and popped up in the air where #14 Charlie Corrigan made a game-saving pick.

With 1:46 left, third and nine, Thomas looked to have easily made the first, but the ball was spotted a full yard short of the line needed to move the chains. Sixteen seconds later, facing a fourth and one, Thomas threw a strike to Stalder to pick up the first down. There were no more points scored as the clock wound down and the large Bulldogs student section rushed down to the field to celebrate the big win.

My Unofficial Stats
Bulldogs
51 plays
212 yards
Passing: 9-15, 1 TD

Buckeyes
51 plays
297 yards
Passing: 5-13, 1 Int


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