For the Blue Devils to pull off the upset against the Northern Lakes League frontrunners would have taken a minor miracle if one were available to spare.
Sophomore quarterback Kaiden Taylor was making just his second career start and it was against one of the top teams in all of Division I. Leading receiver De’Mario Harris-Lloyd was away from the team for disciplinary reasons. The defense, which has struggled throughout the season, was facing a team that averaged over 46.5 points per game over their past seven contests, all victories.
And yet, after one quarter of play, the game was scoreless thanks to a few big moments from the defense.
That tie morphed into a 14-3 halftime deficit, something that while not ideal was all the decisive advantage many would have predicted. Two plays into the second half, the deficit was trimmed to just four thanks to an explosive 48-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Taylen Miller.
That, however, was as close as the game would come as the Yellow Jackets found their stride shortly thereafter en route to a 49-10 victory, sweeping away any miracle dust that may have been floating around Springfield Community Stadium on Senior Night.
“They had confidence all week,” said Head Coach Jerry Bell. “It doesn’t matter who your opponent is. If you go out and believe, play with heart, play with determination and be physical, you can play with anyone. Our kids came out and did that tonight.
I’m proud of the way they played.
“I would’ve loved to see the finish a little bit better than we did, but the way they played and the way that they were able to contain them speaks volumes.”
The box score won’t reflect that, on Perrysburg’s opening drive, the Blue Devil defense stymied star tailback and future Toledo Rocket for a oneyard loss on third and goal, then followed that up with an incompletion on fourth down.
It won’t show the pursuit of the defense on the Yellow Jackets second drive when sophomore running back Joseph Seney broke free up the middle eyeing six points, only to be stripped from behind where senior defensive back Robert Franklin, Jr. was able to corral the loose pigskin to stop another promising drive.
It won’t show how Miller, bottled up for a net one-yard loss through his first six carries, found daylight on the Blue Devils last drive of the first half to the tune of 29 yards to set up a chip shot field goal for senior Hunter Keivens.
It won’t show how Bell and his staff had a game plan far better than almost every other NLL squad that has fallen quite unceremoniously to the powerhouse Yellow Jackets and their star senior quarterback TJ Takats.
“I think Takats is an unbelievable quarterback. He’s highly underrated when it comes to the offers that he doesn’t have,” the coach said. “But I think what we were able to do was take our personnel and match to their personnel and we did a really good job with that. I thought our defense had a great gameplan coming in and our kids were executing extremely well.
“The way that they play in their defense, there were some things that we liked with the way that they flow super hard,” he added. “They’re a tremendous defense. But there were some things that we liked with misdirection plays to keep them off-balance. That’s what we were trying to do with them.”
That the offensive execution peaked immediately after halftime was also no surprise to coaching staff. The energy of the seniors’ final home game carried into the locker room, and it was something they channeled.
“I think a lot of it had to do with our seniors,” said Bell. “They did take charge during the week. I had Jack [Semler] talk to the team at halftime as one of our senior leaders and we came out pretty motivated in the second half which I think helped us with the execution there to start the third quarter.”
Miller’s touchdown run epitomized that. Lined up at quarterback, he took the direct snap to his left, patiently allowing his blockers to pull to their assignments and set up the gap he was looking for outside the hashes.
Once there, the senior did what he has done to so many opponents and simply outran them to the paydirt.
“I think the blocking up front was perfect,” Bell said. “They executed just like we drew it up. The tackle wrapped around and got a really nice seal block on Walendzak, and then Taylen was able to hit that hole and use his speed to get to the second and third level.
“That’s the first time all year that we’ve opened up the half as an offense and scored.”
All 10 points the offense scored came after Bell saw it necessary to make a change again at quarterback. While Taylor flashed the physical tools that elevated him to starting–albeit due to injury–in place of junior Will Scott as just a sophomore, some mental lapses could not be resolved.
Most damaging of those was an inability to get the play in and offense lined up in time. Those pre-snap miscues compelled the coach to plug in undersized but senior quarterback Kasen Knapp for the remainder of the game.
“We went with the senior,” he said. “The decisionmaking, you know he’s only a sophomore and he’s going to continue to grow as a player, but I think in the moment he started putting too much pressure on himself and we weren’t getting the calls made inside the huddle that we needed. So, we had to make that change late second quarter and then at halftime we decided we had to go with Kasen.”
That worked for two drives, though the bulk of the lifting came from Miller in the ground game. The Yellow Jackets offense cranked into high gear in the third quarter, and defensively they shifted their focus entirely to stopping the Blue Devil tailback.
Knapp, for all his savvy and smarts, struggled in the pass game against the much larger Perrysburg front seven with passes batted down multiple times at the line of scrimmage.
With the offense unable to generate first downs, the defense quickly succumbed to the relentless Yellow Jacket offense that had weapons all over the field.
“We left our defense on the field a lot,” said Bell. “We were getting some three-and-outs there with not executing and self-imploding on some of our drives. Then the field position started becoming a factor because they’re gaining five yards here, then they’re third and three and then it’s a first down. The way that they play-called and the way that they were able to get some of the underneath routes, we started jumping up and then leaving guys open and losing our assignments.
“I would say a lot of it has to do with us leaving our defense on the field way too much in the second half.”
All the promise that showed in just the first minute of the second half, dissolved less than a dozen minutes later when junior running back Nick Oros dove inside the far pylon for a 47-yard touchdown run and 42-10 Perrysburg advantage early in the fourth quarter.
Results matter of course, and this one was no different even if the Blue Devils came in as prohibitive underdogs. But the game within the game, the fight the team displayed for the first half and change, exemplified much of what Bell has come to admire and respect about his 23-deep senior class.
“I think they’ve stuck together,” he said. “We talk a lot about brotherhood, we talk a lot about our culture. They stuck together and I’m super proud of their leadership. Obviously, things didn’t go as planned with them and for them, but at the end of the day they never quit. They still continue to have heart, they show up for practice and they’re still rallying these guys.”
Springfield closes the chapter on the 2022 season against arch rival Anthony Wayne this evening, Kick off is 7 p.m.
