“Sluggo” Brings Ding-Dong Bell Back To Maumee
BY KYLE BORCHERS — MIRROR SPORTS
The Maumee football team went into Perrysburg’s house and took back the Ding-Dong Bell in dramatic fashion on Friday, scoring the winning touchdown on a third-and-21 play from the 40-yard line with just 1:10 remaining in the game.
The undefeated Panthers trailed 7-0 in the second quarter and 14-7 in the third before a Chris Rogge interception deep in Perrysburg territory turned the tides in what ended up being a 28-21 victory for Maumee.
On the deciding play of the game, it was junior quarterback Jake Goatley connecting with classmate Erik Studyvin.
“Your ability to convert third-and-21 is pretty rare,” said Maumee coach John Boles.
“We’re trying to get into field goal range or be in a more reasonable distance to go for it on fourth down. You’re certainly not thinking you’re going to score a touchdown on that play.”
The play was called “91 left sluggo right” and it was designed to work against a Cover 2 defense. One receiver runs a deep corner route to draw one of the safeties while Studyvin runs a post pattern.
The goal was for Studyvin to just get inside a window between the safeties and the linebackers.
As it turned out, Studyvin was wide open in the middle of the field and then he got to the sideline and outran everybody to the end zone.
“We ran that play earlier in the game for 15-20 yards, so it was kind of a natural choice to go back to it,” Boles said.
“Goatley did a great job of just stepping up into the pocket and really delivering a great pass.”
Earlier in the contest, the Panthers showed their ability to fight back – after not trailing once in their first four games of the season.
“That’s one of the things we discussed during the first four weeks – that there were going to be times when things wouldn’t come so easy and we were going to have to answer a call of close games and being down,” Boles said.
“To the credit of our players, they responded without having been in that situation this season.”
After a 3-yard touchdown run by Maumee senior Kyle Bowell tied the game at 14-14 with 3:47 left in the third quarter, the Maumee defense swung the momentum.
On just the second play of Perrysburg’s ensuing drive, Rogge stepped in front of the intended receiver for the interception. Rogge then fumbled on his return attempt, but senior Corey Kolbow recovered for the Panthers at the 17-yard line.
Boles said his coaching staff had a lot to do with the interception – the repetition of where the defenders should drop in certain situations and get into passing lanes.
Following the pick, senior Jay Hall took a bubble screen pass 18 yards for a touchdown to give Maumee a 21-14 lead with 2:08 left in the third.
Perrysburg squared the score at 21-21 with 4:57 remaining in the game.
The Panthers started their winning drive at their own 25-yard line with 4:53 to go.
A big burst by Goatley for 24 yards put Maumee at Perrysburg’s 40 with 3:35 remaining.
The Panthers got all the way to the 29-yard line (although they fumbled, senior offensive lineman Xavier Ramirez recovered), but a Maumee penalty and a Perrysburg sack pushed the purple and gold back to the 40, and then came the heroics from Goatley and Studyvin.
After “sluggo,” Maumee’s special teams and defense still had to step up to the task one more time.
Perrysburg (3-2) started at its own 23 with only one timeout and 1:05 remaining. After an incomplete pass on first down and a pass deflected by senior linebacker Brad Kurtz on second, junior Mike Wilkins blew up an attempted screen on third down to make it fourth-and-11 and force the Yellow Jackets to use their last timeout with 47 seconds to go.
The final heave was tipped by the Maumee defense and senior Mikkal Johnson almost picked it off, causing the visiting crowd to erupt, realizing the Ding-Dong Bell was coming back to the north side of the Maumee River.
The Panthers just had to take a knee on offense and then the rest of the team rushed the field and the celebration began with helmets held high.
It was Maumee’s first win over Perrysburg in football since 2004 (28-6). The Yellow Jackets held a 48-35 edge in the series coming into 2008 (there have also been five ties). Perrysburg won the previous three match-ups (in order from ’05), 42-14, 52-17 and 35-14.
On Friday, the defenses controlled a scoreless first quarter. After a touchdown run by Perrysburg senior Taylor Dimmerling with 5:15 to go in the first half, junior Damon Contat took a screen pass for a 9-yard touchdown with 1:50 to go. A 33-yard reception by Hall on third-and-nine was the key play on the drive.
Dimmerling scored again just over four minutes into the third quarter before Bowell tied it, thanks to a great block by Ramirez.