Perrysburg Thrives On Defense And AW Miscues In 28-16 Victory
BY SCOTT CALHOUN — MIRROR SPORTS
Anthony Wayne was the victim of a stifling defense as well as its own mistakes last Friday, losing a key Northern Lakes League game to Perrysburg, 28-16.
The visiting Yellow Jackets effectively stopped the run and Hayden Pryka picked off two Kevin Pindoley passes – one returned 76 yards for a touchdown.
Pryka’s hands and speed proved to be the most important factors of the victory – he also caught a 48-yard pass from quarterback Matt Slocum following a disputed call by the officials in the second quarter.
Taylor Dimmerling was set to receive a punt from Ben Barrett at the Jackets 33-yard line, but as he leaned in to receive the ball it fell through his arms to the ground while his knees touched the turf.
The sideline official nearest to Dimmerling at a rear angle and blinded from seeing the ball whistled the play dead immediately, even though AW had recovered the muff.
The call was overturned briefly, giving the Generals would-be possession deep in Perrysburg territory. They were already up 7-0 in the waning minutes of the first half.
Instead, the call was overturned again, much to the chagrin of the AW faithful.
The Jackets (5-2 overall, 3-1 NLL) took almost immediate advantage, getting a big first-down run from Brandon Butler, before Slocum located Pryka wide open up the middle behind the Generals secondary.
The TD and subsequent PAT tied the score 7-7 at 4:40. Deflated by the extreme shift in momentum, the rest of the first half went poorly for the Generals (4-3, 2-2).
Pryka made his first interception three plays into the following series, picking off Pindoley at the Jackets 33 and weaving his way all the way down to the AW 12 at 3:36.
Three plays later, Butler picked up the go-ahead score from the 6-yard line at 2:26. The PAT doubled up the Generals 14-7.
Anthony Wayne nearly responded on the following possession, engineering a 61-yard drive down to the Jackets 11. With 26 seconds left in the half, David Birsen found a hole down to the 3, but the Generals were whistled for holding, pushing them back to the 21.
On the next play, Pindoley fumbled the ball away under intense pressure.
The evening proved to be a roller-coaster ride for Pindoley, who both benefited and suffered from getting his first chance to throw the ball often.
The first score of the evening saw Pindoley find Aaron Keyer on a 36-yard connect near the front right side of the end zone at 4:24 of the first quarter. Barrett’s extra point gave AW the initial 7-0 lead.
Pindoley’s five other passes in the first half saw him sacked for a 10-yard loss on one, intercepted by Pryka on another and nearly picked again in the end zone. One resulted in pass interference, while another hit Keyer for 12 yards.
AW coach Craig Smith, seeing his typically fertile wing-T rushing attack having little success beyond Birsen in the first half, continued honing in on the playbook’s passing plays to try and get the Generals moving the ball in the second.
After a Pindoley pass fell incomplete on third down on Anthony Wayne’s first possession of the third quarter, Barrett had a punt blocked by Butler back around the AW 34. Corey Julius then picked up the ball and returned it to the end zone at 10:20. The point-after gave Perrysburg a 21-7 lead.
An 11-yard pass to Keyer during the next Generals possession helped AW get down to the 14 before Barrett booted a 36-yard field goal at 3:54 of the quarter to make it 21-10.
The Generals defense, actually playing quite well all evening in holding the Jackets to the one big scoring drive in the second quarter and the 12-yarder following the first Pryka pick, continued to do well in the second half.
That allowed the offense to try and get back in the game. A 49-yard halfback-pass from Birsen to Keyer at the end of the third quarter helped the Generals get down to the Jackets 30.
On third-and-9 from the 30, Pindoley tossed his second interception to Pryka at the 34. Pryka used good speed all the way up the left side of the field for the backbreaking 76-yard touchdown with 10:21 remaining.
Another successful PAT gave the Jackets their largest lead at 28-10.
Anthony Wayne came right back with a 63-yard scoring drive, as Birsen ran the ball in for six points from the 5 at 7:58 to give the Generals some hope. The two-point conversion attempt fell short on a quick dump to Jordan Schwerer, however, leaving AW trailing 28-16.
The Generals tried an onside kick, but Barrett didn’t send it the full 10 yards. Perrysburg started with a short field and moved down to the 15, but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-13.
With 3:02 left, the Generals went entirely to the air, with only a Pindoley escape from a rush for 8 yards and an interference call getting them up to the Generals 32.
Pindoley followed with two incompletions and then fumbled the ball away for the second time to effectively end AW’s chances at 2:02.
Birsen led AW with 101 yards and a TD on 22 attempts, and Keyer ended up with four catches for 108 yards and the TD, but beyond that the numbers were slim for AW.
Nate DiPillo picked off Slocum in the second quarter.
Pryka had the 48-yard TD catch and 131 yards and the big return for a touchdown with his two picks.
Generals Boys Golf Team Advances To District Tournament, Girls Out
BY SCOTT CALHOUN — MIRROR SPORTS
Anthony Wayne shot a team 320 in a Division I boys sectional tournament at Bowling Green’s Stone Ridge Golf Club last week.
The Generals placed third out of 21 competitors and qualified as a team for the Division I district tournament on Wednesday at Red Hawk Run in Findlay.
St. John’s Jesuit emerged as the top qualifier with a team 308. St. Francis deSales carded a 315, while Findlay grabbed the fourth and final team qualifier spot with a 322.
Cleo Trumbull led AW with a 76. Brian Turnwald turned in a 77, Josh Bialecki shot an 83 and John Gaspar posted an 84 to round out the represented team scoring.
The Titans earned the top spot by boasting the sectional medalist in Michael Balcar, who stroked an under-par 70.
Alan Kolovich and Zak Hart carded 79s and Ryan Jorgenson delivered an 80 to give St. John’s the winning low sum.
For the Knights, a consistent dose of scores by the top four linksters proved to be the trick for securing runner-up team positioning.
Ben Torchia’s 78 paced St. Francis, but three teammates in Casey O’Connell, Dan White and Matt Mocek registered 79s.
Beyond the four qualifying teams, five individual golfers picked up additional district slots.
Maumee’s Greg Hermes and Southview’s Tim Hausfeld both shot 75s to advance. The Panthers’ Shawn Roberts carded a 77 and the Cougars’ Steve Remenar slid in with a 76 to complete the Northern Lakes League representation in Findlay.
Central Catholic and Maumee tied for fifth at 324, Southview was seventh with a 331, Northview ninth at 342, Perrysburg 13th on a 354 and Springfield 14th with a 361.
Girls
At Detwiler Golf Course, the Anthony Wayne girls team concluded a tough campaign by shooting a 444 and placing seventh out of 11 competing squads.
Kelly Beard owned Anthony Wayne’s lowest score on the afternoon with a 102.
Kim Stiles entered the clubhouse at 110 while Lauren Frick finished just a stroke behind her teammate at 111.
Laura Kretz turned a 121 to finish up the qualifying scores for the Lady Generals.
Brittany Grady came close as she shot a 124.
Springfield (411) finished 15 strokes behind sectional champion Whitmer (396), and Southview shot a team 422 to earn the fourth qualifying slot and give the NLL two teams represented in district play.
Bowling Green’s Caroline Powers and Southview’s Katie McGuire each qualified individually for the district round.
AW Spikers Rally Past Southview To Keep NLL Title Hopes Alive
BY SCOTT CALHOUN — MIRROR SPORTS
Anthony Wayne visited Southview recently for the second big match-up of the season between the two volleyball teams, and this time it was the Lady Generals who came out on top.
The Lady Cougars were ahead two games to one before AW rallied for an action-packed 25-16, 21-25, 16-25, 25-19, 15-7 win, sending Southview to its second Northern Lakes League loss.
When AW played well, the Cougars had a difficult time maintaining pace, but the Generals fell into an error-prone lull over games two and three after rolling through the first.
Senior middle hitter Allison Papenfuss had the best match of her high school career, finishing with 30 kills, 21 digs and six blocks.
She knocked the kills down from all over the front-half floor and continued to play well even when her teammates struggled.
“I’m really proud of the way we played tonight, coming back to win the way we did,” Papenfuss said. “(Senior) Jordan Floyd and (sophomore) Molly Hilfinger are awesome setters. They know where we want the ball.”
Hilfinger lobbed up 23 assists and Floyd dished out 19 with crisp passes most of the evening.
The Generals fell behind 4-3 early in the first game, but a pair of Papenfuss kills, a block and kill from senior hitter Emily Schneiderbauer and three consecutive unforced errors by Southview sent AW to a 13-5 advantage.
From that point, the Generals maintained at least a five-point margin over the remainder of the game, ultimately putting together a 22-12 run to seize it.
Sophomore Alexa Bowyer picked up three kills over the final eight possessions of game one.
After looking super sharp in the first game, the Generals became a sea of miscues in the second, particularly in their defensive coverage. It helped open a 5-1 lead for Southview.
AW rallied to a 10-9 deficit, but kills by Katie Blankerts, Ashley Mierzwiak and Amanda Schuster propelled the Cougars on a 10-1 run. That streak was beset with Generals mistakes.
Papenfuss rallied Anthony Wayne to a 10-4 run with three more kills and closed to 24-20, but she came up short on a fourth attempt and the Cougars evened the games at 1-1.
The third game took on much of the same pattern as the second, with Southview getting out to an 8-2 advantage before AW stormed back to trail just 11-10.
Another string of unforced errors by the Generals outweighed the Cougars’ own run of them, however, and Southview opened a 20-14 lead. Instead of rallying a second time, the Generals continued their miscues and lost the game by nine points.
With their backs against the wall and any NLL title hopes fading fast in the Southview gym, the AW girls collected themselves and never trailed in game four.
Papenfuss went off with 11 kills in the fourth set, while Schneiderbauer’s three kills and Floyd’s kill and block assisted the Generals to a 25-19 tie-maker.
It was Southview that mostly responded with one unforced error after another in the fourth game.
In the final tiebreaker, AW flirted with disaster one more time, as two errant hits sent the Cougars to an early 2-0 edge.
This time, the Generals marched right back with a 6-0 run behind two more kills from Papenfuss and additional fine play up front by sophomore Mary Marzec.
Bowyer, Papenfuss, Floyd and Schneiderbauer all delivered another kill each, as Southview could get no closer than 8-5 in the match winner for Anthony Wayne.
“If we can clean up our errors, we can go far in the (state) tournament,” said AW coach Meggan Morr. “We’ve worked a lot on being aggressive on offense. We can’t rely on sending over free balls, and tonight the girls were aggressive.”
Bowyer and Schneider-bauer each registered nine kills, with the latter also leading the team with seven blocks. Bowyer led AW with 22 digs.
Anthony Wayne improved to 13-6 overall and is 10-2 in the NLL, while Southview moved to 15-2, 10-2.
If the Generals defeat Maumee at home on Tuesday and Bowling Green on the road on Thursday, they will secure at least a share of the program’s first NLL crown since 2003.
