0
Findlay-
In a game matching up two high powered offenses and stout defenses, something had to give. That something was the River Valley defense as the Golden Bears racked up 357 yards of offense in the first half.
From the first drive, the Bryan offense looked sharp and on point. A 65 yard 10 play drive was capped off by Austin Schimmoeller hitting Brandon Poncsak for a 22 yard TD on 4th down. A converted PAT gave the Bears an early 7-0 lead.
River Valley looked primed to the challenge. The Viking offense marched down the field in response. QB Matt Green showed an incredible effort as he scrambled 16 yards for the TD. A second, third and fourth effort and a dive to the pylon brought the Vikings to a 7-6 deficit after a missed PAT.
That's where the game turned, quickly.
Poncsak fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 13 and weaved his way thru the Viking coverage team for an 87 yard kickoff return for touchdown. The first of his high school career. A missed PAT gave Bryan a 13-6 lead.
Brock Minor picked off a Green pass on the Vikings next possession. To reward him, Schimmoeller would hit Minor down the visitor sideline on a 42 yard scoring strike. The two point conversion gave the Bears a 21-6 lead late in the 1st.
Schimmoeller would then hit Lucas Nye on a 36 yard TD pass and a 28-6 lead early in the first.
The Bryan offense was hitting on all cylinders and the defense was covering sideline to sideline. Jake Jones was possessed as he rack up the tackles. If it wasn't a tackle for a loss it was sliding down the line and making a diving tackle near the sideline. The Golden Bear defense held to high powered River Valley offense to 120 total yards in the half.
Schimmoeller gave his arm a rest on the next Bear possession. On what could only be classified as an spectacular run, Schimmoeller would scramble 31 yards to the end zone. Starting on the far hash, he ran to the near sideline dodging tacklers, cut to the inside and weaves thru traffic to score on the far sideline. Bryan held a 35-6 lead with 5 minutes left in the first half.
The Bears defense got the ball back to the offense with enough time for one last drive.
With less then 10 second on the clock, the Bears lined up on the 11 yard line. Schimmoeller would walk away from center as to change the play. The ball was snapped to receiver Sean Culler who would then lob a pass to Poncsak for the score and a 42-6 halftime lead.
Clarke would score for River Valley on the first possession in the third but this game was already decided.
Pendergast added Bryan's final score and Green would add a Viking TD with 52 seconds left in the game to give Bryan a 49-19 victory and a birth in their first ever Regional Final against Kenton.
Bryan racked up 447 total yards of offense. Schimmoeller was 14-19 passing for 194 yards and 3 TDs. He rushed for 155 yards on 11 carries and another TD.
The Golden Bears (12-0) earned their school's first ever 12 win season. They will face Kenton (12-0) in a battle of the AP #1 and #2 teams at a site to be determined.
