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[Rocketcorner News]

By Kyle Timmons (Sanduskycountylive.com)
-used with permission-



There was plenty of reason for the St. Joseph Central Football community to be excited following Friday's Division 6 playoff football battle verses Ottawa Hills.

Among them, the Crimson Streaks received a stellar performance by their defense as St. Joe downed the Green Bears 27-3 at Don Paul Stadium at Harmon Field Friday to advance in the OHSAA playoffs.



It wasn't the best start though for the Crimson Streaks. Ottawa Hills kicker, Michael Geiger, kicked the ball off to start the game and Alex Veleba took the ball down the Green Bears' sideline before an Ottawa Hills hit knocked the ball loose.

Tommy Rudolph pounced on the ball at the 30-yard line and the Green Bears put the St. Joe defense to the test right away.

"We always practice for it," said defensive lineman Logan Hartley. "We call it 'sudden change.' We didn't panic and we went out and did what we needed to do."

That's exactly what the Crimson Streaks' defense did as the Green Bears garnered just 17 yards on the opening drive and had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Geiger to make it 3-0 with 7:39 left in the opening quarter.

On St. Joe's next possession, St. Joe methodically marched the ball down the field in familiar fashion behind the legs of Marcus Kerr.

Then, a 30-yard strike from Zack Yeckley to Jordan Sessler, on a play where Yeckley double-pumped before launching the pass down the left side into the open arms of Sessler, setting up a first and goal at the Green Bears' 10-yard line.

After a five yard rush by Yeckley, St. Joe once again lost the ball following a shovel pass from Yeckley to Kerr where Kerr fumbled the ball and Ottawa Hills' Ahmad Hijazi recovered at their own 5-yard line stopping St. Joe from finding the endzone.

"It's football," said St. Joe coach Scott Knisely. "It happens. There was no panic in our kids. We responded back and got things rolling."

The turnover didn't prove costly as St. Joe's defense forced a punt by Geiger late in the quarter.

Geiger's 52-yard punt gave St. Joe the ball at their own 14-yard line.

Once again, St. Joe moved the ball down the field on several passes from Yeckley.

It appeared as if St. Joe's drive would stall again as they faced a 4th-and-12 at the Ottawa Hills' 33-yard line.

That's when Yeckley found Sessler for a 15-yard completion and a 1st down. Four plays later, Yeckley pushed his way through the Ottawa Hills defense for a one-yard touchdown run with 9:11 left in the half, giving St. Joe a 7-3 lead.

After another Geiger punt, St. Joe took over once again with 6:25 left in the half and put together a 14 play drive behind, this time behind the legs of Mitchell Gonya, who took over for Kerr who had a minor injury.

Gonya started the drive with a 19-yard run and Yeckley picked apart the Green Bears' defense little by little leading the charge down the field once again.

With 1:19 left in the half, Yeckley fired a 7-yard pass to Sessler, giving St. Joe a 13-3 lead following a missed extra point.

Leading 13-3, the Crimson Streaks (10-1) kicked off to start the 2nd half and luckily managed to fall on an uncovered ball at the Ottawa Hills 22-yard line. Veleba jumped on the loose ball giving his team the momentum it needed to start the second half.

"That was big," Knisely said. "It started things rolling in the second half for us."

The costly turnover for Ottawa Hills quickly resulted in seven points for St. Joe as Yeckley and Sessler connected once again four plays later on a 4-yard touchdown pass.

Sessler finished with 9 catches for 109 yards.

With a 20-3 lead early in the third quarter, the Crimson Streaks then went to work on defense. At times it appeared as if Ottawa Hill's quarterback, Jonathan Rodriguez was having an easy time hitting his receivers, including Jack Wollenburg and Judah Wollenburg; however, St. Joe's defense wouldn't break.

"It felt great," said lineman Nick Militello. "We just followed our keys and did what we've been practicing all year."

Militello, Corey Durbin, Hartley, Matt Fox, Jake Yeckley, Cameron Wasson, Bobby Mancha, Grant Mercer and more helped anchor the defense throughout the night.

"Overall, we did a pretty good job," said Hartley. "We had a game plan to stop them upfront and then when they bounced it outside we were able to get them out there."

Ottawa Hills was limited to 125 yards of total offense in the game.

St. Joe's final score came with 2:29 to go in the third quarter when Yeckley found Veleba covered one-on-one and Veleba hauled in the 44-yard pass to give St. Joe the 27-3 lead.

Yeckley completed 20-of-32 passes for 255 yards in the game.

St. Joe now will move on to face Delphos St. John's, a 36-29 winner over Leipsic.

"I'm proud of all our kids tonight," Knisely said. "This was a nice win for them, for the St. Joe community and the community overall. It was great seeing such a large crowd. This was probably the largest crowd I've seen (for a St. Joe game).