Huron manages to stop O-G just short of goal line to win

11/13/2005

TIFFIN - Simply put, Ottawa-Glandorf just ran out of time.

Ottawa-Glandorf drove from its 5-yard line to Huron's 6 before the final seconds ticked off the clock, allowing the Tigers to escape with a 10-3 win over the Titans in a Division IV regional semifinal game at Frost-Kalnow Stadium last night.

Huron (11-1), which now takes on Coldwater in the Region 14 finals for the second straight year, appeared to have the game in hand with a seven-point lead before Kirk Brown's 21-yard field goal try was blocked by Ottawa-Glandorf's Luke Bellman with 48 seconds left in the game.

Ottawa-Glandorf quarterback Jay Laubenthal completed passes to Chad Ellerbrock and Matt Fought to move the ball to their 28. Two more throws to Bellman and Jordan Pot-hast covering 14 and 16 yards, respectively, moved the ball into Huron territory at the 42 with 13 seconds left.

Laubenthal failed to connect with an open Mitch Croy on the next play. With six seconds left Laubenthal connected with Bellman who was corralled by a trio of Huron defenders six yards shy of a touchdown.

Huron used a powerful rushing attack led by Trevor Greenawalt, who carried the ball 22 times for 141 yards in the second half and finished with 196 yards on 29 carries.

"They were physical upfront. They were big upfront, and with their zone schemes upfront they were able to meatball us off the line," said Ottawa-Glandorf coach Ken Shriner.

"Their tailback must have had 7 million yards tonight. We made some big stops when we had to. To give up only 10 points against their offense tonight says something about our defense."

WAPAKONETA - Hardin Northern and Springfield Catholic Central raced up and down Harmon Field at breakneck speed in the fourth quarter last night.

But the Polar Bears came up with plays when needed to take a 49-28 Division VI, Region 24 semifinal win, giving coach Pete Brunow his 200th career victory against just 48 losses.

The victory pits the Polar Bears against Delphos St. John's, a 28-21 winner over Marion Local, in next Saturday's regional final at a site to be determined.

"The best part of this is that we were able to answer their scores with scores of our own," Brunow said.

Hardin Northern, the defending Division VI state champions who are now 12-0, entered the fourth quarter with a 21-14 lead. They added a score with 6:34 left on a 53-yard Justin Crossman run.

Just over a minute later, the Fighting Irish scored on a Brendan Kelly to Scott Higgins 11-yard pass.

Hardin Northern countered with a 10-yard Michael Ridgeway TD run. The Irish came right back as Brian Wagner, who had 168 yards on 18 carries, bulled in from the 1-yard line to make it 34-28 with 2:50 left.

The Polar Bears showed why they are ranked No.1 in the state as they were able to tack on two more scores - Nathan Bame on a 49-yard run and Ridgeway on a 26-yarder.

Bame led Hardin Northern with 165 yards on 14 carries, while Ridgeway had 164 on 28 rushes. The Polar Bears finished the night with 443 yards on 55 rushes.

The wingback sweep proved very beneficial to the Polar Bears in the second half.

"We had not run that a whole lot this year and we were able to guess right on which way to go," Brunow said.

Bame scored the Polar Bears first three

touchdowns.

The first two were on passes of 11 and 15 yards from Cory Brunow and the other was a 20-yard run on the wingback sweep.