XENIA – Usually, when the wind howls and the flurries fly, it is Clinton-Massie football weather.
However, with Massie looking to throw the ball against a stingy Fenwick defense, the elements, and the Fenwick defense conspired to force five Clinton-Massie interceptions.
Neither team could find the end zone on offense until Fenwick scored in the first overtime to seal a 10-3 victory over Clinton-Massie in the Region 14 championship game at Doug Adams Stadium.
“We’re a running team,” CM head coach Dan McSurley said. “We usually just pound it in there. You take nights like this, and we win tough, ugly games.
“We actually wanted to throw the ball because we knew their defense was pretty solid. We just couldn’t get anything going in the air. You just can’t win a regional championship when you give it up five times.”
Vincent Durham rumbled 12 yards on the first possession of overtime for his first varsity touchdown. It gave Fenwick a 10-3 lead.
Clinton-Massie’s possession, and the game, ended on its second play of overtime. Fentress’ pass was intercepted by Nick Wysong at the 10.
A Mathew Hirko field goal had given Fenwick a 3-0 lead with 9:27 remaining.
Davey Tunon nearly gave Clinton-Massie the only points it would need on the ensuing kickoff.
Tunon nearly fell into the end zone as he caught the kick. He stayed out, catching the ball shoulder-high to avoid the automatic touchback.
He then darted through defenders. Hirko, who had given Fenwick the lead, preserved it by slowing Tunon enough to allow his teammates to catch him. After a 70-yard return. Massie had the ball at the Fenwick 30.
Three rushes and an incomplete pass later, and Clinton-Massie turned it over on downs after gaining just five yards.
Clinton-Massie failed on its next possession, punting the ball back to Fenwick with 2:25 left. However, Fenwick went three-and-out, and Massie used its three timeouts to get the ball back with 2:00 left.
What ensued nearly ended the game for both teams.
After an incompletion, Fentress scrambled left and found Bryce Boyd over the middle. Boyd reached behind him as he floated across the field to the right. He pulled it in, turned and rumbled down to the 6.
However, there were offsetting penalties. Clinton-Massie was called for an illegal block in the back at the point of Boyd’s catch, and Fenwick had a personal foul facemask at the end of the play.
“That was tough,” McSurley said. “We had it down, we had all the momentum. We’re looking just to punch it in and put it in our offensive lineman’s hands. The block in the back just killed us, but we fought back again.”
Clinton-Massie returned to its own 42 with 1:40 remaining.
On the next play, Fentress found Boyd again at the Fenwick 42. He fumbled, but Clinton-Massie recovered. In addition, a facemask penalty on Fenwick tacked 15 more yards onto the play. Massie ball at the Fenwick 23.
Again, Fentress found Boyd down to the Fenwick 8. Clinton-Massie hurried to the line and Fentress spiked the ball to kill the clock with 1:15 remaining.
On second and goal, Fentress fumbled, recovered, and picked up one yard. Fentress then scrambled on third down and reached the five. Clinton-Massie rushed its field goal unit onto the field.
Aided by an injury timeout, Clinton-Massie got lined up and Chris Demler booted a 22-yard field goal with 26.3 left to tie the score at 3.
“We didn’t quit,” McSurley said. “We were right there in the end. We battled back and tied the ballgame. We felt really good going into the overtime. It didn’t work out.”
The three points scored by Clinton-Massie was the fewest in a game since Sept. 2, 2011, in a 19-2 loss to Waynesville.
The season ends with the Falcons two wins shy of a potential rematch against Steubenville.
“You hate it being your last game,” McSurley said. “Eventually you’re going to have to play your last game. Our goal after Steubenville was to get back … nobody is going to touch them in the state. They’re just at another level.
“That was our goal was to get back to Steubenville. We just came up short.”
According to the Bishop Hartley twitter account, Fenwick will play Bishop Hartley 7 p.m. Saturday at Wilmington High School’s Alumni Field for a spot in the Division IV state championship game. Wilmington AD Troy Diels said nothing would be confirmed until Sunday morning.
SUMMARY
Nov 21, 2015
@Doug Adams Stadium, Xenia
Bishop Fenwick 10, Clinton-Massie 3, OT
C…0.0.0.3.0…3
F…0.0.0.3.7…10
1st Quarter
No Scoring
2nd Quarter
No Scoring
3rd Quarter
No Scoring
4th Quarter
F – Mathew Hirko 27-yard FG 9:27
C – Chris Demler 22-yard FG 19.0
Overtime
F – Vincent Durham 12-yard run (Hirko kick)
TEAM STATS: PLAYS: C 56; F 52. FIRST DOWNS: C 8, F 8. RUSHES-YARDS: C 40-151; F 51-215. PASSING YARDS: C 41; F 0. COMPLETIONS-ATTEMPTS-INTERCEPTIONS C 4-16-5; F 0-1-0. TOTAL YARDS: C 192; F 215. PENALTIES-YARDS: C 4-35; F 7-70. FUMBLES-LOST: C 3-0; F 0-0.
Individual Stats
Rushing (carries-yards): C Jaycob Wolf 5-12; Hunter Fentress 10-3; Davey Tunon 20-107; Brad Hunt 4-21; Bryce Boyd 1-8. F Michael Sheridan 7-66; Alan Nix 11-21; Keegan Corbett 8-17; Nathan Jeffers 21-88; Vincent Durham 4-23 TD.
Passing (completions-attempts-interceptions): C Fentress 4-16-5 41 yards. F Nix 0-1-0 0 yards
Receiving (catches-yards): Trey Uetrecht 1-7; Boyd 3-34.
