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Tiffin, OH - What would a Tiffin Columbian versus Bellevue match-up be without hard-hitting football and rain? For what seems like the tenth straight year, the game between the two traditional Northern Ohio League powers was played in a steady, wind driven rain at Tiffin's Frost-Kalnow Stadium. In recent years, the Redmen have owned the Tornadoes in Tiffin, but this would be the year Columbian would get their revenge. But, it would not be easy for the Tornadoes as they were forced to score in the final two minutes to earn a 17-10 victory. Bellevue won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Tiffin received Mike Snyder's opening kick and returned it to their own 35-yard line. The Tornadoes were only able to pick up three yards on two short runs and a pass and were forced to punt. Bellevue took over at their own 30. On the second play in Bellevue's possession, disaster appeared to strike the Redmen as a bad handoff caused a fumble that was recovered by Tiffin. However, the Tornadoes fumbled the ball right back to the Redmen as Aaron Decker recovered the pigskin. This set the stage for Bellevue's only touchdown drive of the night. After the fumble recovery, Bellevue would go on a nine-minute touchdown drive. Matt Lepley and Decker did most of the damage on the ground with each picking up consistent chunks of yardage on the drive. Three times on the drive Bellevue was faced with 4th down situations and on all three they were able to convert. The key play was a 4th and 11 pass completion from Jon Journay to Cody Koselke that was good for 15 yards. Lepley would cover the last three yards to paydirt, Snyder's PAT was true, and the Redmen held a 7-0 lead with just seconds remaining in the first quarter. After the kickoff, Bellevue's defense stuffed two Tiffin plays and had the Tornadoes facing 3rd down and long deep in their own territory. Tiffin's quarterback, Weston Reinbolt was pressured into throwing a wounded duck that was intercepted by Bellevue's Rob Smith. What followed was the most controversial call of the night. Smith was apparently down at the Tiffin 25-yard line and the ball came loose. A Tornado picked up the loose ball, but the officials had whistled it dead. After conferring for a few minutes they gave Columbian possession at the 25. Instead of Bellevue having the ball in excellent field position and looking to build on it's 7-0 lead, Tiffin had new life and they would take advantage of it. Thanks to the running of Tim Spencer, the Tornadoes moved methodically down the field until the drive stalled on the Bellevue 20-yard line. Tiffin coach Steve Gilbert called on his kicker to get the Tornadoes on the board, and the 38-yard field goal split the uprights. Bellevue still led 7-3 with 5:54 to go in the half, but that would soon change. Bellevue's next drive appeared cursed from the start. The kick was bobbled and the Redmen had horrible field position. They were able to pick up one first down and looked to be moving the ball when disaster struck. Journay's third down pass was intercepted by Justin Reinbolt at the Redmen 45. He returned it all the way to the 19. Tiffin drove inside Bellevue's ten-yard line and were faced with 3rd and goal from the seven. Spencer took the handoff and was hit by several Redmen defenders but somehow bounced off and reversed his course and got into the endzone. Bellevue was able to block the PAT, but Tiffin held a 9-7 lead with 1:56 remaining in the half. Bellevue looked to get something going right before half-time, as Tim Keegan returned the Tornado squib kick to mid-field, but Bellevue was unable to get anything going. Columbian took over on downs and ran the half out leading 9-7. Bellevue received the ball to begin quarter number three. After a good kick return by Lepley to the Bellevue 44, Bellevue again looked to get the offense in gear despite the rainy and windy conditions. The Redmen suffered another huge blow when Lepley limped off during the series suffering an apparent leg injury. The running duties now fell to Shane Hamer and Decker. This Bellevue drive would end when Decker was stopped short on 4th and less than a yard. Tiffin was unable to do anything, and in fact went backward, before punting back to the Redmen. Brian Palsa returned the punt all the way to the Tiffin 33, and Bellevue looked to be in business. The Redmen drove deep into Tornado territory and looked poised to score the go-ahead touchdown when a holding penalty set them back and killed the drive. Journay's 4th and 16 pass fell incomplete and again the Tornadoes dodged a bullet. Bellevue was finally able to capitalize on field position on Tiffin's next possession. Columbian coughed up the football and Bellevue recovered at the Tiffin 47. On 3rd and 2, Hamer broke loose for a 27 yard run to the Tiffin 12. Once again, the Tornado defense stiffened. On 4th and 4, Coach Nasonti called on Mike Snyder to attempt a field goal. The call paid off for the time being, as Snyder was perfect on the 23-yard attempt and Bellevue regained the lead at 10-9. That was the way the score stood entering the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter will not go down in the memory of any Bellevue fan as being a good one for the Redmen. Tiffin drove into Bellevue territory and was faced with 4th and 13. Instead of attempting to get a 1st down, Coach Gilbert elected to punt. The punt rolled into the endzone and Bellevue took over on their own 20. The question on every Redmen fan was whether the Redmen offense could eat up the last 8:27 of the game in a similar fashion as they had the week previous against Willard. It did not work out that way. The Redmen offense could not pick up a 1st down and punted back to Tiffin with 6:22 to go. This time the Tornadoes would not be denied. Between the running of Reinbolt and Spencer, and some short passes from Reinbolt, the Tornadoes moved steadily deeper into Bellevue territory from their mid-field starting point. The key play in the drive, and in the game, came on a Reinbolt keeper from the 23-yard line to the 5. On that play, Bellevue player Alex Malott appeared to suffer a potentially serious injury. He lay motionless on the field for several minutes and was removed from the stadium via ambulance. After a long delay, the game resumed. On 2nd and goal, Reinbolt out-raced the Bellevue defenders to the pylon and Tiffin went up 15-10 with less than two minutes to play. Gilbert elected to go for two, to push the lead to seven. The pass was successful and Columbian led 17-10 with 1:58 to play. The Redmen were only able to return the ensuing kickoff to the 25 yard line, so they were forced to go 75 yards with only one time-out left. Journay took to the air but all four of his pass attempts fell incomplete. Tiffin took over on downs and ran the clock out to secure the first Tornado victory over Bellevue, in Tiffin, since 1995. The Bellevue players walked off the field dejected about the loss, but much more concerned about their teammate who was said to be life flighted to a Toledo hospital. Further word later that evening was that Alex had moved both his arms and legs and had a nasty concussion and the move to Toledo was more precautionary than anything. |
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