|
|
Watterson Eagles
vs.Bellevue Redmen
By Redmen_Jacks
|
|
Eagles Soar Over Redmen, 28-6.
Fifteen Redmen seniors proudly wore the Red and White for the final time Saturday night.
November 15, 2004
Marion, Ohio-The Bishop Watterson Eagles benefited
from early field position advantages and a punishing
'running-by-committee' ground game to upend the
Bellevue Redmen, 28-6. For the second consecutive
time, Marion Harding Stadium proved to be unkind to
the Redmen going against a Columbus Parochial
Power (Bellevue lost 14-6 to the eventual III champ
DeSales in 1997).
Bellevue could not muster anything offensively in the
early going, and dug themselves a hole in the field
position battle. To the Redmen's credit, the defense
held their own, and forced a couple Watterson three
and outs. However, Watterson struck gold on its third
offensive series aided by an excellent punt return by
Jason Ferrell from the Watterson 45 to the Redmen 30,
and Vinny DeMaria taking the ensuing handoff from QB
Robbie Rosner and rushing 26 yards to the Redmen 4.
Two plays later, Rosner called his number and sneaked
in from the 1. Matt Swartz's PAT was partially blocked
by Bellevue's Brian Palsa, but still managed to sneak
over the crossbar for a 7-0 Watterson lead with 2:25
in the first quarter.
After Bellevue was ineffective on its ensuing
offensive series, Ferrell again set up Watterson in
excellent field position on his punt return to the
Redmen 24. Sam Jacobs busted up the middle on the
first play from scrimmage, and with another Swartz
PAT, Watterson built its lead to 14-0 with 0:08 left
on the first quarter clock.
Bellevue fought back with an impressive 9 play,
80-yard drive with a combination of solid running and
timely passing, courtesy of Greg Keys in the rushing
department, and David Foos receiving. Redmen signal
caller Jon Journay climaxed the drive with a 1-yard QB
sneak for the Bellevue TD. The two-point conversion
failed, but the Redmen closed the gap to 14-6 with
9:15 remaining in the half. The drive was highlighted
by a critical 20-yard catch by Foos on 4th and 7 from
the Watterson 35 to keep the Redmen scoring drive
alive.
Each team escaped further damage as both drove in
their opponent's territory, but a Watterson 42 yard FG
attempt sailed left, and Bellevue drove to the
Watterson 36 from its 20, but turned the ball over on
downs. The first half ended with Watterson again
threatening, but Derrick Berberick snuffed out the
drive with an interception, thus holding Watterson's
advantage to 14-6 at the half.
The second half opened disastrously for the Red and
White. On Watterson's initial offensive series, the
Redmen had the Eagles with a 3rd and 8 from its 44,
but Ferrell once again proved his big-play capability,
and hauled in a 56 yard catch and run for the Eagle
score. Swartz's PAT was true, and Bishop Watterson's
advantage swelled to 21-6 with 10:04 in the 3rd
quarter.
Watterson sealed the Redmen fate by executing a 13
play, 53-yard drive late in the 4th quarter. The
Watterson line and the rushing quartet of DeMaria,
Jacobs, Eric Hard, and Jon Thomas finally wore down
the Redmen 'D', and a Jacobs 2 yard score and Swartz
PAT with 3:50 left in the game increased the Watterson
lead to the eventual final score, 28-6.
Bishop Watterson(10-2) has a date this upcoming
Saturday Night with archrival St.Francis
DeSales(8-4), while Bellevue finished its season with
a fine 10-2 record. Fifteen Redmen seniors proudly
wore the Red and White for the final time. They were:
Cody Koselke, Brian Palsa, Tyler VanFleet, Jon
Journay, Jarrid Breyman, Greg Keys, Joe Miller, Alex
Malott, Nate Greiner, Dylan Frazier, Bryon Renwand,
Keith Didion, Chad Zieber, Cole Frederick, and Matt
Steinmetz.
