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Bellevue Redmen
vs.Fostoria Redmen
By XBellevueplayar
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Tornadoes verse Redmen, one for ESPN's Instant Classic
Redmen aerial assault too much for Columbian
October 10, 2004
Bellevue, OH-Every year there seems to be so much riding on the Tiffin verse Bellevue game. League title aspirations, early arrivals that people walk for blocks with yet an hour before kickoff not to mention the feeling a player gets in his stomach before the game knowing that the winner has a good shot at the league crown and post-season play.
The two previous seasons the Tornadoes enjoyed success against the hometown Redmen while riding the winds and rain of two very sloppy Friday nights. On this night however Mother Nature was a friendly foe of Bellevue's on a fairly warm October evening that allowed the Redmen passing game to take flight.
Tiffin won the coin-toss but elected to defer to the second half as the anticipated match-up of the Redmen's number two league ranked offense verse the Tornadoes league leading defense took center stage.
The Redmen offense moved swiftly down field to the Tiffin 33-yard line before the drive stalled when senior tailback Greg Keys came up a yard short on fourth-and-3.
Columbian's offense barely saw the field before disaster struck the Tornadoes, fumbling on their first offense play while senior defensive-end Joe Miller pounced on the ball at the Tiffin 23-yard line setting up first-and-10 for the Redmen with great field possession.
Redmen signal caller Jon Journay capped off a six-play drive with a quarterback sneak to put Bellevue in front. The key play on the drive came when senior wide-out Jarrid Breyman caught a 20-yard Journay pass on fourth-and-7 to setup first and goal at the one. The two-point conversion attempt failed and the Redmen held a 6-0 advantage.
The Bellevue defense came out fired up forcing a three and out with the Tornadoes punting from their own thirty-five.
On the second play of the series Journay hit a wide-open Cody Koselke on a play action pass deep down the middle of the field with Koselke taking it in for a 72-yard touchdown reception. The two-point attempt again was no good but the Redmen aerial assault was in high gear as Bellevue took a quick 12-0 lead.
The Tornadoes offense would not be denied however as senior receiver Justin Reinbolt took the handoff and out-raced everyone around the right corner as he scampered 67-yards for Columbian's first score. The extra point kick was blocked with a number of Redmen players getting pressure on the attempt and Tiffin had cut the Bellevue lead in half at 12-6.
Columbian's score was answered with an eight play 71-yard scoring drive. On first-and-10 from the Tiffin thirty-five Journay pitched the ball to Greg Keys who then turned and pitched it back to Journay. The flea-flicker worked to perfection as Koselke was wide-open in the end zone for the score. The two-point attempt was good with Breyman hauling in the reception and with 9:36 left in the first half it was Bellevue 20, Tiffin 6.
The Tornadoes refused to go away though scoring on their next two offensive possessions with senior quarterback Greg Kiser scoring on a 10-yard option run and Kiser scoring on a 1-yard run. Matt Hoffman connected on both extra point attempts and the half would expire with the score knotted at 20-20.
Columbian struck quickly to open the second half thanks to a long kick return down to the Bellevue 20-yard line. Kiser scored on second-and-7 from 17-yards out on the quarterback option and Hoffman tacked on the extra point for Tiffin's first lead of the night at 27-20.
New quarter same result as the first for the Redmen as they marched 62-yards down field on twelve plays with Greg Keys scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run. With the Redmen trailing by one point at 27-26, head coach Ed Nasonti stuck with the two-point attempt as he had on the previous three scores and in the end it paid off tremendously. Keys took the handoff and blasted through the Tiffin defense for the two-point conversion and a Redmen 28-27 lead with 4:57 left in the third quarter.
The Tornadoes came right back moving down to the Bellevue 26-yard line before facing a fourth-and 6 situation in which Tiffin elected to attempt a 41-yard field goal. The Hoffman kick came up short and the Redmen escaped the scoring threat with the one point lead still in tact.
The Redmen dodged another bullet when Columbian fumbled on the Bellevue 10-yard line.
Then came crunch time and RTB for the Bellevue offense. RTB which means; "Run The Ball", is what the Redmen offense chants before taking the field on Friday nights and run the ball is exactly what they did while chewing up 7:19 off the clock on a fifteen play 74-yard drive in which Greg Keys accounted for 49-yards rushing. The drive stalled however at the Tiffin 9-yard line as Bellevue was stopped a yard short on fourth-and-2.
Tiffin's Greg Kiser moved the chains with receptions by Reinbolt and Josh Moore to get the ball out to their own 40-yard line before disaster struck the Columbian team again. Redmen defensive lineman Bryon Renwand broke through the Tiffin offensive line to force a Kiser fumble with fellow lineman Dylan Frazier recovering for the Redmen.
The fumble sealed the Redmen victory with a 28-27 verdict and increased the Redmen's all-time series lead of 39-34 against the Tiffin Tornadoes. Though no one wants to talk playoffs with three games still remaining on the regular season schedule, Bellevue moved from seventh in last week's Region 10 poll to fourth this week with the win. All eyes are on Upper Sandusky now in two weeks but the Redmen must not over look a Fostoria (2-5) team that want to avenge last years 42-6 trashing that came at the hands of the Redmen.
Tiffin will head to Shelby (1-6) to take on the Whippets who won their first game of the season by beating the winless Galion Tigers 40-14.
