‘One big play’: Tiger Cubs fall 21-14 on 99-yard TD pass in fourth quarter

Saturday, October 29, 2016
Devin Clar of Greencastle takes off on a 51-yard run in the first half. The Tiger Cubs got off to a 14-0 lead, but lost 21-14.
Banner Graphic/Jared Jernagan

Two evenly-matched teams battled back and forth for 44 minutes on Friday night in Class 3A Sectional 29 action at Greencastle.

In the end, the visiting Danville Warriors pulled out a devastatingly-painful 21-14 win.

What decided the hard-fought game?

“One big play,” Greencastle coach Mike Meyer said afterwards. “That’s what did it.”

The Tiger Cubs won the first period by a 14-0 margin, and Danville won the second quarter by the same amount to create a halftime tie.

The third quarter was scoreless, as were the first eight minutes of the final period.

Then came the longest mathematically-possible offensive play you will ever see, the one that ended Greencastle’s dream season in which the Tiger Cubs turned a 1-9 record around to 9-1 entering the game.

Danville began a drive into Greencastle territory on the last few plays of the third period, and faced fourth and two at the Tiger Cub 34 when the Greencastle defense held.

The Tiger Cubs then drove deep into Danville territory, seemingly on their way to a lead-changing score.

With third and five at the Warrior 19, the Tiger Cubs were in range of senior kicker Ben Webb — whose field goals had been instrumental in the team winning each of the last two weeks.

A costly holdilng penalty, followed by a false start, pushed the Tiger Cubs out of Webb’s range.

After an incomplete pass on third down, the Tiger Cubs faced fourth and 20 at the Danville 35.

Greencastle had successfully picked up yardage in two fourth-down situations in the first quarter, and lined up in another apparent attempt.

Greencastle’s all-senior backfield of running backs Derek Ummel (16) and Devin Clar (30) line up beside quarterback Nick Costin (12) during Friday night’s sectional semifinal game.
Banner Graphic/Jared Jernagan

Quarteback Nick Costin took the snap in the shotgun formation and perfectly executed a quick kick that finally stopped rolling at the Danville 1.

The Warriors had a long way to go, and only 4:22 left in regulation to do it.

After Greencastle pressure forced two incomplete passes, Danville quarterback Christian Schabel rolled back into the end zone again.

Several Tiger Cub defenders nearly trapped him for a safety, but he escaped. Schabel eventually rolled out to his right, and heaved a wobbly pass out toward midfield to avoid a safety.

Warrior receiver Ben Stevens was in the area, caught the ball at about the 30-yard line and outran the Tiger Cub defenders for the game-changing score.

One big play.

“We wanted to force them to run, and that’s what they did,” Meyer said. “We did everything we could to keep the quarteback from connecting with that Stevens kid, and we did pretty well until that one at the end.”

The Tiger Cubs still had some life, but were forced to punt on their ensuing drive without a first down.

Greencastle’s defense toughened, and forced a Danville punt that only went 24 yards.

The Tiger Cubs took over near midfield, with Costin completing a 30-yard pass to freshman Dakota Campbell to quickly get his team down to the Warrior 22.

After a short completion, Costin had two straight incomplete passes.

The Warriors came on a full-out blitz on fourth and nine, and were able to sack Costin and run out the clock.

“We still had a chance at the end,” Meyer said. “A couple of dropped balls ... it happens.”

Greencastle scored on its first two drives of the game. Clar had a 51-yard run around left end set himself up for a 1-yard TD run just 3:51 into the game.

Greencastle’s defense forced Danville to punt, and the Tiger Cubs took over near midfield.

Clar carried the ball six straight times to get the ball down the field, when Campbell — his likely heir apparent — took it in from seven yards out with 2:21 left in the quarter.

Greencastle only picked up one more first down for the rest of the half on two very short possessions.

Danville got on the board early in the second quarter on an one-yard run by Schabel, and got a nine-yard TD from Bryce King just before halftime.

Clar finished the game with 146 yards on 28 carries.

Greencastle’s defensive prowess was shown in that almost a third of Danville’s yards came on that one big play.

“The kids played hard and did a great job,” he said. “We talked about the idea of ‘one more’ at the end of last season. It was that idea that we never gave up and kept playing.”

Meyer knows the memories of this season will stay with his players for a long time.

“It’s something they will always remember,” he said. “And so will I.”

Danville 0 14 0 7 — 21

Greencastle 14 0 0 0 — 14

First quarter

G — Clar 1 run (Webb kick)

G — Campbell 7 run (Webb kick)

Second quarter

D — Schabel 1 run (Gerber kick)

D — King 9 run (Gerber kick)

Fourth quarter

D — Stevens 99 pass from Schabel (Gerber kick)

D G

First downs 11 9

Rushes-yds 149 144

Passing yards 163 55

Total offense 312 199

Punts-avg. 5-26.8 6-33.3

Penalties-yds 9-84 4-29

Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0

Individual statistics

Rushing — Danville: Schabel 7-26, Hiland 1-3, Skinner 12-62, Plant 2-10, King 13-38. Greencastle: Clar 28-146, Ummel 2-6, N.Costin 5-(-4), Campbell 2-4.

Passing — Danville: Schabel 9-16-0 163. Greencastle N.Costin 6-17-0 55.

Receiving — Danville: Stevens 4-131, Burton 2-10, Hiland 1-89, Luken 1-(-1), King 1-15. Greencastle: A.Costin 3-4, Campbell 1-30, Clar 1-16, Matthews 1-5.

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