Sat Nov 07 2009
By TIM McDONOUGH
NAPOLEON -- Trailing 14-0 at halftime after giving up two big pass plays for touchdowns to Napoleon on Thursday night at Charles Buckenmeyer Stadium, Defiance found itself at a crossroads. It could come out in the second half and lose to its archrival for a fifth straight time, or come out in the second half and decide its own fate.
The Bulldogs chose the latter.
Defiance (1-0) held on for a 21-20 victory over the Wildcats (0-1) when a missed extra point off the foot of Napoleon's Clint Detmer with 1:46 to play allowed the Bulldogs to escape with their first win over Napoleon in five years.
"This is a huge gorilla off our back ... not a monkey, a gorilla," stated Defiance head coach Jerry Buti. "This group of seniors were the first to do it in four years and to be honest I wasn't sure they would be the ones to do it. But they came together tonight and they made the plays to make it happen."
First-year Napoleon mentor Tory Strock gave credit to both teams for a hard-fought affair.
"Both teams deserve credit," said Strock. "Their kids didn't quit in the second half and ours didn't quit late in the game."
Defiance trailed 14-0 at the half after Napoleon senior quarterback Andrew Keller hooked up twice on scoring passes to Detmer that covered 68 and 40 yards.
In the second half, Defiance came out and proved from its first possession that it wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Starting a drive from their own 29, the Bulldogs went 71 yards in seven plays, capped off by a 36-yard, wide receiver sweep for a touchdown by Alex Nofziger with 9:55 to play in the third quarter that cut the deficit in half.
After Max Peter of Defiance recovered a fumble by Napoleon's Jason Brown on the Wildcats' first play of the second half, Defiance drove 59 yards on seven plays to tie the game at 14. A 7-yard run to paydirt, by second-half workhorse Travis Spitnale, finished the drive.
"That score was huge, huge," said Buti. "We told the kids at halftime if we get a score here, somehow, someway we're back in the ballgame. They believed it and we built on it from there."
It turned out to be just the beginning for Spitnale in the second half as the senior finished the game with 34 carries for 193 yards. In the second half, Spitnale had 25 carries for 135 yards and two scores after taking over at tailback for Aaron Swanson, who left the game early on with a foot injury.
Said Spitnale: "I think tonight we learned that no matter what happens we can come back from adversity. It was great to contribute, the offensive line deserves all the credit and it was really all about beating Napoleon. It feels so great."
"We knew we could play with them, they just beat us on two big plays in the first half," said Buti. "We felt like if we stayed with what we were doing well we would be okay. We ran only like three plays in the second half ... but we ran them well."
Early in the fourth quarter, Defiance was driving to take its first lead, but a fumble inside the 10 was recovered by Brandon Hummer, with 10:28 to play to keep the game tied.
With 7:54 to go and Defiance starting quarterback Jordan Gonzales on the sideline with cramps, junior signal-caller Sean Murray came on in relief. Murray was content to feed the ball to Spitnale and senior Mark Sebring, who chewed up chunks of yardage against a now tired Napoleon defense.
Defiance drove 69 yards in 13 plays, with Spitnale scoring on a 1-yard run with 2:38 to go to give the visitors their first lead of the game, 21-20. It turned out to be an uneventful night for Murray who threw exactly zero passes. In fact, Defiance didn't throw the entire second half, rushing the ball 42 times for 240 yards, finishing the game with 75 carries for 331 yards.
"Travis was just a man tonight, he came to play. But when you're running the ball like that, it means your offensive line is doing something right," said Buti. "Napoleon is young up front, they're inexperienced there and tonight we won that battle there. It feels like it's the first time in a decade."
With Defiance in front and just over 2:30 to play, Napoleon didn't fold up its tent either.
Instead, the Wildcats needed just four plays to reach the end zone. A big 27-yard completion from Keller to Nick Rettig on third down kept the drive alive, before Brown finished it off with a tough 24-yard run for a touchdown through the teeth of the Defiance defense.
With 1:46 to play, Defiance led 21-20 with Napoleon electing to go for the extra-point kick to try and tie the game. Following a Defiance timeout, Detmer's kick was wide left, taking the air out of the Napoleon crowd.
Said Strock: "It would have been easy for our kids to fold the tent, but Rettig made a great catch and Brown made a great run. It was evident our kids were not going to quit. Defiance had all the momentum but our kids dug in at the end.
"They way they were controlling (play) at the end, I did consider it (a two-point conversion)," continued Strock. "I thought about lining up and going for two, but I thought I owed it to the kids to try and get it to overtime and not have the game hinge on one decision made by me."
Strock also let his kicker know it wasn't his fault.
"I told Clint the game was decided before the kick," said Strock. "Defiance's ability to run the ball in the second half was the difference."
Napoleon's last chance to try and steal a win ended when Alex Nofziger made a leaping catch on Napoleon's onside kick attempt. Defiance also converted a fourth-and-one at the Napoleon 47-yard line with 54 seconds to play to seal the win.
"I questioned our kids toughness and resolve before the game today and at halftime. You can't question their toughness and resolve now," concluded Buti. "I can handle getting beat, but I can't handle getting beat the way things were going. In the second half our kids came out and played like a whole different team. They deserve all the credit."
Defiance returns to action at home on Friday, opening Western Buckeye League play against Ottawa-Glandorf, while Napoleon is home to host Wauseon.
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