FB 2012-10-05 at Mt. Vernon

It was touch-and-go for a while, but in the end the Wildcats pulled of a 35-27 victory last Friday night at Mt. Vernon.

Oak Harbor got the ball first at their own 26 and drove down to the MV 3 yard line, but the drive stalled and the 4th down play did not get the score.

Taking over deep in their own territory, the Bulldogs needed only two plays, one of them a 94-yard pass to take the early lead. With 7:52 left in the first, MV led 6-0 after failing to convert their PAT

The Wildcats answered with a long, clock-consuming, drive.  The 17 play, 71 yard drive ran over 7 minutes off the clock and ended with Ian Kolste tossing a 3 yard pass to Troy Sturdevant.  With just 12 seconds left in the first quarter, OH now led 7-6.

Starting the second quarter, it was another big play for the Bulldogs, as they ran the ball 47 yards to the end zone to retake the lead just over two minutes into the quarter.  The 2-point PAT was successful, putting MV back in the lead 14-7.

This time the Wildcats needed just 8 plays to cover 59 yards, ending with a 17-yard pass from Kolste to Logan Faught to tie the game at 14.

On Mt. Vernon's next series, they went 3-and-out, thanks to big Tyler Adamson getting into the backfield and batting away a Bulldog pass.  However, the Wildcats fumbled the ball back to Mt. Vernon just 6 plays later.

This MV drive covered only 17 yards, aided by a questionable pass interference call against Oak Harbor, but stalled by a nice tackle for loss by Dayne Herron, then a combination sack by Jeremy Foster, Jon Lanningham and Adamson.

Oak Harbor now had the ball on their own 20 yard line with 1:13 on the clock and the score tied at 14.  A nice 33-yard pass from Kolste to Isaiah Trower down the sideline set up another 33-yard pass to Jojo Webster in the end zone with just 5 second on the clock to give OH a 21-14 halftime lead.

In the second half, MV punted after 4 plays and the Wildcats lined up to punt after 5 plays.  Instead of punting, the 'Cats went for the fake, and after a measurement, with the official's taking a long, hard look, the attempt came up less than a half and inch short and Mt. Vernon took over at the 50.  Their first play was a 38 yard pass down to the 12 yard line, but the Wildcat defense held and forced a turnover on downs.

OH had to punt on their next series.  Andre Cumberbatch was back to get the snap, but it sailed high over his head and into the end zone.  Andre was able to get back, pick up the ball and get a kick off, but was downed at the 30 yard line. 

Even starting a drive at the 30, it took Mt. Vernon 11 plays before punching into the end zone from a yard out to make it 21-21 with 14 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.

With 9:27 left in the 4th, Kolste completed another pass for a touchdown to Jojo Webster, this one from 7 yards out.  OH was now back in the lead 28-21.

The Bulldogs responded with their own score, a 14-yard run.  Instead of going with a PAT kick to tie the score, the Bulldog coaching staff decided to go for two.  They lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone but the ball fell incomplete, leaving OH with a 28-27 lead with 6:53 left in the game.

Oak Harbor's final score of the night came on a Fred Webster 1-yard run up the middle to cap a 14 play drive that took the clock down to 1:07.  The score was now 35-27 in favor of the Wildcats.

After the TD, Oak Harbor kicked off to Mt. Vernon, and the return man fumbled the ball with the Wildcats recovering, and after Kolste took two knees, the game ended with OH winning 35-27.

Photos from the game are posted HERE.

Video highlights are HERE.


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