Heading into Friday night's matchup the Tygers were desperately looking for that spark that would get the offense going. An 0-4 start is never ideal regardless of the schedule. That spark may have been lit thanks to a thrilling 20-19 overtime win in New Philadelphia.
The Tygers would take their first lead of the season on a nine yard touchdown run by the birthday boy (Saturday) Isaiah Darson with 10 mins to play in the second quarter. Battling tough calls on penalties and a cheap shot from the Quakers to Guy Trader seemed to bring out a different attitude from the Tygers.
The Quakers responded with 13 unanswered points which would give them the lead going into halftime 13-7. If one thing is certain especially in a close game, you never count out a Chioke Bradley coached team. “We preached it all week in practice, never give up and play together”, Coach Bradley said after the game.
The defense kept the team together Friday night. In his first game back from injury, senior Maurice Bradley Jr. would shine in his return with 10 tackles and 2 sacks. Senior Symirr Phillips also had 10 total tackles and 3.5 sacks to shutout New Philly in the second half of regulation giving the offense one last chance to avoid an 0-5 start. The offensive line answered the call and stepped up Friday night. They provided holes for Tyger running backs including a 12 yard game tying touchdown run by Junior Ryan Au. Another jolt of energy to the Tyger players that would carry that momentum into overtime.
Mansfield Senior won the coin toss and elected to play defense first in OT. The Quakers scored quickly thanks to a Keaton Fausel seven yard touchdown run. However a bad snap on the PAT, which was a constant theme Friday for New Philly, kept the lead at only six points, 19-13 after the first series of overtime. The Tygers battled adversity all night by having to claw back from penalties and mistakes, they were finally rewarded when Junior quarterback Jordan Ferguson threw a screen pass to Ny Petty who then would turn it into a double pass to a wide open Guy Trader in the corner of the end zone on the first play of offense tying the game at 19. The game would then come down to a PAT attempt by Senior place kicker and soccer player Griffin DeBolt. He calmly nailed the game winning kick to send the Tygers and their fans home happy 20-19. DeBolt felt relieved after the kick, “After missing several kicks this season it felt good when it went through, I was relieved.”
With the win Mansfield Senior improves to 1-4 and 1-1 in the OCC. Lexington will travel to Arlin Field next Friday to battle the Tygers in a big rivalry game at 7pm.