Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils late comeback stuns West Geauga 21-14 in overtime
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
On
rival West Geauga Wolverines (3-4, 2-2). The Blue Devils entered the game after a nice win over Painesville Harvey last week to break a three-game losing skid. The last time Wickliffe beat West Geauga was 2001. The losing streak for the Blue Devils against the Wolverines is no more as the Blue Devils came from behind in the fourth quarter to stun West Geauga and win the game 21-14 in overtime.
West Geauga drew first blood getting on the board on their first possession of the game with 10:04 left on the clock in the first quarter when QB Jax Shenkel ran the ball in on a keeper from four yards out. After Kicker Christian Dibra converted the extra point the Wolverines led 7-0.
There was no scoring for the 24 minutes until Wickliffe’s Junior running back Isaac Pettway hit the end zone with an eight-yard run and Junior Brad Dieterich converted the extra point to tie the game 7-7 with 9:38 left in the third quarter.
Less than six minutes later with 3:49 left on the clock Shenkel hit tight end Frank Diapolo from 30 yards out to give the Wolverines a 14-7 lead after Dibra converted the extra point.
Things did not look good for the Blue Devils as time was running down in the fourth quarter and teams were trading possessions mostly on three and out. Wickliffe got one last chance with just over two minutes left on the clock and took advantage. With 1:16 left on the clock the Blue Devils prayers were answered when Dieterich completed a 21-yard pass to Senior Nick Fenton for a touchdown. Dieterich then converted the extra point and the game was tied.
West Geauga got the ball back after the Wickliffe score but could do nothing with it and the game was headed to overtime.
This was the first overtime game Wickliffe Head Coach Marce Porcello had ever coached in and the first time Wickliffe had played in overtime since 2003 when they fell to Willoughby South 27-20.
Wickliffe got the ball first and did what they had too, as Pettway scored the only points of overtime when he ran the ball in from two yards out to give Wickliffe a 21-14 lead after Dieterich once again converted the extra point.
Then after 15 years of frustration the Wickliffe defense came up huge as they stopped West Geauga’s offense with an interception to secure the victory. Wickliffe’s defense came up huge all night led by Senior defensive lineman Jared Szinte. Szinte was hitting hard all night as many of the hits could be heard clearly in the press box.
The overtime win for the Blue Devils was their first since defeating Hawken 50-43 in 2001. With the win Wickliffe evens their all-time overtime record at 9-9.
The Victory brings the Blue Devils 2017 record to 5-3 and 2-3 in the CVC. Next week the Blue Devils will travel to Beachwood to take on the Bison on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
Jay Kron contributed to this article.
@SportsSentinel POSTED 10/13/2017 02:14
