Indian Lake and Preble Shawnee tussled around Friday, with the Lakers getting the ultimate decision.
The Lakers held on for a 17-14 victory over the Arrows in the Region 20 quarterfinals of the Division V football playoffs Friday night.
Each team scored on its opening drive, with the rest of the first half turning into a stalemate.
Indian Lake made a stop to begin the third quarter, then drove and scored to take the lead, and extended it with a field goal early in the fourth.
That would prove critical, as Shawnee scored with a couple minutes to go. The Lakers were then able to kill off the remaining time and get the win.
Indian Lake improves to 9-2 on the year, while the Arrows finish their year at 10-2.
Due to changes made by the OHSAA to the playoff format, the Lakers will have one more chance to perform in front of their home fans next Friday.
As the #2 seed, they will host #11 Mariemont, which shut out #3 Miami East 30-0, in the regional semifinals.
“It’s the second season, it’s the playoffs, and you should expect things to be hard,” said Lakers coach Jonn Rapp. “(Preble Shawnee) played a great game. I thought our guys responded and played a great game. I’m really glad that it was tough and difficult, and we had to overcome some adversity, because those are where the best lessons are.”
Rapp also praised the coaching staff’s and players’ preparation. “If we have to throw, we can throw. If we have to run, we can run. And that’s the game plan, and we did that tonight. We didn’t put as many points on the board as we wanted, but we were able to grind the clock, control the ball, and I think ultimately that won us the game.”
Brady Golliday completed 18 of 26 passes on the night for 154 yards, with touchdown passes going to Brodey Reisinger (28 yards) and Colin Bendler (3 yards).
They had seven catches apiece, with 87 yards for Reisinger and 36 for Bendler.
As Rapp noted, the Lakers did their share of ground attack as well. Golliday had 18 carries for 65 yards, and Noah Shirk got 18 handoffs for 72 yards.
Shirk also had an interception in the end zone to kill off a potential Arrows threat near the end of the first half.
Avery Pequignot hit a 32-yard kick with 9½ minutes left in the game, and also made both PATs.
For the Arrows, Brody Morton was 6 of 17 for 112 yards, with a TD throw of 19 yards to Caleb Blankenship. Morton also ran 17 times for 72 yards, scoring on a 1-yard plunge.
Bryson Doran ran 13 times for 80 yards. Blankenship had three catches for 39 yards.
Indian Lake received the opening kickoff and set up shop at the 20. The first play was a 17-yard completion to Reisinger. After a couple of runs, they went back to the big junior for 12 yards and a first down at midfield.
Shirk had an 11-yard run, then went for three. Golliday broke off a nine-yard scamper to get to the 28.
Golliday then dropped back and put up a rainbow that Reisinger was able to go up and grab for the score in the front left corner of the end zone with 8:22 to play. Pequignot added the kick for the 7-0 advantage.
Shawnee got the ball at the 30 after the kickoff. Ethan Mauller got a first down at the 40. The Arrows had three more runs, two by Morton, and got into Lakers territory at their 40.
Shawnee converted on a couple of third downs, including a big 18-yard burst up the middle by Doran. A few plays later, Morton kept it and went in from the 1 with 1:48 to go. The PAT evened it at 7.
The Lakers converted a third down as the first quarter ended, but Golliday was sacked a few plays later, and they had to punt.
Shawnee was not able to move the ball except for one play, and booted it back to the Lakers.
Golliday threw to Shirk to start the drive. After a facemask penalty on the Arrows, the Lakers kept it in Golliday’s hands for a series of chunk runs. After reaching midfield, the drive stalled when they went for it on fourth down. Golliday was stopped just short at the Arrows’ 41.
Shawnee ran a couple of times, then Morton went back and fired a deep ball to Mauller along the sideline for a 45-yard gain and put the ball in the red zone at the IL 14.
Morton ran a couple of times. He then went back and fired across the middle, but Shirk was able to grab it for a touchback and keep things even at 7.
Indian Lake had about a minute to work with. They were able to complete a couple of passes to Bendler and one to Reisinger, but came up empty on throws after that. The teams trotted off at intermission still deadlocked.
Shawnee had a good return on the kickoff wiped out by an illegal block penalty, pushing them back to the 10.
They used a series of eight straight runs to chew up the clock and march to the 47. But a third down throw went incomplete and they had to punt it away.
Starting from their 21, Shirk ran for three, then Reisinger got six on a catch.
A run by Shirk moved the chains once, and then a pass to Reisinger did so again, reaching the 46.
Two plays later, Golliday bulled his way through the defense for a huge 34-yard gain to get inside the 20.
Three runs by Shirk moved it to the 3. Golliday then rolled out and fired to Bendler for the touchdown with 1:04 to go. The PAT made it 14-7.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Lakers got the ball in excellent position thanks to a punt return by Reisinger. He scooped the ball up near midfield and ran it down to the Arrows’ 33.
After losing ground to start the drive, Brody Lewis had a catch to pick up 14 yards. The Lakers were stopped on third down, but Shirk got just enough on fourth to keep it alive.
A holding call pushed them back. They got some of that back before sending out Pequignot. He smacked it from the right hashmark with plenty of room to spare to make it 17-7.
After the teams traded punts, Shawnee started at their own 7. Three runs advanced them to the 32, then Morton and Blankenship connected on back-to-back plays for 20 more yards, getting across the midfield stripe.
Doran converted on third down with a six-yard run. Morton then ran twice and threw once. The latter was a ball over the middle that Blankenship pulled in before going out the back of the end zone. The PAT was good, making it 17-14 with 2:34 to play.
Indian Lake was called for interference on the touchdown, and the penalty was enforced on the kickoff.
The Arrows tried an onside kick, but the Lakers were able to cover it at the 32. They ran several times, forcing Shawnee to use up its timeouts.
A penalty for encroachment then gave the Lakers a first down and allowed them to kneel it out.
In the other half of the Region 20 bracket, #5 Carlisle edged Graham 42-41 and #8 North Union upset #1 Williamsburg 47-14.
Next Friday, it will be North Union at Carlisle and the Lakers hosting Mariemont.
