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NORWALK- It was all anyone talked about since mid-summer. But finally, it was time for all the talk, the hype, predictions and speculation to step aside for two of the area's football powers to stand toe-to-toe with each other and see who was the better team that particular night. In front of 2,317 fans that saw a 50/50 ticket prove to be worth $2,580 in one of the biggest non-conference matchups in area history, the St. Paul Flyers rallied behind Eric Schwieterman from a 7-0 halftime deficit to claim a 21-14 win over Huron Saturday night. Schwieterman, pulling triple duties as the team's quarterback, safety and place kicker, finished with 16 rushing attempts for 103 yards and two touchdowns while completing 8 of 11 passes for 75 yards, double-digit tackles, two extra points and threw for a two-point conversion as the Flyers improved to 3-0. The win also improves St. Paul to 72-10 at home dating back to the 1993 season. “It’s a win against a very good program that we have very high respect for,” St. Paul head coach John Livengood said. “There is a lot of things we model after their program. In my mind, they set the bar for this area and we try to model some things they do. It’s a first-class program and it’s a special win from that standpoint.” St. Paul limited Huron (2-1) to 70 yards rushing and 32 yards passing in the second half, that included just 86 net yards. “St. Paul has a lot to be proud of,” Huron head coach Tony Legando said. “They just executed. As far as our team, we’ve got to take this adversity and run with it and in Huron we can handle that. I think we’ll handle that just fine. We’ll get in and study and find out what our strengths and weaknesses are and go from there.” The Flyers opening drive of the second half was an impressive 16-play, 73-yard scoring drive that took 6:52 off the clock and was capped off on a three-yard scoring run by Schwieterman in which he dove and ricocheted off two Tiger defenders. He then added the PAT to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:44 left in the quarter. A holding penalty on the ensuing kick return pushed Huron back to the St. Paul 10, and on the first play of the drive quarterback Matt Acierto’s 9-yard completion to Ben DeLamtre went for naught as the ball came free and the Flyers Joel Boose recovered at the Huron 19. The very next play, Schwieterman on a designed keeper swept to the right side and cut through two defenders for a 19-yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the quarter. The kick was partially blocked, but St. Paul had the lead for the first time at 13-7. “Our opening drive there in the third quarter was the turning point,” Livengood said. “There hasn’t been a lot of games we’ve trailed at halftime here and I think after we were able to get that first score in the third our kids felt then that they had a chance. And I do think there was doubt there…there was doubts in our kids mind prior to that, but it showed the character they had to come back from that.” The key to getting the offense going, however, came at the end of the first half without points to show for it. "We were on our heels at that point," Livengood said. "And a key point was when we were buried inside the 10 in second quarter and we were able to move it out to midfield before halftime. We didn't get points out of it, but we established some continuity offensively." The Tigers quickly responded to the deficit, however, as DeLamtre had a 46-yard kickoff return to the Flyer 43 and four plays later Cody Koenig burst through the middle nearly untouched for a 30-yard scoring run to ignite the Tiger faithful and Anthony Layne’s PAT put Huron right back on top 14-13 heading into the final quarter. What proved to be the game winning drive then followed for St. Paul, as it covered 72 yards on 10 plays and lasted just over three minutes. Brian Griffin, subbing for the injured Matt Wilde, who left after the opening series of the game, finished off the drive with an eight-yard run with 9:31 left and Schwieterman rolled out and found Daniel Tracht for two points and the 21-14 lead. Both teams then traded possessions, and Huron got one final chance with solid field position starting at the St. Paul 45 with 4:40 left. Prior to Acierto picking up five yards on a fourth-and-two at the Flyer 36 to keep the drive going, the Tigers had to use their final timeout, which left the team scrambling in the ensuing plays after. Acierto was sacked for an eight-yard loss by Geoff Hainline, then completed back-to-back passes to Matt Lehrer that covered 12 yards to put the ball at the Flyer 27, but it was then fourth-and-six and the clock moving inside of the final minute. Acierto’s fourth down pass then fell incomplete to set off a wild St. Paul celebration, and the team took a knee to seal the victory. “It was just a great football game with both team playing their hearts out,” Livengood said. “The crowd was awesome and I think that was real exciting for the kids. It really was just a great effort from both sides and a game with two very good teams going at it.” Said Legando, "St. Paul just has a nice ball club that is well coached and they came out on top,” he said. “But I’m proud of our kids, it’s just something that we have to go back and study and get right back at it.” After Schwieterman, Rob Kunisch picked up 55 tough yards on 17 attempts and Griffin added 32 yards on five attempts. Wilde, a 1,000-yard rusher a year ago, was believed to have suffered a hip pointer about four minutes into the game. Receiving, Brian Roberts caught 3 passes for 31 yards, Brett Wiedemann caught 2 passes for 18 yards and Tracht caught two for 15 yards and the key two-pointer. Justin Wilde had the other catch for 11 yards on the first play of the game-winning drive. Acierto was Huron’s leader, running for 77 yards on 16 attempts and completing 9-of-14 passes for 59 yards. Koenig added 42 yards on five attempts rushing and DeLamtre caught three passes for 24 yards. St. Paul is at Plymouth (2-1) next week and Huron travels to Port Clinton (1-2). Huron (2-1)
0 7 7 0 – 14 Scoring summary HUR- Matt Acierto 1
run, (Anthony Layne kick) |
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