Flyers top Plymouth in OT, set up showdown at Crestview

NORWALK - It took a little something extra, but as the 2011 season enters the final two weeks of the season, everything remains in front of the St. Paul football team. The Flyers outlasted visiting Plymouth Saturday night in overtime at Warren Whitney Field, 28-21.

With the win, St. Paul improved to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the Firelands Conference while Plymouth fell to 5-3, 4-1. It was the fourth overtime game in St. Paul’s history, with the Flyers now unbeaten in all four. The last OT game was a 31-28 win over Elyria Catholic in Week 3 of the 2002 season.

“I’m real proud of the kids and their effort,” St. Paul coach John Livengood said. “Plymouth is a good team. It was two good teams battling it out and getting after it. We’re about as evenly matched as we can be, and I’m just glad we found a way to come out with a win.”

The win also marked the 17th straight Flyer win over Plymouth, while St. Paul is 53-4 in FC play at home since the program’s first playoff appearance in 1995.

Unofficially, the Flyers will remain 10th in Division VI Region 22. With a trip to Crestview (7-0, 5-0 FC) next week, St. Paul will be playing not only for an FC title share but also the program’s 14th playoff appearance.

Trailing 21-13 late in the third quarter, Plymouth’s Craig Miller hit Jeremiah Crager for a 19-yard touchdown pass at the 3:29 mark of the quarter. Miller ran in the conversion, and the game was tied at 21.

Both teams slugged it out for much of the rest of regulation, but Plymouth was driving at the St. Paul 30 but turned it over on downs with 1:38 left. The Flyers ran out of time after four plays to send the game into OT.

Plymouth won the toss and elected to play defense first, but the Flyers quickly covered the 20 yards needed for what proved to be the game-winning score.

On third and 5 at the Plymouth 15, quarterback Danny Ross found Shawn Dankleson in the right flat for a 9-yard gain to the 6. On next play senior fullback Isaac Livengood bulled in from six yards out to put the Flyers up. Scottie Slauterbeck’s PAT made it 28-21.

On third and 4 on the Big Red’s ensuing possession, Miller threw an incomplete pass beyond the line of scrimmage, resulting in a 5-yard penalty and a loss of down. With the game on the line, Miller was sacked on fourth down by Livengood to end the game.

Two years removed from losing 63-0 at St. Paul in an 0-10 season where it was shutout six times and gave up 483 points in 10 games, the Big Red made great strides.

“Those seniors and Coach (Mark) Genders deserve a lot of credit,” Livengood said of Plymouth. “All I could think about after the game was those seniors and how far they’ve come. I know the score ended up showing 49 points between us, but I thought it was a real defensive battle. It was two strong running teams going at it.”

St. Paul opened the scoring as Alaric Newcomer scored on a 49-yard run up the right sideline. Slauterbeck’s kick made it 7-0 with 3:42 left in the first quarter. Plymouth responded with a 1-yard run by Tyler Hicks with 10:27 left in the first half to tie the game at 7-7.

The Flyers proceeded to drive 74 yards on nine plays in just less than four minutes, as Livengood went in from a yard out with 6:33 left in the half. The PAT was wide right for a 13-7 lead. Plymouth answered with a 12-yard TD run by Miller with 1:24 left in the half, but their PAT attempt was blocked to leave the score at 13-13.

St. Paul then went to the air to drive 62 yards in 51 seconds, as Ross hit Dankleson for 28 and 20 yards to put the ball deep in Plymouth territory. Ross hit Spencer Byrd with a 5-yard TD pass with 27 seconds left in the half, then leaped over a defender on a 2-point conversion attempt to send St. Paul into the locker room with the 21-13 lead.

For St. Paul, Newcomer ran 16 times for 121 yards while Livengood added 74 yards on 24 attempts. Ross was 8 of 15 passing for 111 yards with Dankleson catching four of those for 70 yards.

For Plymouth, Hicks had 95 yards on 18 attempts while Logan Lacy ran 23 times for 78 yards.