By RICK SPRUNGER
And now it was Bluffton’s turn to feel the sting of a second-half Heritage rally.
“We’ve been doing this all season,” smiled Heritage coach Casey Kolkman after watching his team score 25 unanswered points to turn a 20-6 halftime deficit into a 31-20 Patriot victory on the Bluffton field Friday night.
“We’ve been terrible in the first quarter all season.
“We’ve had multiple games where we’ve been down two touchdowns.
“We’ve been pretty good in the second half, though.”
Make that the second half plus the last two seconds of the first half.
Bluffton had that 20-6 lead and the football at the Heritage 1 with time left for just one more play in the first half.
“We’ve got to score there,” sighed a frustrated Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel.
“We’ve got the best offensive line in the conference.
“If we score there, we’ve got a 27-6 lead, plus we’re starting the second half with the ball.”
The give was to Anthony Cruz.
He never had a chance.
Heritage stormed the backfield and nailed him for a two-yard loss even before he had a chance to get started.
“That was the turning point in the ball game,” continued Kunkel. “We talked at halftime about moving forward and going on to the next play, but our guys were kind of deflated. But, hey. Give credit to their guys. They executed, and we didn’t.”
Things went from bad to worse in the second half despite that two-touchdown lead.
The Tigers had minus-18 yards in total offense and no first downs in the third quarter, and Heritage got a huge break midway through the period.
Bluffton stopped the Patriots and forced a punt on fourth-and-13 from the Bluffton 44.
A poor snap from center was bobbled and dropped by Heritage punter Brandon Burnham, but Burnham picked up the ball and ran 39 yards down the left sideline all the way to the 5.
Two plays later, Rylan Whitacre was in the end zone, and Heritage was on its way back.
“The bottom line was that, defensively, we played well enough to win, but we didn’t put [our defense] in a very good spot,” said Kunkel. “We had a defensive score, so our offense only scored 14 points.”
“They were more physical than us up front,” he continued. “Yes, they’re bigger, but that’s no excuse. We’ve got to figure out a way to be better,” after watching his team finish the game with just 32 rushing yards.
Bluffton drew first blood in the contest on a six-yard scoring pass from Braxton Betancourt to Hunter Wenger midway through the first quarter.
The touchdown was set up by a 39-yard pass from Betancourt to Tucker Jenkins that moved the ball from the Heritage 47 to the 8.
And when Brody Lewis picked off a Kobe Meyer pass and ran it 46 yards into the end zone, the Tigers were on top, 14-0.
Heritage got that one back, but Bluffton answered with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Betancourt to A.J. Streveler on a third-and-11 play.
And when Lukas Gehrett picked off another Meyer pass, and the Tigers drove all the way to the 1 in the closing seconds of the first half, things were looking good for Bluffton.
And then it all turned.
Heritage scored another third-quarter touchdown after that fluke on the botched punt on another scoring run by Whitacre.
The Patriots got the go-ahead score on the second play of the fourth quarter.
But Bluffton had one last drive.
The Tigers moved from their own 36 to the Heritage 12 in 12 plays but were stopped there.
The Patriots clinched matters on a 10-yard run by Meyer with 1:36 to play after the last three plays went for 39, 17, and those last 10 yards.
The win drops Bluffton to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the Allen County Athletic Conference.
Heritage improves to 4-3 on the season and 3-1 in the conference.
“We played good football the last three weeks,” said Kunkel. “Now, we’ll see how well we can rebound from adversity.”
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HERITAGE 31, BLUFFTON 20
At Bluffton
Heritage 0 6 13 12 – 31
Bluffton 7 13 0 0 – 20
First Quarter
B-Hunter Wenger 6 run (Brody Lewis kick), 5:01.
Second Quarter
B-Lewis 46 interception return (Lewis kick), 10:39.
H-Kobe Meyer 16 run (kick failed), 6:25.
B-A.J. Streveler 36 pass from Braxton Betancourt (kick failed), 4:59.
Third Quarter
H-Rylan Whitacre 4 run (Moe Min Aung kick), 6:09.
H-Whitacre 2 run (kick blocked), 1:49.
Fourth Quarter
H-Meyer 9 run (run failed), 11:43.
H-Meyer 10 run (kick blocked), 1:36.
Team Statistics
HER BLU
First Downs 14 12
Rushes-Yards 37-156 34-32
Passing Yards 117 184
Passing (C-A-I) 12-31-2 11-23-2
Penalties-Yards 7-55 9-58
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0
Punts-Average 4-26.0 4-29.5
Time of Possession 24:52 23:08
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Heritage-Kobe Meyer 23-111, Rylan Whitacre 6-13, Mar Mat Ra Fee 3-1, Isaac Nagy 2-(-3), Nolan Hoskins 2-(-5), Brandon Burnham 1-39. Bluffton-Anthony Cruz 17-47, Braxton Betancourt 15-(-8), Khamel Moore 1-(-2), Andrew Hunt 1-(-5).
Passing: Heritage-Kobe Meyer 12-31-2 117. Bluffton-Braxton Betancourt 11-23-2 184.
Receiving: Heritage-Tanner Whitman 7-80, D’vontaye Washington 3-35, Ibrahim Williams 2-2. Bluffton-A.J. Streveler 6-98, Brody Lewis 2-41, Tucker Jenkins 1-39, Hunter Wenger 1-6, Andrew Hunt 1-0.
