By RYAN WALKER
OSSIAN— Down goes the No. 3 team in Class 3A. The Norwell Knights were upset by the No. 10 in Class 4A Columbia City Eagles Friday night in a stunner.
“It hurts, it stings,” head coach Josh Gerber said. “I feel bad for these kids especially. It’s on me, it’s my responsibility to make sure we’re ready to play, and I don’t think we necessarily were. The loss is on me.”
It was a game where parking was at a premium, fans jam-packed on both sides, and news stations and radio stations featured the game as their “game of the week” to see who would be crowned the 2022 Northeast 8 Conference champion.
For the two schools that hadn’t seen a conference title in many years, stakes were high. Norwell last season just missed out on an outright conference championship with the lone loss to Leo. Columbia City turned things around with a 5-6 record 3-4 conference record in the 2021 season.
A long, methodical drive from the Eagles earned the game’s first points, a field goal from kicker Landon Urban. Right after, Lleyton Bailey, on the Knights’ first play from scrimmage, answered with a 74-yard bomb to Cohen Bailey.
The next Columbia City drive ended in a three-and-out, resulting in a crucial blocked punt inside the five-yard line. The short field gave an easy carry for Lleyton Bailey for his second total touchdown of the first period.
Late in the first quarter, the Knights looked as advertised on both sides of the ball.
In the second quarter, the Eagles stopped the Knights by possessing the ball for nearly 10 minutes of the 12-minute quarter, but again, just kicking a field goal to make it 14-6.
Norwell had made two goal-line stands, stopped a fourth down attempt, and allowed just 63 yards on 30 Columbia City carries. The run-heavy Eagle offense seemingly had run everything it could on the ground, from jet sweeps, two and three-back sets, and quarterback keepers. You name it. But nothing was going for them. The score was relatively close, but on paper, the Knights looked as if they were on their way to a conference title.
Not so fast.
Norwell received the ball in the second half and picked up 12 yards from Drew Graft before losing the ball at the 50-yard line in the hands of the Eagles.
On the very next play, Ethan Sievers got the rock on a reverse jet sweep, the first play call of its kind, and took it to the house for six. Despite the two-point conversion failing, Columbia City had found hope and momentum that they could take down the giant.
Well, for the time being, at least.
Norwell on the next drive took a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with a John Colbert run into the endzone to make it 24-12.
The Knights defense forced another three-and-out and was rewarded with a 21-yard field goal from soccer and football star Austin DeLeon.
By then, Norwell could smell victory again with the 12-point advantage going into the last quarter, right?
To begin the fourth quarter, Norwell started with the ball at its own 33-yard line. Back-to-back losses on the ground had it third and 23. Lleyton Bailey stepped back to throw and lobbed a wobbling football deep in the middle of the field. The ball was underthrown by a wide margin — perhaps the Eagles got to Bailey before the throw — but an easy interception by freshman defensive back Ryan Colby had Knights fans on hold.
Eight plays and three first downs later, the Eagles punched in a 1-yard score with 7:05 remaining, down by five.
That’s where the defense played its most significant role. Two straight three-and-outs by the Knights gave the ball back to the Eagles. The first time resulted in a punt.
“We didn’t execute offensively very cleanly,” Gerber said. “We’ve got to be better. We couldn’t seem to get our rhythm going and couldn’t seem to get off the field defensively. They made some plays. Hats off to them. They played a good game, we didn’t.”
The second defensive stop gave them an opportunity at the Norwell 48-yard line with 1:32 left in the game and a chance at the upset.
First down, incomplete pass. Second down, again, incomplete pass.
Third down and 10, the ball was still at the 48-yard line. Those two straight obvious passing calls gave the Eagles an idea.
The same 50-yard reverse jet sweep was called for the final time. The ball was flipped over on the left side to Ethan Sievers, who scored on the other reverse play earlier in the half, and flipped the field on the right side with blockers. Sievers cut through the Knight defenders and, with a burst of speed, headed towards the endzone. A tackle was made, but not before Sivers had bolted down to the 4-yard line. Columbia City would then take the lead two plays later, taking a 25-24 lead after a failed two-point conversion.
There was still a chance, but not a great one, with the way both the Knights’ offense was held to two-straight three-and-outs and the Eagles’ defensive spark.
Norwell got the ball with 50 seconds to go. Bailey had three incomplete passes in a row to make it fourth down. He found Drew Graft in the middle of the defense but couldn’t find the sticks.
Ball game.
Norwell finishes a great season nonetheless at 8-1, just shy of the conference crown. As for now, coach Gerber has his mind set on preparing for another high-intensity game at Heritage next week in the sectional.
“We cannot let one loss turn into two,” he said. “There’s days that you can be riding so high that you get beat with one loss, and it can become a second one, and that’s what we have to guard against and can’t allow to happen. We have to be able to recover and move on.”
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COLUMBIA CITY 25,
NORWELL 24
At Norwell
Score By Quarters
Columbia City 3 3 6 13 – 25
Norwell 14 0 10 0 – 24
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
C-—Landon Urban 24-yard field goal (3:28)
N—Lleyton Bailey 74-yard pass to Cohen Bailey (DeLeon kick), 3:12
N—Lleyton Bailey 1-yard run (DeLeon kick), 1:32
Second Quarter
C—Landon Urban 19-yard field goal (7:46)
Third Quarter
C-—Ethan Sievers 50-yard run( 2-pt failed), 9:38
N—Jon Colbert 1-yard run (DeLeon kick) 5:07
N—Austin DeLeon 21-yard field goal (2:18)
Fourth Quarter
C-—Josh Arntz 1-yard run (Urban kick), 7:05
C—Josh Arntz 2-yard run (2-pt failed), 0:49
Team Statistics
CC NOR
First Downs 18 12
Rushes-Yards 51-190 40-100
Yards Passing 133 100
Passing (C-A-I) 8-19 4-12
Penalties-Yards 3-25 8-80
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-1
Punts-Average 3-33 3-35
Time of Possession 26:25 21:35
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Columbia City, Ethan Sievers 14-106, Justice Goree 15-36, Josh Arntz 15-26, James Getts 5-17, Gavin Smith 1-6, Colten Pieper 1-(minus 1). Norwell Lleyton Bailey 14-61, Jon Colbert 7-57, Luke Graft 15-50, Trey Bodenheimer 2-4, Drew Ringger 1-2, Kline Neuenschwander 1-(minus 5).
Passing: Columbia City Colten Pieper 8-19-2 133, Norwell Lleyton Bailey 4-12-1 100.
Receiving: Columbia City Stratton Fuller 4-56, Ethan Sievers 1-42, Josh Arntz 1-17, Justice Goree 1-11, Peyton Shearer 1-7 Norwell Cohen Bailey 1-74, Luke Graft 2-16, Kline Neuenschwander 1-10
