Bellbrook tops Wapakoneta on walk-off field goal

Friday night they overcame a late game-tying touchdown by No. 1-seed Wapakoneta to claim a 24-21 win at Memorial Stadium.

“As soon as my team started building up yards, it gave me more confidence, and I knew when I went out there that it was going in,” said Ferrin, who is 14 for 20 this season with a long of 51 yards.

Last week, Ferrin made a 44-yarder with 1:31 left to break a 21-all tie with Cincinnati McNicholas.

This time it was a walk-off winner as head coach Jeff Jenkins ran the clock down to two seconds before calling timeout and sending Ferrin out for a 35-yarder that would have been good from much farther out.

“Oh, absolutely,” Jenkins said of having confidence in Ferrin. “This is something we prepped over and over again. We really try to dial him in about where he’s at going into the game, and what his week looks like, and we had a lot of confidence when you know we got down to that area of the field that he was gonna put it away.”

The No. 3 seed Golden Eagles advance to face No. 4 London next week at a site to be determined.

Bellbrook will be playing in the regional final for the fourth time and looking to win it for the first time.

“I mean, the coach in me is a little disappointed in allowing them to get back into the game like that,” Jenkins said. “I thought we were in some good positions, had some good (play) calls, and we just did not execute. And you know, hats off to Wapak, man. They made some big-time plays. Fourth down plays, and third-and-longs and converted. Just made a lot of effort plays.”

With quarterback Caleb Moyer relegated to playing receiver with his right hand in a cast, the Redskins used three different players to take snaps and tried to cobble together an attack, but they clearly missed Moyer, who was the Western Buckeye League Offensive Skill Player of the Year.

“We had a pretty good idea of what they wanted to accomplish, what they could accomplish, and they did a great job with losing that kid,” Jenkins said. “He’s a stud. There’s no doubt about it, and they hit us on some things, so they did good job preparing.”

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Bellbrook struck first on a 2-yard touchdown run by Gage Cameron that capped a 49-yard opening drive for the Golden Eagles.

The undefeated Redskins struck back with a 74-yard touchdown drive that featured a 52-yard run by Jarrett Mullen, who took most of the snaps on the night, and ended with a 6-yard touchdown run by Kaden Page, who also took some turns at quarterback.

Bellbrook came back with a 71-yard touchdown drive, overcoming a third-and-16 with a 49-yard run by Vincent Epifano, who stayed on the ground clutching his right knee after the scamper down to the Wapakoneta 16 but was able to jog off. He returned two plays later and took the ball in for a 3-yard touchdown but again was down after the play. This time he had to be helped off the field and was unable to return to the game, but Jenkins said they did not have a prognosis on the injury yet after it was over.

Credit: Marcus Hartman

Credit: Marcus Hartman

“I mean that that hurt obviously,” Jenkins said. “He’s tough kid, man, and you know hopefully we can get him back. We don’t know the severity of the injury, but we’re hoping we can get him back as soon as possible.”

Even without their top offensive option, the Golden Eagles were able to extend their lead late in the second quarter when Tanner Stewart scored from seven yards out, but the Redskins scraped together a pair of touchdowns to tie the game in the second half.

After trailing 21-7 at halftime, the Redskins took advantage of a Bellbrook mistake deep in its own territory, turning an interception into a touchdown when Mullen was just able to get it over the goal line on a fourth down from the 4-yard line.

That brought WHS within 21-14 with 1:37 left in the third quarter.

They tied the game on Mullen’s 25-yard touchdown pass with 3:31 left, but that only set up an epic final drive for the Golden Eagles.

Though Jenkins’ team is built to run the ball, they got out of the Wing T and unveiled a shotgun passing attack when they had to have it.

Aiden Caswell completed a 21-yard pass to Noah Barrios to convert a third-and-14 then found Stewart out of the backfield for 23 yards to get the Eagles within Ferrin’s range.

“I said this week Aiden Caswell is the glue to this thing, man, and when we need the big play, he comes up with the big play,” Jenkins said.

After two short runs to center the ball, Ferrin took care of the rest.