OBETZ — With the game on the line, Logan Elm needed a big defensive play — and the Braves got it.
Up two with Hamilton Township facing fourth-and 11 from the 12, the LE defensive line brought the pressure on quarterback Lucas King. With Keegan Diehl closing in, King let it fly toward the endzone, but it was LE’s Justin Marcum who came down with the ball to preserve a 34-32 win for the Braves.
“In the redzone, you’ve just got to have your eyes everywhere looking for that ball,” Marcum said. “They were very desperate down by two in the redzone with about a minute thirty left and we just had to do whatever we could to stop them.”
The Rangers were in scoring position after stopping the Braves near midfield.
Holding that two-point lead, Logan Elm went for it on fourth-and-two looking for another first down to be able to run out the clock, but the Braves were stopped short, and HT got the ball back with 3:22 on the clock.
“We told our guys we were going to coach aggressive, going to play aggressive — we were playing to win,” coach Terry Holbert said. “In that situation, I made the call, went for it fourth-and-short, didn’t get it and put our defense in a bad position.”
The quick-strike capability of the Rangers that the Braves were afraid of showed itself right away when Jovon McBride picked up 22 yards on the first play.
McBride nearly had his team on top on the next play when he went 32 yards to the endzone, but a holding call brought the ball back.
King connected with Daviace Packnett for 29 yards on the next play setting up first-and 10 at the Braves’ 11-yard line.
McBride was stopped for a five-yard loss on first down but got most of it back on second. A third down pass to the endzone was caught, but the receiver’s feet came down just outside the line to set up that decisive fourth-down play.
“What a tremendous effort out of our kids,” Holbert said. “The offense played really well tonight. Our defense kind of struggled in the first half and for them to respond the way they did in the second half — that was special. And I think that shows the character of our young people.
“Our staff did a great job of making adjustments and our kids just continued to fight.”
The early struggles of the defense saw the Rangers scoring on their first three possessions for a 20-7 lead late in the first quarter. After their only punt of the first half, HT scored again on its fifth possession.
The Braves did a good job keeping the game within reach as it was a 26-20 score in favor of HT at halftime.
LE’s defense stepped up in the second half as the Rangers punted on their first possession, then turned it over on downs, Gavin Hoover had an interception on HT’s third possession and another punt ended the fourth possession.
In that same time, the Braves had added a 50-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Walters to Preston Piacentini and a nine-yard scoring pass from Walters to Hoover for a 34-26 lead.
“Momentum at the high school level is huge,” Holbert said. “When we were able to get one stop and build off that and put it into two and three, momentum really swung our direction.”
The third-quarter touchdown passes for Walters were his fourth and fifth of the night.
In the first half, he started LE’s scoring with a 29-yard connection to Michael Bock and connected with Hoover with seven seconds to go in the first quarter and again with 14 seconds left in the half.
Walters ended the night hitting on 20 of his 26 pass attempts for 304 yards.
Marcum had four catches for 92 yards, Hoover had five catches overall for 43 yards, Bock had five as well for 46, Joshua Hunter had three catches for 55 yards and Piacentini had two catches for 56 yards.
Bock carried the ball 31 times for 95 yards.
King was 16-30 for the Rangers with the two interceptions for 236 yards.
Packnett had five catches for 71 yards and McBride had five for 54.
McBride also carried the ball 14 times for 98 yards.
Friday’s win gave the Braves (7-3, 4-2) a piece of second place in the Mid-State League’s Buckeye Division with Fairfield Union and gave the Braves the sixth seed in their region.
“There was a ton to play for — second place in the Mid-State League, which is a gauntlet, there’s no shame in that at all, and playoff seeding, making sure we had a home game. That’s a great win for us to finish off the regular season,” Holbert said.
The Braves will get to play at home Friday hosting Philo (5-5).
The loss knocked the Rangers (5-5, 3-3) into a tie for fourth in the MSL with Amanda-Clearcreek and out of the playoff hunt.
Playoff tickets go on sale Monday at 11 a.m.
Logan Elm 34, Hamilton Township 32
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Logan Elm 14 6 14 0 34
Hamilton Twp 20 6 0 6
First Quarter
HT — Jovon McBride 1 run (Tyler Duska kick), 9:05.
LE — Micheal Bock 29 pass from Aaron Walters (Maggie Wilson kick), 5:50.
HT — Gabe Komrabi-Kanu 11 pass from Lucas King (kick failed), 4:42.
HT — Gabe Komrabi-Kanu 9 run (Tyler Duska kick), 1:07.
LE — Gavin Hoover 16 pass from Aaron Walters (Maggie Wilson kick), 0:07.
Second Quarter
HT — Gabe Komrabi-Kanu 2 run (kick failed), 3:51.
LE — Gavin Hoover 1 pass from Aaron Walters (pass failed), 0:14.
Third Quarter
LE — Preston Piacentini 50 pass from Aaron Walters (Maggie Wilson kick), 2:47.
LE — Gavin Hoover 9 pass from Aaron Walters (Maggie Wilson kick), 0:41.
Fourth Quarter
HT — Gabe Komrabi-Kanu 4 run (pass failed), 6:53.
TEAM STATISTICS
LE HT
First downs 18 19
Rushing yards 40-71 33-153
Passing yards 304 236
Comp.-Att.-Int 20-26-0 16-30-2
Total yards 375 389
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 9-72 7-60
Punts-Ave 3-26 3-32
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Logan Elm — Michael Bock 31-95, Aaron Walters 7-(-24). Hamilton Township — Jovon McBride 14-98, Lucas King 4-(-6), Caden Tanksley 1-1, Gabe Komrabi-Kanu 11-32, Dez Branch 1-5, Kai-El Beverly Akin 4-23.
PASSING – Logan Elm — Aaron Walters 20-26-0-304. Hamilton Township — Lucas King 16-30-2-236, Jovon McBride 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – Logan Elm — Michael Bock 5-46, Gavin Hoover 5-43, Justin Marcum 4-92, Joshua Hunter 3-55, Preston Piacentini 2-56, Chase Stevenson 1-12. Hamilton Township — Jovon McBride 5-54, Daviace Packnett 5-71, Jaymir Reed 2-42, Gabe Komrabi-Kanu 1-11, Kyren Sheppard 3-58.