NTL FOOTBALL: FURIOUS FOURTH-QUARTER RALLY FALLS SHORT; MIDD-WEST EDGES ATHENS, 34-32 (17 PHOTOS) (2019-10-11)
Valley Sports ReportATHENS "” Athens trailed by 21 points in the second half, but stormed back only to come up short on a failed two-point conversion in the final minute in a 34-32 loss to Midd-West here Friday in non-league football action at Alumni Stadium.
"As rough as this year has been, we weren't ourselves in the first half. We didn't come to compete," said Athens coach Jack Young.
"At halftime we made a few changes, and I challenged the kids in two ways," he noted. "I challenged them to show some pride, and I challenged them to show some toughness.
"The best part of the second half was not only did we show some pride and toughness, we showed excitement. We had guys fighting, and everybody else fed off it.
"There's a lot of good to talk about, but the bottom line is we still fell a little short," added Young. "It's really, really hard to win a football game when you play the first half we played."
Midd-West played a dominant first quarter, and led 14-0, thanks to a pair of TD runs by Trey Lauver, heading into the second quarter.
Sophomore Jared Peterson set up Athens' first score with an interception in Mustang territory late in the first quarter.
The Wildcat drive was nearly over before it started, but a roughing-the-passer penalty on fourth-and-23 gave them new life. Freshman QB Mason Lister took advantage with a 7-yard TD pass to cap a 13-play drive and trim the deficit to 14-6 with 9:15 remaining in the first half.
The Mustangs added two more TDs in the second quarter to take a 27-6 lead into the halftime intermission.
"In the first half, our biggest problem was pass protection," said Young. "Mason (Lister) got absolutely pummeled four or five times.
"We made a little change in our pass protection at halftime, and that made a big difference," he noted. "Mason Lister showed a lot of toughness because he took some big hits in the first half."
Young was also impressed with Midd-West, but said his team adjusted in the second half.
"For size and physicality in the middle, and on the line-of-scrimmage, Midd-West is probably better than anybody we've played this year," he said. "They brought it to us, and we weren't prepared emotionally to handle it, despite the fact we talked about it all week.
"They brought pressure from all over the place, and we didn't handle it well in the first half," noted Young. "In the second half, they were changing things up defensively, but we did a better job running the ball, and did a really nice job throwing the ball.
"Offensively, I thought we played really well in the second half," he added.
The Wildcats opened the second half with a quick five-play scoring drive, which was set up by sophomore Shayne Reid's 40-yard kickoff return to the Midd-West 45. Lister connected with Rude on a 19-yard TD pass to cap the drive, and Reid's PAT kick cut the deficit to 28-13 with 9:13 remaining in the third quarter.
Midd-West answered immediately as Gabe Regester hooked up with Christian Regester on a 61-yard TD pass just two plays after the ensuing kickoff to make it 34-13 with 8:30 left in the third quarter.
After an exchange of possessions, Lister engineered a six-play, 82-yard drive, culminating with a 29-yard TD pass to Rude. The conversion was no good, and Athens trailed 34-19 with 11 minutes remaining in the game.
The Wildcat defense forced a three-and-out, and three plays later Lister connected with Rude on a 47-yard TD pass. Reid's PAT kick was good to trim the deficit to 34-26 with 7:16 remaining in the game.
Athens got the ball back and found paydirt on an eight-play drive, capped by a 2-yard TD run by Lister to cut the Midd-West lead to 34-32 with 52.7 seconds remaining.
The Wildcats resorted to a bit of trickery on the two-point conversion, with a halfback pass from freshman Caleb Nichols to Lister, but it was knocked down in the end zone.
"We called a little throw-back pass to our quarterback," said Young. "It wasn't a mis-execution or anything like that, (Midd-West) had one guy who did his job and made a hell of a play, or we would have tied the game up."
Midd-West recovered an onside kick moments later, and went into victory formation to run out the clock.
The Wildcats amassed 202 yards in total offense in the fourth quarter to Midd-West's 10.
"Quite frankly, they didn't stop us in the fourth quarter," said Young. "We took it to them, whether it was running the ball or throwing the ball. We got to a point in the second half, where we were executing everything we did."
Lister completed 16 of 31 passes for a career-high 272 yards and carer-best four TDs. Rude was his favorite target with nine receptions for 167 yards and four TDs, while sophomore J.J. Babcock had four grabs for 66 yards, and Reid had three catches for 39 yards.
Reid led Athens' ground game, which accounted for 144 yards on 32 carries, with 129 yards on 23 carries.
"We had two pretty special performers tonight in Keegan Rude and Shayne Reid," said Young. They showed some real guts, and I think everybody else fed off those two."
Athens, now 1-7, returns to action Friday at Troy.
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IN PHOTO 1: Athens sophomore Shayne Reid. ... PHOTOS COURTESY OF MATT PATTON.
