Just when we thought we had the Paris game won – we didn’t. Orth/Martin make “play of the season” as Mustangs survive Greyhounds 14-12

Leicht Finds Mason Meyer on Two Touchdown Tosses, Dewey Schwartz Tacks on Two PATS, and We Needed Every One Of Them!

Friday, November 5th, 2021

Broadcast Replay

Jacob Leicht swung for the fences on our first series of downs, going long, and just missing, thwarting any chance we would have to gain an early game advantage on the scoreboard. Despite picking off Chase Puckett on two consecutive occasions, and hooking up with Evan Orth on a long gainer, giving us first and goal from the 8 yard line, we failed to punch it in. These were all signs that this one wasn’t going to come easy – and it didn’t.

Neither team would put numbers on the scoreboard in the first half, but when Paris kicked off to us in the second half, Leicht marched us 66 yards in 8 minutes and 7 seconds, finding Mason Meyer on a 10 yard touchdown pass, we were then back in our comfort zone, playing from ahead, with a 7-0 lead, following the Dewey Schwartz PAT.

Congratulations to Jed Martin, who became a school record holder for Most Rushing Yards in a Season, surpassing the old record of 1,123 yards, set by Jacob Elbert back in 2011. Martin carried the piggy for 107 yards vs Paris, giving him a total of 1,154 yards on the year.

Nicholas County defeated Bracken County 27-0 setting up a Brossart – Blue Jacket rematch next Friday night in the Class 1A, District 5, Championship Game at the MAC

Text Messages telling me that we are off the air are my worst nightmares. We had one at Bellevue that we’ve never solved, and another tonight that was a failure on Meridix’s part. Since we record our broadcasts, and are doing the NFHS Voice-over, and everything checks out fine on our end, we soldier on. This was a nation-wide outage that lasted the best part of halftime and some of the third quarter. Surprisingly, the Meridix replay appears to be fine, saving me from having to convert the recording to an MP3 and uploading it on to this site. I will speak with them Monday to see what the problem was, but we expect better reliability from them, especially on big game nights.

At the onset of the fourth quarter, Paris came up with their first of two big plays, both which resulted in touchdowns. The first, a 66 yard pass play from Chase Puckett to Gabriel Amett, making it 7-6. Following a time out prior to their two point conversion, Puckett went to the air on a pss to the back of the end zone, broken up by Leicht and Willike, preserving the Mustangs one-point lead at 7-6.

With just 2:45 to play in the game, our Mustangs answered as Leicht, scrambling feverishly, found a wide open Mason Meyer in the end zone for the second time, this time for a 28 yard strike, and again when Schwarz hit paydirt on the PAT, we were up 14-6 and surely this would be enough to put the ball on the wall and advance to next Friday night But it wasn’t. On the ensuing kick-off, a hot grounder fielded by Chase Puckett in an upback position, he burst through the Mustang defense and rambled into the end zone for a touchdown, before a stunned Brossart faithful. Once again, it would come down to defending against the two-point conversion. This time Puckett hit his mark for what looked like a sure thing successful conversion and a tied game, BUT it was at that moment, that Jed Martin and Evan Orth came from out of nowhere, and nailed the potential scorer short of the goal line in the biggest play of our season. We exhaled and continue to lead 14-12.

With less than two minutes remaining in the game, and Paris out of timeouts, the Mustangs methodically ran out the clock, after having a Jed Martin touchdown called back, the result of a yellow holding flag. With the win we post our 11th consecutive victory, and advance to next Friday night’s district championship game versus Nicholas County, who defeated Bracken County 27-0 in Carlisle earlier in the evening.

Our Snappy Tomato Player of the Game gig ended with the regular season, but if we would have made those awards, Evan Orth would have recived one, and Dewey Schwartz the other, with Mason Meyer, being the Honorable Mention. Eli Twehues also probably played his best defensive game of the season.

After again reviewing the replay of the 2 point conversion play on NFHS, it is now obvious, that yes, the receiver, Jakari Ransom, who came from out of the backfield, was indeed in his own time zone, just 2 yards from the goal line. Evan Orth and Jed Martin were both 5 yards removed from the target, who turned, and must have seen them coming, hesitated, just as Martin took out his legs and Orth broadsided him depriving him of making it into the end zone. It was an impossible play, made possible by the relentless pursuit of Martin and Orth. I will remember if for the rest of my life..