Derrick Webb, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
PORTSMOUTH — Teagan Werner didn’t have many chances to touch the football on Friday.
In fact, keeping the ball away from Eastern’s lightning-in-a-bottle receiver seemed to be a key part of Notre Dame’s game plan. All night long, the Titans — in obvious fashion — kicked the ball away from Werner and focused on keeping him under wraps when the Eagles had possession.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
But Werner knew he’d eventually get an opportunity to leave his mark. And when it came, he made his arrival known in grand, game-winning fashion.
With 1:28 left in the fourth quarter, Eastern found itself trailing by a 28-25 tally. The Eagles had just forced a Notre Dame punt but, with no timeouts, had 70 yards between their offense and a score.
That’s when Werner made his entrance.
The senior quickly took two reverse plays 41 yards to set up the offense inside the 30-yard line. Then, with 32.4 seconds remaining, he caught a pass at Notre Dame’s 11-yard line, eluded two would-be tacklers and raced into the end zone.
A six-play drive that took just 34 seconds and spanned 70 yards — all of which belonged to Werner. Ballgame.
“You’re used to making plays and then you have to be patient … it’s not that fun,” Werner said. “But when you make plays like that, it’s one of the best feelings ever. I just tried to stay up as long as I could and just slipped out of [the tackle]. I ended up in the end zone.”
The victory allowed Eastern (8-0, 3-0 SOC I) to take sole possession of first place in the conference title race with two games left.
It’s not over yet. But make no mistake about it; a huge step towards an outright crown has been taken.
“Everybody billed tonight as the championship game and this is how championship games are supposed to go,” Eastern coach Scott Tomlison said. “We should take care of business these next two weeks, but we didn’t tell the kids this was the championship game. We told them this was a revenge game. We lost to Notre Dame last year and it cost us the outright title. This week, we’ll bill it as the championship game.”
Tale of the tape
Notre Dame (5-3, 2-1 SOC I) started the night’s scoring, getting on the board with 4:40 left in the first quarter, thanks to a 16-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Kingrey to Eugene Collins that made it 8-0.
The Eagles provided an answer with 9:59 left in the second as Dylan Morton returned the favor with a 53-yard touchdown pass to running back Landyn Reinsmith. However, the ensuing PAT sailed wide right, allowing the Titans to keep a two-point lead at 8-6.
PHOTOS: Images from Eastern’s win over Notre Dame
But less than three minutes later, Notre Dame found the end zone again. Jordan Davis finished a seven-play, 60-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run up the gut. When Kingrey hit Luke Cassidy on a successful two-point try, the Titans had a 16-6 advantage.
Then, with 41.4 seconds left in the first half, Notre Dame played add-on with a 33-yard pitch and catch from Kingrey to Bryce McGraw, making it 22-6 and sending Eastern into panic mode.
“My hat goes off to [Notre Dame],” Tomlison said. “On film, it was all about them running [Davis] 30 times and throwing to [Luke Cassidy] four times. That’s all they showed and that’s all they did. But I think we took the running game away early and put some hits on them.”
The Eagles, however, responded well to the applied pressure.
It took Morton and his offense just 36 seconds to score, a drive that spanned 53 yards on six plays. It ended with a nine-yard touchdown toss from Morton to Reinsmith, which was followed by a two-point conversion, cutting ND’s lead to 22-14 at halftime.
That, unknowingly at the time, was the difference in the game.
“We knew right before halftime and I’m on the headset [with the assistant coaches], saying, ‘Hey fellas, we have to go.’ We had to get a score going into the second half,” Tomlison said. “We were clicking and we got the touchdown and two-point conversion before the half, which was huge. So instead of yelling and hollering at halftime, we went in real calm and it was like, ‘Alright. We’ve played terribly and we’ve shot ourselves in the foot. But we’re down eight and we’re getting the ball. We came down, scored and we were back to even.”
And the Eagles did it quickly.
With 9:11 left in the third, Morton found Jace White for an 11-yard touchdown toss on a wheel route. The ensuing two-point try was good, wiping the slate clean at 22-22.
Eastern’s defense then took the momentum and carried into ND’s next drive.
The Titans gambled on a 4th and 1 play from midfield and couldn’t pick up the yard. That turnover on downs led to a 23-yard field goal from Morton, giving Eastern its first lead at 25-22 with 55 seconds to go in the third.
Notre Dame had one final push left as its offense took the field. On 3rd and 8, and at the 10:02 mark in the fourth, Kingrey found Chris Piccolo for a quick-strike 52-yard touchdown pass, putting the Titans on top, 28-25.
That’s where the tally remained until there was less than a minute left.
After each team traded possessions, Eastern’s defense earned a stop with 1:29 remaining. The Eagles, without a timeout, then called on Werner to finish the job.
Werner tallied a 27-yard rush, followed by a 14-yard rush, before catching the game-winner with 32.4 seconds to go.
Nails. Coffin.
“Teagan is a dude,” Tomlison said. “He touched the ball three times and it was reverse, reverse, catch, thank you Teagan, we won the game. You can hold him down a little bit but he’s a dude.”
Stat book
Morton completed 15-of-30 passes for 223 yards and four touchdowns alongside 56 rushing yards while Werner ended the night with 41 rushing yards, 84 receiving and a score. Reinsmith also helped out, tallying 48 rushing yards, 85 receiving and three total touchdowns.
In total, Eastern had 365 yards of total offense.
“We were getting five yards a pop on the ground,” Tomlison said. “We’ve got three seniors on that offensive line, Brewer [Tomlison] is a sophomore with Power 5 looks already and Cade Leist is the best freshman center I’ve ever had. Then, you have my son, Dalton, out there coaching them, fresh off a Division I college career. We’re spoiled. We lean on that group.”
Kingrey led the Titans’ offense, going 23-of-35 passing for 314 yards and three touchdowns. Collins had 10 catches for 101 yards and a score, McGraw tallied six receptions for 99 yards and a score, and Piccolo and Cassidy added 58 and 54 yards, respectively.
Davis led Notre Dame’s ground game with 63 yards and a touchdown on 18 attempts.
What’s on tap
While Notre Dame attempts to get back in the win column at Symmes Valley in Week 9, Eastern welcomes South Gallia to Beaver.
The Rebels, at 6-2, are coming off a 36-19 win over Green. If the Eagles can move to 9-0, it would give them at least a share of the SOC I championship.
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