Key stop propels Mars
NATRONA HEIGHTS — For the Highlands and Mars football teams, it was a game of 72 inches.
Highlands quarterback Brayden Thimons was hemmed in on a fourth-and-5 run at the Mars 9 with time dwindling in the fourth quarter.
Thimons pitched the ball back to wide receiver Logan Crise, who had alertly circled behind Thimons. Crise raced to his left and turned the corner toward the end-zone pylon.
It looked as if the Golden Rams were about to pull off a crazy home win over the Planets.
Mars defensive back Ben Perdziola had other ideas.
The senior threw a shoulder into Crise's hip and nudged him out of bounds at the Mars 2 as time expired, preserving a 14-8 Planets' win Friday night.
“He did a great job,” said Mars coach Scott Heinauer. “A great job. It was a heck of a play by their quarterback to flip it out of there. Who even thought that was going to happen?
“Fortunately we were where we needed to be.”
Perdiola was in the right place at the right time, and Mars was able to escape with a gutsy win on the road.
On third down, Thimons was stuffed on a run for a 2-yard loss. With the clock ticking under 15 seconds, Thimons took the snap again and tried to find running room on the right side.
There was none.
“I thought they were going to run hitch-and-pitch,” Heinauer said, anticipating a throw and lateral. “We saw them do that against New Castle. Or run maybe a bubble (screen). Our big thing was we were going to bring people up the gut at him and force him to make a decision quickly. Two times in a row we did the same thing. You heart is racing, but fortunately Ben is a senior and we made a big play.”
For Highlands (1-3, 1-3) it was another study in Murphy's Law.
“We just can't catch a break,” said Highlands coach Sam Albert.
Yards and points were hard to come by in a physical game that saw both teams struggle to move the ball and mount any meaningful offense for large chunks of the game.
Mars (4-1, 3-1) scored first on the only sustained scoring drive of the night when Garrett Reinke cut to his right and raced untouched into the end zone for a 17-yard scoring run in the first quarter.
The run capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive kept alive by a 27-yard leaping reception by Reinke on third-and-12.
Reinke finished with 55 tough yards on 14 carries.
The only two other scores came as a result of big plays.
On the first snap of the second half, Highlands running back Jermaine Jett took a direct snap on a wildcat play, found a seem up the middle and burst into the open field for an 80-yard touchdown run.
Thimons bulled his way into the end zone for the 2-point conversion and the Golden Rams led 8-7.
It stayed that way until Isaiah Johnson made his biggest play of the season.
The Mars senior fullback, who had been stifled to the tune of just 15 yards rushing on seven carries, squeezed through a hole and sprinted 98 yards of a touchdown that put Mars up 14-8.
Highlands had all 11 defensive players within three yards of the line of scrimmage on the play.
Once Johnson broke through the line, there was no one left to stop him.
Johnson finished with 141 yards on 15 carries.
“Isaiah, he's our guy,” Heinauer said. “He's the guy who has to bring home the touchdowns and he was the guy who made the big play for us to win the game.”
It was another loss that was hard to stomach for Albert and Highlands.
The Golden Rams have now dropped three straight games.
“Defensively, they played all our, man,” Albert said. “We had one breakdown. One run.
“After that, our kids did great. Down here, when (Thimons pitched it) I thought we had it. We just cannot catch a break.”
For Mars, it was a win that tested its mettle.
“This was a game we could not afford to lose,” Heinauer said. “Proud of our kids.
“We sucked it up and did what we had to.”
