Shadyside holds out on the road against Eastern after a miraculous fourth quarter comeback
By: Craig Neal
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REEDSVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) – The Shadyside Tigers (10-2) traveled to Reedsville to take on the Eastern High School Eagles (8-3) in a second round playoff matchup. The Tigers looked to continue their momentum after taking down South Gallia 41-6 in the first round. On the other side, the Eagles looked to hold steady after taking a week off thanks to their first round bye.
Shadyside would elect to receive the ball first after winning the toss looking to catch Eastern sleeping early. But after getting into Eagles territory the Tigers drive would stall out as they would give the ball to the Eagles. Eastern however wouldn’t be able to get anything going either going three and out on three straight runs from running backs Kyler Basham and Parker Durst.
Quarterback Jayden Johnson and the Tiger would set up at their own 43-yard line, Johnson would complete some passes to Logan Cather to get the drive moving. And on a fourth down from Eastern’s 14-yard line Johnson would find Colt Cook on a prayer ball to the back of the endzone to put Shadyside up 7-0 in the first.
Eastern would then take over on their own 43-yard line. That’s where Basham and Durst would do the rest, getting the Eagles all the way down to Shadyside’s 10-yard line where Durst would punch it in to get it all tied up at 7-7. On the ensuing kickoff Gradey Murphy would kick a squib kick right into a Tigers special teams player where Murphy would find the ball at Shadyside’s 46-yard line to give the Eagles the ball back.
After two plays and two penalties from the Tigers, Eastern would once again find themselves at the Tigers’ 10-yard line, where once again Durst would find his way in. This time putting Eastern up 14-7 looking to build a lead. The Tigers next drive would stall out once again, having to give it back to Eastern who would start on their own 40-yard line. After two straight penalties on the Eagles they were staring at a first and forever. That’s when quarterback Braxton Yonker found who other than Durst out in the flat as he with some help from blockers would take it all the way to the house to put Eastern up 20-7 after a missed PAT.
Shadyside would once again have to punt it back to Eastern, but the Tigers would be able to force a fumble as the defense would recover. Shadyside though wasn’t able to capitalize on the turnover as they would turn the ball over on downs after a couple first downs. Neither team would score before the break leaving the score at 20-7 heading into halftime.
Midway through the third quarter Blaise Gilmore would snag an interception on Eastern’s 7-yard line, managing to keep the Tigers out of the endzone. This would prove fruitful as Eastern would march down the field in 12 plays with running efforts from Basham, Durst and Gilmore. But on the 1-yard line of Shadyside, Yonker would get in on a quarterback sneak to put the Eagles up 26-7 in what looked like the dagger.
The Tigers’ next drive would end the third quarter and pick back in the fourth. They would march down the field before Gilmore would get yet another interception in the endzone for Eastern to set them up at their own 20-yard line after a touchback. Gilmore though would give the ball right back after fumbling, setting Shadyside up in the redzone. It would only take the Tigers one play to get in as Johnson would find receiver Michael Hendershot on a touchdown back to cut the deficit down and make it 26-15.
Eastern on their next drive would see Shadyside forcing another fumble and recovering it with good field position in Eagles’ territory. Johnson once again would score in one play after airing it out to Bryce Sloan to bring the game within striking distance at 26-21 Eastern still leading. On the ensuing kickoff, Shadyside would force another fumble and recover it to set themselves up at the Eastern eleven-yard line. And after three runs from Cook, he would catch a touchdown pass from Johnson to give the Tigers the lead 27-26.
On Eastern’s next drive they would stall out and turnover on downs. Shadyside would then pick up a couple first downs and kneel out the game with a final score of 27-26.
The Eastern Eagles season would unfortunately be cut short in front of their home crowd after having a very successful season going 8-3 overall and 4-1 in TVC-Hocking play.
The Shadyside Tigers live fight another day improving to 10-2 as they continue on to the DVII Region 27 Semifinals against the undefeated powerhouse of Symmes Valley, who improved to 11-0 after routing Central Catholic 55-0.