With a constant wind of sixty to seventy miles per hour, and gusts hitting the mid-eighties reigning havoc on the field, and the high school maintenance crew having to bring in a generator because of downed power lines, the Lyons Lions took on their archrival the Akron Rams in a state quarter-final football game last Saturday afternoon (November 12) at John “Jet” Johnson Field. The Lions supplied their own power, as they defeated the Rams in the post season for the second year in a row.
Not only did the wind take the fans’ breath away at times, but Akron’s opening drive almost took the Lions away. Akron, sticking to their running game, ground their way across mid-field to the Lions’ 40-yard line. From there the Rams’ quarterback rolled to his right, and with the help of some missed tackles by the defense, broke loose, cut back to the middle of the field, and sped into the end zone. A successful two-point conversion put the Rams up 8 to 0.
On the ensuing kick off, the fierce headwind ballooned the ball in the air; the Lions receiving team having lost track of what had now essentially become an accidental, on-side kick, failed to catch the ball, and the Rams recovered it on the Lions 40-yard line. Faced with this adversity, the Lions defense settled in and stuffed the Rams. With a fourth down and five yards to go, and not wanting to chance a punt in the high winds, Akron elected to go for the first down. In a gang tackle that included, sophomore River Crane, senior John Mathews, and junior James Hinker, the Lions planted the Ram running back into the turf, and got the ball back on downs at their own 35-yard line.
Unable to get anything going, Lyons senior kicker Forrest Donnell tried his luck at punting the ball for the first, and as it turned out, the only time of the day. The Rams took over on their own 40-yard line. Akron, again staying on the ground, out of necessity, moved the ball down to the 15-yard line, when a holding penalty pushed them back to the 30-yard line. The determined Ram runners again got the ball back to the 15-yard line, before the Lions’ defense shut them down on fourth and long. The Lions got the ball back, but had a long field ahead of them.
Moving the ball out to their own 34-yard line, the Lions, still not willing to risk a punt in the squirrelly wind, decided to go for it on a fourth down and inches. Lyons QB Jordan Melani, on a keeper up the middle, got the needed inches for a first down. Two plays later, on a run that would exemplify how usual plays and bounces would dictate the outcome of the game, Melani took the ball over the right side, broke through the defensive line and into the secondary. Just as he cleared the deep safety, the ball was stripped from his grasp, but as luck would have it, it bounced once and landed right back into Melanie’s hands and he was off to the races, before being pushed out of bounds at the 10-yard line. A few plays later, Melani punched into the end zone from two yards out. Donnell, on the point after attempt, setup to account for the wind.
However, just as the ball was snapped, the wind died and the kick sailed wide left. But the Lions where on the board, trailing the Rams 8 to 6 going into half time.
Lyons started the second half off well, driving the ball down to the Akron 25-yard line before their efforts stalled, and they had to turn the ball over. The teams traded possessions back and forth in the Rams end of the field, with neither team making much headway, nor willing to risk a punt in the unpredictable wind. When a Lions drive stalled at the twenty, Coach Nichols decided to give his strong-legged kicker a shot at glory. Donnell gave it his all on the 37-yard field goal, but the wind again pushed the ball wide of the uprights.
If it were possible, the wind gusts picked up even more, to the point where nobody could even keep their hat on, and the officials were forced to hold the ball down with their foot until the center came to the line, just to keep the ball from blowing off the field. The undaunted Lions defense refused to give the Rams any quarter as they held Akron inside their own 30-yard line. On fourth down, the Rams decided to risk a punt; the ball ended up in the home team’s grandstand after the wind got done pushing it to the east! As the third quarter came to an end, the Lions were able to chew up the real estate, and advance the ball down to the 5-yard line. At the start of the fourth quarter, Nichols again elected to let Donnell attempt to score via a kick. The third time was the charm, and the Lions took the lead, 9 to 8, for the first time all day!
Four times in the final quarter the ball changed hands around mid-field, with neither team gaining much purchase. Finally, the Lions broke the logjam with a nice run by Jayse Long, getting all the way to the 15-yard line. From there, Levi Campbell rumbled into the end zone; the two-point conversion attempt failed because of a bobbled hand off, but the Lions were leading 15 to 8. With only 3:35 left on the game clock, the desperate Rams tried to switch to a passing game. No need to explain how that turned out.
The Lions took over on the Rams’ 27-yard line with just under two minutes to go in the game. With the Lyons fans on their feet rocking the house, the Lions moved down the field. Unable to call time out, the frustrated Akron Rams could only watch as the home team burned up the clock to secure a hard fought 15 to 8 victory. With the delirious fans on their feet, and making more noise than even the howling wind, the Lions beat a team that had given them so many heartaches over the years. After the game, the emotions of players, coaches and fans were overwhelming.
The Lions offense was lead by Melani with 160 yards rushing, followed by Jayse Long with 48 yards. The defense was lead by Eric Blair and River Crane, who each had 13 tackles. The Lions travel next to Burlington (almost Kansas!) on Saturday, November 19, to take on the number one ranked Cougars. So get some friends, carpool, and head out to the game; you don’t want to miss this one!
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
