Saturday, November 20, 1999

Big plays spell end for Mohawk's playoff hopes

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

Liberty Center moved like a well-tuned machine Friday night in a 49-28 win over Mohawk in the Division V Region 18 championship game at Fostoria Memorial Stadium.

The Tigers were nearly unstoppable while advancing to next Friday's state semifinals against Bedford Chanel at a site to be determined. In the other semifinal, it will be St. Henry against Amanda-Clearcreek.

Liberty Center scored on seven of its nine possessions with the duo of Bret Silveus and Troy Westhoven doing a bulk of the work. Only intermission and an interception by Eric Fatzinger kept the Tigers from making it to the end zone every time they had the ball.

"Our offense really played a great game. I'm a little disappointed with our defense and some of our tackling," said Liberty Center head coach Rex Lingruen. "Each time our offense just came back and responded and played a great game and our defense shortened it up when they had to. Our offense really came off the ball. Defensively we just missed a couple tackles and let them in on a couple things. We've taken care of step three, now it's step four."

Westhoven, who gained 195 yards on 25 carries, broke away for a 46-yard run before being chased down by Chester on Liberty Center's first offensive snap of the game and it was just a sign of what was to come.

The Tigers, helped by the first of seven conversions on fourth down, went 80 yards in eight plays with Westhoven going the final 15. He went left and cut back across the middle to reach the end zone and LC was ahead, 6-0, with 7:05 left in the first quarter.

Mohawk, which only ran off nine offensive plays in the first quarter, coughed the ball up on its second possession of the game and it took the Tigers 10 plays to go 38 yards with Silveus scoring the first of his five touchdowns in the game on a 5-yard run over left tackle. Westhoven ran the conversion and the Tigers had a 14-0 lead with 1:07 left in the opening quarter.

The Warriors, bowing out at 10-3, came roaring back Chester, who finished with 154 yards on 15 carries, going 33 yards to put them on the board and Rob Starner converted as Mohawk cut the LC lead to 14-7 with just 29 seconds gone in the second quarter.

Liberty Center put together two scoring drives in the second quarter with Silveus capping off a 13-play, 72-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring run. Just one play earlier, Todd Spangler had reached high in the air to make a 13-yard grab when the Tigers were faced with a fourth-and-six at the Mohawk 21-yard line.

After a Mohawk punt, the Tigers moved in for another score as Silveus went the final yard on a 5-play, 48-yard drive with 1:06 left before halftime.

Just when it appeared bleak for the Warriors, they were able to respond to the challenge.

With the help of a Drew Mohr 12-yard pass to Paul Paolella, the Warriors moved to their own 44. However, they were hit with a clipping call on a pass from Mohr to Chester and were sitting on their own 32 as time was winding down in the first half.

On a routine sweep to the right, Chester was able to find an opening and was off to the races for a 68-yard score with just 16.8 seconds to go in the half as the Warriors cut the LC lead to 28-14.

As the second half began, the Warriors were in search of a big play and that's exactly what they got on the kickoff as Bo Meisner recovered the kick as LC players took a lackadaisical approach to covering the ball.

One play later, Chester scampered around left end and raced 23 yards to paydirt and Starner converted as the Warriors were back in the game, trailing by a 28-21 score with just eight seconds gone in the third quarter.

"Definitely, we were concerned after giving up the score at the end of the first half and another one right at the start of the second half," said Lingruen. "But we knew also that they hadn't stopped us defensively and it was just a matter of continuing to execute well offensively. We knew our defense would eventually come through."

Just seconds after Mohawk had closed the gap, the Tigers answered with Silveus breaking away for a 59-yard scoring scamper and the lead was again 14 (35-21).

The door really opened up for the Tigers a minute later when Westhoven picked off Mohr and returned the theft 46 yards for another score and LC was up, 42-21, with 10:07 to go in the third quarter.

Mohawk's ensuing possession was its longest of the game as the Warriors took seven minutes off the clock while driving to the LC 10 before a fourth down pass from Mohr to Grant Good fell incomplete. Just two plays earlier, Chester suffered a leg injury on a 7-yard loss and never returned to action.

Each team added a score in the fourth quarter with Mohr racing 58 yards for a Mohawk touchdown with 8:15 to go, but the Tigers answered yet again with a sustained drive which was climaxed by an 18-yard run by Silveus, who finished with 189 yards on 21 carries.