October 28, 2000

Bellevue takes the win from the Tornadoes

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

Forget the dogs. Who the heck let the flags out?

Officially, J.J. Foos' 13-yard touchdown reception from Jeff Polley with 52 seconds left sealed Columbian's fate in a 35-28 loss to Bellevue Friday night.

But 14 penalties for 136 yards laid quite the foundation.

"We just didn't play smart," Columbian coach Steve Gilbert said. "We probably made more mistakes tonight than we did in the last six games. We made mistakes we haven't made all year. Maybe they were trying too hard.

"But these kids have done so much more than anyone anticipated, and now it's a shame that we're league champs and going to the playoffs, but people are disappointed."

Columbian's loss creates a three-way tie for the NOL championship with Bellevue winning its eighth title in 10 years under coach Ed Nasonti. Shelby, with a 20-7 win over Galion, grabbed a piece of its second crown in two years.

The Tornadoes' championship is the third under Gilbert in six seasons.

Both Columbian and Bellevue will represent the NOL in the playoffs. Columbian will hit the road next Friday against a yet-to-be-named opponent.

The Redmen (8-2, 6-1) will vault from the 12th spot in Region 10 into the top eight.

"This is a very sweet win," Nasonti said. "It's our eighth NOL championship in 10 years, but this is the sweetest of them all, really, because we had our backs against the wall and nobody really gave us a chance.

"We lost 19 seniors from last year's team and had 17 spots on the all-league team," he said. "With only 10 seniors on this team, for us to come back and get a piece of it is a great team effort. And I know Tiffin's young, too, so we may be banging heads again next year."

A big difference will be no Pete Lepley for Bellevue.

And all penalties aside, Columbian didn't have an answer for the best wide receiver in the area. Lepley caught 12 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns against the Tornadoes, giving him 71 receptions, 1,622 yards and 20 touchdowns this season.

Pulling the trigger was Jeff Polley, who completed 21-of-42 passes for 332 yards and four TDs. Polley has thrown 2,500 yards through 10 games.

Columbian countered with a running game that featured 290 yards on 62 carries, including Brett Krupp's 35-carry, 201-yard effort.

But the flags. Oh, the flags.

"Offensively, we probably did what we wanted to do," Gilbert said. "But Bellevue didn't make the mistakes, and they got a lot of help. I mean, we've never committed that many penalties.

"Defensively, we knew we had to control their big play," he said. "Lepley's a great receiver, and they did a heck of job getting him the ball."

The Tornadoes trailed, 28-14, with 3:12 left third quarter when they mounted a comeback.

Ignited by a 26-yard pass from Mike Buckner to Dan Lutz and a 22-yard pass from Krupp to Drew Hanley, TC marched 67 yards on 10 plays to set up Krupp's 2-yard scoring run on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Two possessions later, Lutz had Columbian in striking distance when he returned a Polley punt 36 yards to the Bellevue 26. Steve Lee punctuated a short drive with a 3-yard blast, and Adam Oster's fourth PAT tied it, 28-28, with 4:39 remaining.

Bellevue's next drive ended when Michael Perna picked off Polley at the Columbian 8-yard line with 2:26 left, but after a three-and-out, Bellevue took over at TC's 40 at the 1:14 mark.

Polley hit Dan Murphy between Lutz and Adam Powers for 18 yards and then Foos for 9 more.

And on third-and-1 from the 13, Polley lofted one for Foos, who made a leaping catch in the end zone.

"We had a quick read to J.J. out there and (Columbian) called a timeout, so we figured they were going to roll up on him so we were going to go with the fade," Nasonti said. "Actually, the guy laid off, but we went with the fade anyway and J.J. made a great catch."

The game started at a frantic pace when Krupp broke the very first play for a 62-yard touchdown. Bellevue answered with the first of four Polley TDs, this one a 45-yarder to Lepley.

A bad snap over Columbian punter Corey Spencer's head at the Bellevue 15 led to a 15-yard Lepley score and a 13-7 Bellevue lead.

Krupp answered with his second touchdown of the first quarter, a 14-yard run to make it 14-13, after an 11-play, 54-yard drive.

Bellevue got a 52-yard scoring run from Aaron Schoen in the second quarter, and Lepley caught a conversion pass from Polley to make it 21-14 Bellevue at halftime.

The Redmen got their 28-14 lead in the third when Polley hit Schoen for a 29-yard score.

For the record, Columbian was flagged four times for interference, four times for illegal procedure, twice for holding, twice for clipping, once for encroachment and once for a personal foul.

The Tornadoes had 11 penalties for 91 yards in the first half. Bellevue committed eight penalties for 60 yards.

But even after the penalties, the bad punt snap, the loss and getting forced to share the league title, Gilbert put a positive spin on the big picture.

"I'm really proud of the way we came back and tied it in the fourth quarter," he said. "We just didn't have enough at the end. But it was a good game. They (Bellevue) played well and didn't make mistakes.

"And we're league champs and we're going to the playoffs."

And they're in no hurry to celebrate Flag Day.