Red Devils Hand Indians Third Loss
The St. Francis Indians suffered their third straight loss when the Decatur Community Red Devils came to town on September 28. The Indians were playing slightly short-handed due to injury and disciplinary reasons, but the Red Devils were dominating thoughout the evening.
Decatur Community received the opening kickoff. It only took a few plays before Red Devil running back Zach May scampered around the right end for a 62 yard touchdown run. The PAT kick by Dayton Dreher was good. The Red Devils were up 0-7 with only a minute and sixteen seconds played.
The Red Devil kickoff found the end zone for a touchback. The Indians fumbled the snap resulting in a loss of 4 yards on first down. Facing 4th and 7, the Indians punted.
Decatur Community mishandled the ball on second down, and the ball was recovered by Zach Gienger on the 50 yard line. The Indians returned the favor on 1st down, fumbling the ball back to the Red Devils.
Decatur Community's Chris Anderson clicked off a nice run to the St. Francis 36, and soon the Red Devils had 1st & 10 just outside the 10 yard line. The Indian defense held strong, and on 4th & 8, a swing pass to the left side was well defended by Mickey Leibbrandt to prevent a score.
St. Francis took over on their own 12 yard line and punted the ball away four plays later after failing to gain yardage. The punt was short and returned to the Indian 36 yard line by May.
Decatur Community earned more than ten yards on 1st down, but the run was nullified by a Red Devil penalty. On 2nd & 20, Thomas Douthit sacked the Red Devils for a 5 yard loss. The Red Devils earned 17 yards on 3rd down. On 4th down, the Devils fumbled the ball. The ball was recoved by Kyler Zweygardt and Dylan Wolaver for the Indians on the 41 yard line.
Mikey Leibbrandt had an aggressive run around the left end to the Red Devil 38 yard line. The Indians turned the ball over on downs at the 28 yard line.
The Indian defense held strong and forced Decatur Community to punt on 4th and 7. The Indians set up offense on the DC 30 yard line.
Thomas Douthit powered for 15 yards off left tackle to advance the ball to the DC 49 yard line, but the Indians could not sustain the drive and turned the ball over on downs at the 41 yard line.
On first down, Zach May rambled to the Indian 39. Just over 4 minutes remained on the clock. Red Devil quarterback Dayton Dreher passed to Grant Gilliam in the right corner of the end zone for a 16 yard touchdown. The PAT kick was good, giving the Red Devils a 0-14 lead with 2:59 left in the first period.
Foster Grant returned the deep kickoff to the 16 yard line. On second down, Mickey Leibbrandt scampered for 13 yards around the right side. St. Francis advanced the ball to the 45. Decatur Community called time out with 1:05 remaining on the clock and the Indians facing 3rd & 10. The Devils called a second time out with 0:50 remaining, on 4th & 5 at the 50. St. Francis committed a false start penalty when trying to draw the Devils offside and were forced to punt the ball.
The punt was blocked by Oberlin freshman Bryson Wesley and recovered by Channing Fortin. The Devils were on the St. Francis 33 and threatening again. St. Francis called time out in an attempt to regroup. The Devils ran a quarterback draw play on first down. Dreher was stopped just short of the goal line by Mickey Leibbrandt. The Devils were 2 1/2 yards away from taking a commanding lead. With 29 seconds left, the Devils fumbled the snap, and only gained 1/2 yard. DC used their final time out with 0:22 seconds left. A second down pass fell incomplete. On third down, Zach May powered over right tackle for a 2 yard touchdown with 12 seconds left. The PAT kick failed, but the Devils were looking good, leading 0-20.
Leibbrandt returned the kickoff to the Indian 29 yard line with 0:06 left. A Lane Hoffman pass was intercepted by May and returned to the St. Francis 38 as time expired. The Indians trailed 0-20 at halftime.
St. Francis set up offense at their 35 yard line after the kickoff. Indian receiver/kick returner Foster Grant left the game with a knee injury. Mickey Leibbrandt gained a 1st down with an aggressive run. Soon, the Indians were looking at 4th & 6. The fourth down pass fell incomplete, and Decatur Community took over on their own 42 yard line.
Zach May rambled to the Sainty 41 yard line on first down. Indian lineman Dillion Straub suffered an ankle injury on the play and left the contest at the 6:19 mark. After the injury time out, the Devil's Chris Anderson ran straight up the middle of the Indian defense for a 40 yard touchdown. The PAT kick sailed wide left. The Indians trailed 0-26 with 6:12 left in the third period.
Garrett Brunk returned the kickoff out to the St. Francis 25 yard line. The Indians punted on 4th & 1 from their 34.
The punt was returned by Zach May to the St. Francis 40. On 3rd & 9, Thomas Douthit sacked the Devils for a loss. On 4th down, and just over 2 minutes left, a nice pass by Dreher was dropped in the end zone by a Red Devil receiver, thwarting another Devil touchdown.
St. Francis took over on downs at their own 39. After failing to advance the ball, the Indians punted to the Devils. The kick was very short and out-of-bounds, Decatur Community took over on the Indian 42 yard line.
The third period ended after two Red Devil plays. May received a quick pass in the right flat from Dreher and ran through several Indian missed tackles to the 6 yard line. The Indian defense played tough, but the Red Devil's Chris Anderson dove the ball into the end zone on 4th down. The PAT kick was good. The score stood at 0-33 with 9:02 remaining in the contest.
The Indian kickoff return netted no yardage. Facing 4th & 4, the Indians punted.
The Red Devil's Bryson Wesley broke through the middle of the Indian line and blocked the punt. Decatur Community took over on the Indian 23 yard line with 6:59 left. The Indian defense held strong, and took over on downs after four plays at the 20 yard line with approximately 5 minutes remaining.
Seniors Mikey Leibbrandt and Thomas Douthit combined for some strong running to advance the ball to the Indian 47 yard line. A Lane Hoffman keeper around left end advanced the ball to the DC 42. Thomas Douthit broke free for a 41 yard touchdown run, with 1:35 left, to get the Indians on the scoreboard. Douthit also ran for the conversion points. The score stood at 8-33.
The Indian's on-side kick attempt was recovered by the Red Devils on the DC 49 yard line. Wesley broke free for a nice run to the 11 yard line, with 1:01 on the clock. The Devils fumbled the ball and were thrown for a loss by Garrett Brunk. The game ended with the Indians stinging from an 8-33 spanking.
The Indians record fell to 2-3 after facing three consecutive strong opponents. The Indians will play in Oakley on Friday, October 5th.
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