Just short
Brent Maycock, Topeka Capital-Journal
Saturday, November 14, 2009
OLPE — Olpe had its share of big plays in Friday night’s Class 2-1A playoff game against St. Marys.
There was a 62-yard touchdown run from Bradley Argabright after the senior receiver lined up at quarterback in Olpe’s “Eagle” formation.
There were two interceptions from Argabright and another from Tanner Burenheide, as well as a fumble recovery.
And there was an 8-yard touchdown grab by Argabright off a Matt Redeker pass late in the third quarter that put the Eagles ahead in a back-and-forth affair.
But the visiting Bears made just a few more plays, particularly when they had to ,and St. Marys escaped Olpe with a 24-21 victory.
The loss was the only one of the 2009 season for the Eagles (11-1) and denied them a shot at returning to the Class 2-1A State championship game for the second straight year.
“The bottom line is they just made a couple more big plays than we did,” Olpe coach Chris Schmidt said. “It was two good football teams and we just came up short.”
Just short.
Olpe led 21-16 after Argabright snagged Redeker’s pass with 29 seconds left in the third quarter. Argabright then thwarted the Bears on their next possession when he picked off St. Marys quarterback Mitch Baumchen. He appeared to be knocked into the endzone on the pick by a St. Marys receiver, but instead the ball was spotted at the 1-yard line.
Olpe then went three-and-out, which gave the Bears a shot. Two plays later, St. Marys receiver Dorian Sills-Berry made a leaping catch between three Olpe defenders at the Eagle 1 and Chris Fiedler scored on the next play to put St. Marys up for good.
Sills-Berry and Fiedler hadn’t exactly played starring roles for St. Marys this season, those honors going mainly to St. Marys’ cool hand Lukes — Luke Eakes and Luke Olsen.
But Eakes was on the sideline in street clothes with a broken thumb, and Olsen sat out the second half of Friday’s contest after suffering a knee injury in the first half.
If the Bears missed their stars, it didn’t show.
“We had some kids definitely step up and make some plays for us,” St. Marys coach Kevin Kinderknecht said. “Those two receivers (Sills-Berry and Tony Gallegos) made some great catches.”
Fiedler, replacing Olsen in the backfield, scored both of St. Marys’ second-half touchdowns and rushed for 42 of the Bears’ 53 yards.
“They had kids step up and I’m not surprised by that,” Schmidt said. “The Eakes kid’s been out and they’ve stepped up without him. That’s just a well-coached team, and kids step into a role and do the job and that’s why they’re here every year.”
Olpe opened the game on fire, getting a 34-yard interception return by Argabright on St. Marys’ first possession to set up a quick three-play, 18-yard touchdown drive with Redeker scoring from three yards out.
St. Marys immediately answered with a 12-play, 54-yard march, scoring on a fourth-and-goal pass from the 5 from Baumchen to Sills-Berry. Baumchen then hit Gallegos for the two-point conversion to give the Bears an 8-7 lead.
But what began as an offensive shootout quickly settled into a defensive slugfest.
St. Marys managed zero net yards the rest of the half, turning it over two more times. Olpe produced 84 yards, but 62 of those came on the final drive of the half and without the Eagles really threatening to score.
Olpe did have a golden chance to retake the lead after Tanner Burenheide picked off Baumchen at the Bears’ 24. But on fourth-and-goal from the 6, Redeker was stuffed for a 2-yard gain on a scramble.
“We thought (about the field goal), but I’m still mad about that second-and-1, and I take all the blame for that,” Schmidt said. “It was after a timeout, and we get a delay of game. That was a big play.”
Needing an offensive spark in the second half, Olpe got it from Argabright. His 62-yard touchdown run put Olpe back on top 14-8. But St. Marys had an answer for every Olpe touchdown and each time, the Bears converted their two-point conversions for the difference in the final score.
Redeker threw for 106 yards, but was just 11 of 22 and was picked off once. Olpe’s ground game produced just 156 yards, with Argabright getting half of those, as leading rusher Linden Stueve was held to just 24 yards.
Friday at Olpe
St. Marys 24, Olpe 21
St. Marys (11-1) 8 0 8 8 — 24
Olpe (11-1) 7 0 14 0 — 21
Olpe — Redeker 3 run (Burenheide kick)
SM — Sills-Berry 5 pass from Baumchen (Gallegos pass from Baumchen)
Olpe — Argabright 62 run (Burenheide kick)
SM — Fiedler 4 run (Fiedler run)
Olpe — Argabright 8 pass from Redeker (Burenheide kick)
SM — Fiedler 1 run (Decker pass from Baumchen)
GAME STATISTICS
SM Olpe
First downs 11 15
Rushes-yards 37-53 34-156
Passing yards 136 106
Comp-Att-Int 9-19-3 11-22-1
Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 9-52 11-77
Punts-Avg. 4-39.5 5-32.2
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — St. Marys: Olsen 10-10, Decker 3-3, Baumchen 12-minus 2, Fielder 12-42. Olpe: Stueve 11-24, Redeker 16-54, Argabright 7-78.
Passing — St. Marys: Baumchen 9-19-3 136. Olpe: Redeker 11-22-1 106.
Receiving — St. Marys: Decker 3-46, Flerlage 2-14, Sills-Berry 2-34, Gallegos 2-42. Olpe: Argabright 4-41, Brinkman 2-19, Pettijohn 1-18, Stueve 4-28.