Grant Dicke’s 61 yard touchdown catch with 1:45 left gave New Bremen a chance to win it in dramatic fashion. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
A dramatic finish with a missed two-point conversion helped the Versailles Tigers to improve to 4-0 with a 18-17 win over New Bremen.
New Bremen, OH – Versailles coach Ryan Jones and New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt both admitted they had made some mistakes…could have made better coaching decisions.
But, neither could fault the effort of their kids, two unbeatens who battled in a defensive struggle for 48 minutes Friday night before Versailles narrowly escaped with an 18-17 win, courtesy of a failed two-point conversion by New Bremen with 72 seconds left in the game.
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Just seconds before New Bremen quarterback Gavin Dicke had hooked up with his brother, Grant Dicke, for a 61 yard touchdown to pull within a point at 18-17. New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt decided to go for the jugular, and win the game with the two-point conversion.
Dicke rolled out to his right, had receiver Logan Krieg open in the corner of the end zone, but Dicke could not feather the pass over the outstretched arms of Versailles defender Ross Francis. The ball fell short, and Versailles ran out the clock for the win.
“Credit to the kids. and both teams, for playing a hard-fought MAC football game,” smiled Jones, afterwards. “We’ve had a lot of close battles with them (New Bremen) over the years, and I’m not sure if we’ve won here. It’s a tough place to play. They play extremely hard and they make plays when they need them, so I’m proud of how our guys fought to the end. We played hard all night.”
Versailles’ Jace Watren hauls in a pass from quarterback Ethan Wilker in the first half of Friday’s win over New Bremen.
The game, itself, may not have answered any questions about just how good 3-0 Versailles and 3-0 New Bremen were, individually, entering the game. But what it did say was that despite a lack of offense, there was no lack of competitive will. It was MAC football, the respective defenses giving both teams a shot to win with good field position throughout, and in the end New Bremen came oh-so-close to finally cashing in. Ross Francis may have saved the game for the Tigers by getting into the face of Gavin Dicke.
On their second possession of the game Versailles scored first on a 12 yard run by Landyn Knapke at 4:06, following an eight-play drive to inside the 20. The extra point gave the Tigers the 7-0 lead.
New Bremen would get on the board via a 22-yard field goal one minute into the second quarter, and on the ensuing possession by Versailles quarterback Ethan Wilker fumbled and Bremen recovered on the Tigers’ 28 yard line. Four plays later they had the ball on the two yard line, first and goal, and after four tries running back Rogan Muether finally crossed the line to give the Cardinals a 9-7 lead. Deciding for the two-point conversion try, Muether again crossed the goal line to put Bremen ahead, 11-7, at 7:21.
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After exchanging punts Versailles had the final possession of the half, took the ball the length of the field and all the way to the New Bremen 4 yard line before stalling. Kicker Leland Bolin converted a 21-yard field goal try and the half ended, 11-10.
New Bremen had the first possession of the second half, but could not advance the ball out of their own end. On fourth down they tried to punt, the ball was snapped high, the Versailles defense recovered the ball on the 3 yard line. Moments later Landyn Knapke ran it 3 yards for his second score at 7:21 to make it 16-11, and Jones returned the favor of a two-point conversion to put the Tigers up 18-11.
He saved a touchdown…Versailles defensive back Tyler Barga saved a score in the first half with this strip of an Aaron Wuebker catch.
It stayed that way, both teams exchanging punts and field position, New Bremen getting a big lift with time running out in the third quarter when Grant Dicke stepped in front of a pass ended for the Tigers’ Jace Watren, to set the Cards up at the 48 yard line. But that opportunity was missed, as the Dicke and the offense failed to take advantage.
While points were hard to come by, Bremen’s defense proved to be just as stout as that of Versailles – didn’t give up a first down in the second half. And they forced the Tigers to punt twice in the fourth quarter, the second giving New Bremen the ball at their own 37 yard line with two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Gavin Dicke had missed open receivers on three different occasions earlier in the game, by simply throwing the ball over their heads. But on second down he dropped back and let it fly again, for his brother Grant, who was streaking down the home sideline towards the end zone. He had a step on defender Jace Watren, the pass hit him right in the hands, and he streaked to the goal line to pull the Cardinals to within a point, 18-17. With 1:45 left on the game clock, Schmidt decided to win it right then and there. And after a timeout called for a quarterback rollout with an option to either run, or throw if he had an open receiver.
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“It was a play that we practice everyday,” Schmidt admitted later. “They just got some pressure on Gavin and we didn’t execute it.”
Ross Francis got in Dicke’s way, earlier than he expected, and probably forced him to throw prematurely. At any rate, the pass was short in the end zone where Logan Krieg did his best the short-hop the ball, but the official was right on top of the play and got the call right.
Versailles’ Landyn Knapke got the Tigers on the board first with the 12-yard run.
“We made some mistakes that we gotta’ correct,” said Ryan Jones, post-game. “But you’re going to have those mistakes. We got our backs against the wall a few times when the offense let us down, but the defense picked us up. They made some big stops there at the end, but it was tough sleddin’ all night.
“I think the players were frustrated at halftime,” crediting their defensive effort in the second half. “They knew they had made some mistakes, but I made some mistakes, too, and it’s how you fight back from that. Our guys were determined. And like I said, I’m proud of our fans for coming and supporting us, and I’m proud of our guys for the way they fought.”
New Bremen’s Chris Schmidt had no regrets for choosing to go for two with the game on the line.
“We practice it every day in practice, and we like that play,” he said. “We just didn’t execute it. We thought it was good because we were struggling to move the ball, and that was an opportunity to go for the win. But they did a good job, too, so you have to give them credit. We needed to do a better job of attacking the edge, and we just didn’t. He (the receiver) was open. We’ve just got to get it to him.”
Some numbers: Versailles finished the game with 147 total yards – 30 rushing and 117 passing. New Bremen had 277 total yards, 87 on the ground by Rogan Muether, and 190 through the air.
New Bremen’s Aaron Wuebker hauls in a pass in the first half of Friday’s game with Versailles.
As to the question of how good? Ryan Jones smiled at the question, without much elaborating. He was just happy to be 4-0.
Chris Schmidt was a bit more candid, saying, “I didn’t do a very good job calling plays tonight. I’ve got to figure out what I can do to help us.”
“I wasn’t sure about where we would be four games into the season,” he added, considering being 3-1.
“We’re inexperienced, and a little bit younger than we’ve been the last few years, so maybe we’ve got to get better to eliminate some of the inconsistencies.
“But we’re moving in the right direction. Tonight was a tough one, but it can’t define our season. It’s just one [game] of many.”
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