UA’s Trent Wolpert goes up and snags a critical pass over Liberty defender Troy Aalyson late in the 4th quarter. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
Trailing by 12 points in the fourth quarter, Upper Arlington rallied for a last-minute winning score in an OCC Central showdown against Olentangy Liberty.
Upper Arlington, OH — Being forced to rally from a second-half deficit hasn’t been a regular obstacle for Upper Arlington while winning 40 games since the beginning of the 2021 season.
The Golden Bears experienced the other side of that equation each of the last two seasons against Olentangy Liberty, seeing a two-touchdown deficit turn into an overtime loss in 2022 and then losing in overtime again a season ago after leading most of the way.
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In the opposite situation Friday against the visiting Patriots in a key Ohio Capital Conference Central Division matchup, UA didn’t shrink under the strain of a 12-point second-half deficit on its way to a 31-28 victory.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Jarrod Ulrey writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros
A 35-yard pass from senior quarterback Kyle Cox to junior wide receiver Trent Wolpert set up a 1-yard touchdown run by senior running back Alek Diller with 54 seconds left to win the game. Cox hit Tristan DePhillips on the two-point conversion pass.
“It’s tough to believe sometimes when you’re down two scores, but our kids stuck with it,” UA coach Justin Buttermore said. “We talked all week about finishing. We’ve blown the last two games against them. The plan was obviously not to be behind by two scores early and have to fight our way back, but I thought our kids showed tremendous toughness and were gutsy. We had every chance to believe the game was over, and we just kept fighting. We just talked about continuing to work and trying to get back to within one score late.”
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The win improved the Bears’ to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the league while the Patriots – whose other loss this season was by 1 point – slipped to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the league. Liberty still remains No. 1 in the Division I, Region 3 computer ratings, just ahead of second-place Upper Arlington.
Jaden Chindavong gets loose in the Liberty secondary.
Although Liberty took a 28-16 lead when senior quarterback Andrew Leonard hit senior wide receiver Christian Moulton with 10 minutes, 6 seconds remaining, the momentum began to shift in UA’s favor earlier in the second half.
The Bears fell behind 21-7 with 9 seconds to go in the second quarter when Liberty senior running back Jake Struck ran in for a 4-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play, 72-yard drive.
Liberty also produced a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive that made it 14-7 when Moulton scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Leonard earlier in the second period, and the Bears were held to 23 yards of first-half rushing.
UA, however, got to within 21-10 with 7:53 left in the third quarter when sophomore kicker Edward Oakley made a 33-yard field goal.
On the first play of Liberty’s ensuing drive, UA senior defensive back Zach Corna intercepted a pass from Leonard and sprinted 23 yards for a touchdown that made it 21-16.
Upper Arlington’s Zach Corna steps in front of a Liberty receiver and takes it to the house for a pick -six against the Patriots.
It was a “huge” play according to Buttermore because of the spark it created on his sideline.
“It was just a whole team effort,” Corna said. “We were in there at halftime, and the word of the week was ‘finish.’ We had our heads up and we finished.”
The Bears got back to within 28-23 by marching 88 yards in 11 plays, with Cox completing a 30-yard pass to senior wide receiver Wally Swiney and then hooking up with Wolpert for a 15-yard touchdown with 3:50 remaining.
Liberty was faced with fourth-and-2 from the UA 45 with 2:12 to go and elected to go for it, but Struck was stopped for a 1-yard gain by a slew of Bears’ defenders that included Jacob Dupont, Noah Gehlert, Jason Milo and James Wilcox.
“They made plays and we didn’t,” Liberty coach John Sansbury said. “Obviously, I chose to go for it on fourth-and-2. Our guys felt good about it and wanted to play to win. Obviously in hindsight that was not the right decision, but I can live with it because we’re being aggressive and we felt like we could get two yards with our line and our running back. Hats off to them because they made all kinds of plays.”
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After UA moved to the Liberty 36 with 1:24 to go, Cox threw into double-coverage near the goal line to Wolpert, but he came down with it to set up the game-winning run on the next play. Wolpert finished with eight catches for 138 yards.
“We had to roll out, and I’m always there for my quarterback, so I had to roll out with him,” Wolpert said. “He threw it up and I made the play. We just had to keep fighting, keep swinging. It’s going to be a battle every time we play these guys.”
UA’s Noah Gehlert breaks up a pass intended for Liberty’s Christian Moulton.
Liberty got the ball with 54 seconds to go and moved to the Bears’ 42, but Leonard was sacked on the game’s final play. Leonard rushed for 93 yards and threw for 162 yards.
The Patriots will try to regroup Oct. 11 when they play host to Hilliard Bradley, and the Bears will look to retain a share of first place in the league when they travel to 6-1 Olentangy Orange in what shapes up as another premier matchup in the rugged Central.
“We just couldn’t get off the field in the first half,” Buttermore said. “I just felt like we played slow and didn’t execute the way we’ve been executing the past several weeks. We talked at halftime about how we just needed to settle down and relax. We started playing our brand of football.”
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