Jayden Simcox kneels and has a quiet moment after he and his Tiger teammates fell to Pickerington North 35-14. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
After being manhandled early, everything went Pickerington North’s way in 35-14 trouncing of crosstown rival Pickerington Central. Kentucky-bound Preston Bowman scored twice and made two game-altering plays as a punter.
Pickerington, OH – In the first half of a Division I, Region 3 quarterfinal pitting fierce crosstown rivals, Pickerington North managed just one first down and was outgained by a seemingly faster, more talented Pickerington Central 205-48.
Apparently, the visiting Panthers – trailing just 7-6 despite being thoroughly dominated — had the Tigers right where they wanted them.
“I’ve said this all year, but I just love the fight in this team,” North coach Nate Hillerich said. “We went at halftime and made some adjustments, and our guys just responded like I knew they would. Our defense finally got some stops, took advantage of some turnovers and made some big plays at all three levels.”
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North returned a blocked field goal for a touchdown, forced and recovered a Central fumble in the end zone and put the cherry on top with a pick-six in the final two minutes to polish off a rather stunning 35-14 win over the mistake-prone Tigers.
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It marked the third straight win for North in the rivalry, which dates to 2008. Central, the original Pickerington school, still leads the series 17-7, including wins in five of seven playoff matchups. This game bore little resemblance to the regular-season meeting on Sept. 6, which North won 38-27.
Second-seeded Central, which had scored 40-plus points seven times during an eight-win win streak, looked machine-like on the game’s opening drive, marching 69 yards in 10 plays. Kaejuan Alexander scored on an 8-yard TD run out of a wildcat formation.
On the Tigers’ second series, a costly 13-yard loss on a fumble by quarterback Rocco Williams wrecked a promising drive and forced a 44-yard field goal try by Carson Goulet. Tyson Long stormed in off the edge to blocked the kick, then Amar’e Miller made the scoop and raced 60 yards to the end zone.
“Tyson gets all the praise for that,” Miller said. “I saw all green grass ahead of me. What a great feeling that was.”
Central fumbled away another great scoring opportunity in the red zone later in the half.
Preston Bowman finds the open lane en route to one of his two TD’s on the night.
North got the ball first in the second half and was forced into a fourth-and-8 punting situation near midfield. Although Central was flagged for an illegal substitution penalty and could have potentially gone for it on the next play, Hillerich instead took the result of Preston Bowman’s punt, which was downed inside the 1-yard-line.
Bowman, a Kentucky commit, made another pivotal play on the drive, calling his own number on a fake punt to keep the drive alive.
“We like being on defense, and I felt the way our defense had been playing, I’d rather have them at the 1 then gamble on fourth down,” Hillerich said.
The decision paid off in a huge way.
On a third-and-7 at the 4, defensive lineman Ben Thompson clobbered Williams as he tried to elude the rush, forcing him to fumble. Chuck Hickerson pounced on the loose ball for a touchdown. Jarin Mock hit Emy Louis Jr. for the two-point conversion to make it 14-7.
Williams tied it up at 14-all with a 7-yard run, but North responded immediately when Mock connected with Bowman for an 85-yard TD early in the fourth quarter.
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After a quick three-and-out by Central (9-3), North went to work on chewing the clock. Bowman capped a near-five-minute drive with a 22-yard TD run on a jet sweep.
Moments later, Tank Washington picked off Williams and brought it back 34 yards for the closing score.
Seventh-seeded North (10-2) advances to face sixth-seeded Olentangy Berlin (10-2) in a regional semifinal Friday at a neutral site to be determined.
North standout tailback Michael Taylor sliced and diced Central for 289 yards in the first meeting. The Tigers keyed on Taylor this time, holding him to 54 yards on 15 carries, but the Panthers found other ways to win.
The Pickerington Central defense wasn’t about to allow Michael Taylor to run wild like he did in the first matchup, holding him to 54 total yards on the night.
“I really liked how our defense kept rallying to the ball tonight, and even though they drove on us at times, we did a good job stopping them on third downs,” Hillerich said.
Bowman, who made three receptions for 102 yards, praised the Panthers’ defense, which has been maligned at times this season.
“At the end of the day, we just trusted our defense,” he said. “They had our back, and they just went out and did their thing.”
Cale Blackman (8 tackles), Washington (7.5, plus the pick-six) and Thompson (two sacks) paced the Panthers’ defense.
Central second-year coach Jeff Lomonico was obviously disappointed afterwards. His team outgained North 384-291 and possessed the ball more than nine minutes longer.
“We kind of beat ourselves tonight,” he said. “We gave them a couple scores with our miscues. Then, they hit us on the slant to Bowman. He’s a great player. You can only hope to hold him down so long.”
Unfortunately, the game ended like many before have, with a series of postgame scuffles which resulted in both teams being quickly herded to their respective locker rooms at Pickerington Central’s new stadium.
Jarin Mock scampers around the edge for a big gain during a 35-14 defeat of Pickerington Central
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