New Bremen tight end Trevor Topp clutches his touchdown catch in the end zone that gave the Cardinals a 26-25 win over Versailles. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
In a game that see-sawed in the final five minutes, both Versailles and New Bremen scored touchdowns that gave them a lead. New Bremen’s turned out to be the final, and permanent lead.
Versailles, OH – Is there such a thing as a bad football game between Versailles and New Bremen?
Well not recently, as evidenced by last year’s 18-17 Versailles win over the Cardinals that ended on a failed two-point conversion that would have given New Bremen the win.
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And again on Friday night…when New Bremen scored with one second remaining on a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Gavin Dicke to tight end Trevor Topp on the game’s final play to erase a Versailles touchdown, and lead, just sixty seconds earlier. Final score…New Bremen 26, Versailles 25.
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It was stunning on the New Bremen sideline…numbing on the Versailles sideline. Literally, defeat snatched from the jaws of victory after a hard-fought fourth quarter by coach Ryan Jones’ Tigers to overcome a New Bremen lead that they had nursed since their first play in the second half.
With 1:03 left in the fourth quarter, running back Landyn Knapke crashed over the goal line from two yards out to put Versailles ahead, 25-20. But a two-point conversion try was stopped short, giving New Bremen one more chance to score with 63 seconds remaining.
Dicke and the Cardinal offense made the most of it, driving the length of the field after the ensuing kickoff, securing a critical first down on fourth and five with one second remaining in the game, and then connecting for the winning score with no time left on the clock.
New Bremen scored first with this touchdown throw to receiver Aaron Wuebker.
It was the climactic ending to a game between two teams unbeaten prior to Friday, and a glimpse at a New Bremen team with Gavin Dicke that plays offense with the nerve of a cat burglar…or at least like David Homan, the quarterback at New Bremen before Dicke. Daring, and unafraid, the Cardinals like to sling the football downfield, as in the days of Homan.
“We talked about it all week, how the game ended last year,” said Dicke. “I didn’t want that to happen again.”
And to prove it, he completed 10 of 15 passes for the game, for 244 yards, and four touchdowns. He was intercepted once, but two of his scoring throws were for 64 and 78 yards, respectively.
All of this after a scoreless first quarter. But on their first possession of the second quarter, concluding a ten-play drive at the end of the first, Dicke found teammate Aaron Wuebker at the goal line for an 18-yard score to put the Cardinals on the board first, 7-0.
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On the ensuing kickoff, Versailles marched the length of the field by quarterback Ethan Wilker’s running, some timely passing, and 25 yards of penalties marked off against Bremen to score on a 24-yard pass from Wilker to Kade Schwartz to tie the game at 7-7.
On their next possession Dicke and the Cardinals’ drive was short-circuited by an interception on their own 38 yard line, by Schwartz. Wilker and the offense took immediate advantage when running back Landyn Knapke scored at 3:42 to send Versailles ahead, 13-7. The extra point attempt was no good, and that would prove to haunt.
The eye of a Tiger…Versailles’ Ryan Treon stares down Bremen’s Caleb Keller on a punt return.
But less than a minute later, Dicke hooked up with receiver Pierce Whitlatch on a sideline throw for a first down that Whitlatch juked the defender and raced 64 yards to score and give New Bremen a 14-13 halftime lead.
The echoes from the halftime bands were hardly gone in the third quarter when Versailles took the opening kick and promptly went three-and-out, forced to punt on fourth down. They pinned New Bremen back on its own 22 yard line, and from there Dicke took the first snap and unleashed a strike down the Versailles sideline where teammate Gavin Quellhorst and a Tiger defender both went up for the catch, both juggled it, but Quellhorst somehow came away with the ball and raced 78 yards to the end zone to increase the Cardinal lead to 20-13.
And it stayed 20-13 for the remainder of the third quarter and first two minutes of the fourth…until Versailles converted a drive, 9 plays covering 62 yards, with a seventeen yard pass from Wilker to Schwartz at 10:33 to pull the Tigers to within a point, 20-19. Once again, the point after was blocked.
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New Bremen could not answer, punting the ball back to Versailles, and with less than five minutes remaining Wilker and company starting moving downfield again. Eating up clock, Wilker converted on a pair of third downs, alternating runs between himself and Knapke, who the longer he ran the better he ran. And at 1:03 left, Knapke barreled into the end zone to finally give Versailles the lead at 25-20. Now attempting the two-point conversion to put additional scoring pressure on New Bremen, Knapke was stopped short of the goal line…short by a yard.
Somehow he caught it…New Bremen’s Gavin Quellhorst comes away with this pass on the first play of the second half for a 78-yard touchdown.
Still, Versailles led 25-20 with 1:03, and there was that looming feeling of giving Dicke one more chance with a minute to play. And when Versailles coach Ryan Jones was asked afterward if he, himself, was uneasy with so much time left on the clock, he responded, flatly, “I would have rather it been zero. But credit to New Bremen. They won the game in the end.”
Dicke began on his own thirty five and hit two quick passes on the sidelines to gain yards and stop the clock. At 42 seconds he had moved the ball beyond midfield, only to suffer a setback when he was sacked on a pass attempt. Still with thirty seconds remaining, he connected on another pass that gained yards, but was short of the first down, forcing him to spike the ball to stop the clock, fourth and five.
Now with :17 seconds remaining he dropped to throw, but saw the entire Versailles secondary drop in pass coverage, leaving the field wide open. Dicke took off running, did his best David Homan impression, gained the first down and was finally brought down with 1.1 seconds remaining on the game clock.
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With the clock stopped to move the chains, he got lined up and on the final snap he looked down field and found Trevor Topp slanting across the middle towards the goal line.
“We had options to throw it outside,” said Dicke, later. “But we had to get in the end zone. If we missed outside the game is over.”
Versailles’ Landyn Knapke churns out yards in the first half of Friday’s 26-25 New Bremen win over the Tigers.
He threw a perfect strike, hitting Topp right in the hands.
“I dropped a pass a couple of weeks ago and I was thinking about it,” Topp said with a grin. “But this time I got it.”
It was ‘ball drop’ night at Versailles with a big hot-air balloon, and when Topp crossed the goal line to put New Bremen ahead 26-25 it’s safe to say that all the air went out of the balloon, as well as the student section chanting ‘Tigerball’ at the top of their lungs. Ryan Jones would credit the home fans for a tremendous atmosphere and support of their team. But who could have believed that a lead gained just a minute earlier could have vanished in a matter of seven plays and 65 yards?
“I would have liked to gave gotten more pressure on the quarterback on the final play,” said Jones. “But when we did he was breaking contain and making good plays, like he did on the fourth down.”
Gavin Dicke is finally brought down on his fourth down run for the first down…with 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock.
Dicke never for a moment doubted that he had time enough to score, or that he would score.
“Coach talks about envisioning plays, and that’s what I envisioned…I told them the whole time that we’re going to get in the end zone. They made plays, they blocked for me, and Trevor caught the ball.”
But it took that gutsy play to run for the first down, with just one second to spare as it turned out.
“I’m a gutsy guy,” smiled Dicke.
Of course coach Chris Schmidt enjoyed the final minute, in retrospect, but admitted, “I’m still decompressing. But this one ranks up there with some of the more memorable games in New Bremen history. And I told the guys in our post-game huddle that the offense finally won a two-minute drill. We do it every week in practice and the defense has always won. Tonight the offense finally found a way.
“I’m super proud of the kids for battling like they did after that late touchdown. But we said, ‘Hey, if we can get a stop on this two-point conversion a touchdown will win it for us.
Versailles’ Kade Schwartz hauls in one of his two touchdown catches in Friday’s game with New Bremen.
“It was great to see Gavin and the kids make plays. Trevor hasn’t caught a ball for us all year long. But he’s been working hard in practice and tonight he did a great job. We knew it was going to be a tough game, physical and hard-hitting, because that’s how games with Versailles have been. Like I said, I’m super proud of our kids.”
New Bremen outgained Versailles 333 yards, to 263.
Versailles rushed for 144 yards, and New Bremen ran for 83.
Dicke threw for 244, and Ethan Wilker ended with 12 for 17, 121 yards and two touchdowns
And as it turned out…David Homan, the quarterback prior to Gavin Dicke – game and heart-breaker extraordinaire – was there, standing near the end zone, and watching appreciatively as the final drive, the run for the first down, and the touchdown pass to Trevor Topp all came to pass. He was famous for finishes at New Bremen just like this one.
And did it look familiar, he was asked?
“It did,” he said, with that David Homan smile.
It usually does…when New Breman and Versailles play.
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