Ben Godwin tips, bobbles, and then secures the ball for a critical interception in the endzone that stopped the Bears dead in their tracks. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
In yet another nail-biter between Ohio Capital Conference Central Division co-champs, unheralded players Geno Saccoccia and Ben Godwin were the difference-makers as top-seeded Liberty eked out a close win over Upper Arlington.
Westerville, OH – It was such an evenly-matched and superbly-played Division I, Region 3 semifinal between two championship caliber teams, one could only hope it wouldn’t be decided by a miscue.
Unfortunately, Olentangy Liberty senior Geno Saccoccia looked like he might wear the goat’s horns when he failed to convert on an ad-libbed fake punt attempt midway through the fourth quarter of a tense 10-10 game.
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“It was my fault,” said Saccoccia, who uses a rugby style, running laterally until the last split second to punt. “I thought I saw a cutback and it wasn’t there. It was a big mistake.”
Upper Arlington took advantage of the short field as sophomore Edward Oakley kicked a season-best 48-yard field goal with 4:12 remaining for a 13-10 lead.
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But this was a game for heroes, and Saccoccia – one of the Patriots’ lesser heralded receivers – turned out to be one of them.
Standout senior quarterback Andrew Leonard engineered a clutch nine-play, 67-yard drive, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass to Saccoccia on a third-and-5 play with 54.6 seconds left, giving Liberty a pulsating 17-13 win at Westerville Central.
In avenging a 31-28 regular-season defeat to UA, the top-seeded Patriots (11-2) advanced to face seventh-seeded Pickerington North (11-2) for the regional title and a trip to the final four Friday, presumably at Historic Crew Stadium.
Leonard, the Central District offensive player of the year, hit four passes on the drive that was aided by two Golden Bears offsides penalties. Leonard and Saccoccia earlier connected for 12 yards on a key third-and-7 near midfield.
Jake Struck goes full Jeremiah Smith with a spectacular one-handed grab in front of the Upper Arlington sideline.
“Going to Geno wasn’t exactly what we were thinking there,” Leonard said. “I had multiple choices there. I saw a heavy blitz coming, and I just got rid of it. I guess I picked the right one.”
Saccoccia, whose great uncle Reno Saccoccia, is the state’s all-time winningest coach in his 42nd season at Steubenville, caught the quick pass on the sideline, slipped a tackle and dived over the goal line.
“It was a quick little hitch route, and I cut toward the outside and made the defender miss,” Saccoccia said. “It just feels so great to make up for my mistake. I just had all the faith in the world that our offense could go down the field and get us the ‘W’.”
Upper Arlington, which shared the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division title with Liberty and Olentangy Orange (whom they ousted in a quarterfinal), did not give up without a fight.
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After the Golden Bears advanced the kickoff to their own 40 on a flea-flicker, quarterback Kyle Cox completed back-to-back passes of 17 and 18 yards to Jake Braun and Zach Corna. With the ball at the Patriots 28, Cox spiked the ball with less than a second remaining to set up a final play.
Andrew Leonard gains some big ground with UA’s Nick Ardelea in tow.
Cox lofted a pass into a sea of leaping arms in the end zone, but it was tipped away and Liberty’s crowd and sidelined rejoiced.
Liberty took an 8-2 lead in the all-time series, dating to 2012. The past four meetings have been decided by margins of 4, 3, 3 and 1 points with two reaching overtime.
“We had some guys who kind of fly under the radar step up and make some big plays for us tonight,” Patriots second-year coach John Sansbury said. “Geno was really bummed out when he made on he punt, and I was so happy for him that that he was able to come back and get the winning touchdown for us.”
The teams were deadlocked 3-3 at halftime.
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Cox guided UA on a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Wildcat quarterback Luke Backes threw a 2-yard TD pass to tight end Cal Thrush to take a 10-3 lead.
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Liberty responded with an eight-play, 69-yard scoring drive to make it 10-all. Leonard hit 6-foot-3 receiver Ben Godwin on a 20-yard TD dart at the inside pylon.
Liberty’s Christian Moulton pulls in a pass then sidesteps Upper Arlington’s Luke Nelson for extra yards during a regional semi-final game.
Late in the third quarter into the fourth quarter, the Golden Bears mounted another impressive drive, advancing to the Patriots 8.
Cox attempted a pass to back corner of the end zone that was intercepted by Godwin.
“I studied Cox (on video) all week and I saw cheating down on that play,” Godwin said. “I had been game-planning that guy in the end zone the whole time.”
Sansbury called Godwin the MVP of the game for his play on the both sides of the ball. In addition to his first interception of the season, he made six receptions for 84 yards.
“We’d had some issues with their deep outs, so Ben got a little more action than usual tonight,” he said. “He’s tall and they have some tall receivers. I’ll tell you, that interception was the game-changing play. They could have gone up 10 there and made it really difficult for us the way the defenses were playing.”
While UA’s stout defense limited Liberty to just 62 rushing yards on 28 attempts, Leonard rebounded in the second half to finish 18 of 28 for 217 yards with two TDs and an interception. He also rushed for 32 yards.
Geno Saccoccia redeems himself after a failed fake punt by evading two defenders and stretching the ball across the goal line for the go-ahead score late in the 4th.
Cox completed 21 of 31 passes for a career-high 278 yards, and the Michigan State-bound Thrush recorded two sacks and four tackles for loss in addition to his rare TD catch to pace Upper Arlington.
“They just made one more play than us,” Golden Bears coach Justin Buttermore said. “I loved the fight in our guys. We really battled. But their guys made some plays on the last drive, and you’ve got to credit them for that. I think back to the pick in the end zone being the difference. That changed things dramatically.”
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