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Another thriller in Shawnee-Catholic Central rivalry
Shawnee coach Rick Meeks looked exhausted after his team’s 20-14 victory over Catholic Central at Hallinean Field on Friday.
“It was a great battle between two good teams,” Meeks said. “It was sloppy. We didn’t play well, and I don’t think they played their best game, either.”
In the first half, Shawnee fumbled twice in the red zone. The Irish countered with a 12-yard TD pass from Brian Kelly to Dimitrious Dimitroff in the first quarter.
“You have to give them credit for stripping the ball,” Meeks said. “If we stop making mistakes, we can be a good team. We’ve got plenty to work on. When we watch films tomorrow, they’ll be plenty to work on and get upset about.”
Shawnee tied the game with three minutes remanining in the first half on a nice 59-yard screen pass from Brad Jarzab to Alex McCrory, who zigged-zagged through the Irish defense.
The Irish got the ball to start the second half, and drove the ball down the field, shaving 10 minutes off the clock. A 53-yard TD pass from Brian Kelly to Mitchell Grimone was called back for a block in the back, and the Irish attempted a 36-yard field goal try, but Taylor Gannon’s attempt missed wide right. The Irish had five penalties on that drive alone (more on that later).
To start the fourth quarter, Jarzab rushed for a 40-yard TD to give Shawnee a 14-7 lead. Three plays later, a fumble by Brian Kelly gave Shawnee the ball on the Irish 37. On fourth-and-8 from the 35, Jarzab hit Nick Hines, who had five catches for 121 yards, in the end zone to make it 20-7.
“Brad’s a player,” Meeks said. “He’s much more comfortable this season. At the beginning of last season, his first season starting, he was a little jittery. After the playoff games and the league last year, he’s ready to play. Nothing really rattles him anymore. Good players make plays at big times.”
The Braves tried their best to milk the clock in the fourth quarter, but the Irish kept their comeback hopes alive by making stops. With 2:43 remaining, Kelly hit Ryan Weeks on a short pass, and Weeks shrugged off two Braves defenders, running 52 yards to bring the Irish with six.
Kelly then attempted an onside kick, but it failed. The Irish were able to get the ball back, thanks in part to a penalty on Shawnee for offsides, but with :50 remaining, Kelly’s pass was intercepted by Shawnee’s Jordan Huggins.
Catholic Central coach Steve DeWitt said his team needs to improve both on the offensive and defensive fronts.
“It’s not the mechanics of the thing, but the believing of the thing,” DeWitt said. “My biggest disappointment at this moment is the believing in the things. We’ve had too many times where we’ve been able to come back in ball games throughout the history of the program. I’m not sure they understood that, so I’m going to make sure they understand that before we leave tonight.
“We’ve got to go back and process who we want to be and what we’ve got to accomplish,” DeWitt said. “Scheme-wise, we were on, we just made some mistakes that were costly.”
Meeks was also disappointed in what he felt was poor officiating. The teams combined for 26 penalties worth 240 yards.
“The officials were terrible,” Meeks said. “They tried to take control of the game. I heard before the game these guys were notorious flag throwers. Some of the calls they were making I’d never even heard of, but both sides had to deal with it. They’re known as flag throwers, and they lived up to their billing tonight.”
A big turning point in the game was when Dimitroff went down in the third quarter with a sprained right ankle. He had five catches for 95 yards and a TD in the first half alone. He and Brian Kelly combined for several backyard football plays when Kelly got flushed from the pocket.
“(Dimitroff) is probably going to be upset with me, but we were erring on the side of caution,” DeWitt said. “We don’t want to be without him the rest of the year.”
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