Third quarter breakdowns cost Tigers

The 12-minute span of penalties, bad luck and miscues, along with tough play by the Washington Blue Lions, changed the composure of the South Central Ohio League game at Gardner Park in Washington C.H. 

McClain led 20-12 against the undefeated, Division III state-ranked Blue Lions at the half. 

The Blue Lions defeated the Tigers, 40-20 Friday, for their homecoming win. 

"The third quarter got away from us, and it hurt us pretty bad," McClain head coach Randy Closson said. "We had some silly penalties, weren't in the right position on offense, and had some turnovers. We can't play like that and expect to beat a good team." 

The downward spiral of the Tigers began on the second play of the third quarter with a pass by Camron Cooper being intercepted by Washington senior Arthur Chijevsky near the McClain 40-yard line. The interception occurred after the target of Cooper slipped, and Chijevsky took the ball to the 21-yard line. 

Cooper finished 7 of 22 for 134 yards. He also rushed for a team-high 50 yards. In the first half, Cooper was 4 of 9 for 102 yards passing. 

"Give Greenfield credit, Coach Closson had them ready to play," Washington head coach Corey Dye said. "They had some big plays in the first half. It wasn't that our defense was playing wrong, but in the second half, our kids just went and made plays." 

Washington scored on the turnover seven plays later with a 1-yard run by Ben Parks for the touchdown. A 2-point conversion run by Patrick Wilson tied the game at 20. 

"They (Washington) were very physical up front," Closson said. "They played smash-mouth football, and hats off to them for staying composed in the second half." 

Then it got worse for McClain (1-2, 4-2) on their next possession. 

Washington forced a three-and-out, and the special teams wasn't so special for MHS. 

A high snap over the punter's head ended up giving the Blue Lions the ball on the MHS 5-yard line with 6:09 left in the third. 

It took one play for Washington to take away the lead … for good. 

On first-and-goal on the 5-yard line, Parks pounded his way into the end zone for six points, taking three seconds off the clock. Luke Mesker kicked the PAT through the uprights for a 27-20 Washington lead. 

Parks led all rushers with 192 yards (110, first half) on 31 carries. He averaged 6.2 yards per carry and unofficially has 980 yards this season. 

It looked as though the Tigers were on their way to tying the game on the ensuing kickoff. 

Brandon Darlington used his blocking on the kickoff return to a tee, rushing the ball down the McClain sideline all the way to the 2-yard line. 

But it didn't count in the stat book. In fact, it never happened, with a illegal block in the back called by the officials nullifying the return, taking the ball all the way back to the Tiger 19-yard line. 

It didn't get much better for McClain after that. 

On their first play from scrimmage, MHS lost five yards with another flag. 

The Tigers were forced to punt the ball, but Washington's fourth 15-yard penalty gave MHS an automatic first down. 

It didn't matter, because the penalty bug bit the Tigers as well. On first-and-10 on the Washington 47-yard line Dillon East took the ball for a first down, but again, the big momentum push was lost due to another block in the back penalty. 

McClain fought to get the ball to the Blue Lion 29-yard line but suffered a turnover on downs. 

Ten plays later, the Blue Lions were in the end zone, again.  

With the fourth quarter under way, Parks rushed for a 26-yard score with 4:19 left. Parks' run was straight up the middle, and he went into the end zone by spinning away from a tackle attempt near the end zone. The PAT made the score 34-20. 

"Our inexperience showed," Closson said. "Our guys aren't used to playing in big pressure games, and it got to us. We were lining up wrong, and we are still growing up quite a bit." 

The final Blue Lion score came with Chijevsky grabbing his second interception, taking this one 26 yards to pay dirt. MHS blocked the PAT for a 20-point Blue Lion lead. 

"I'm proud of our kids by the way they played in the second half," Dye said. "We just told the kids to make plays in the second half, and they did. 

"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first half." 

In that first half, the Blue Lions had seven flags, totaling 65 yards, including three 15-yard penalties. 

"We did not play smart football in the first half," Dye said. 

The first half played by the Tigers was the polar opposite of what happened in the second half. 

In the first 24 minutes played, McClain scored 20 points, battling back from trailing 12-0 with 11:05 remaining in the second quarter. 

The Tigers scored their first touchdown on a three-play, 74-yard drive, ending with Zach Matracia taking the ball on a 70-yard journey for six points. Matracia took the pass by Cooper straight up the middle, untouched for the score. 

"(Zach) Matracia is a beast," Dye said. "Not many players his size have that type of speed. (Zach) Uhl also had a nice play for a touchdown against us." 

The Tigers scored on their next possession with Cooper rushing the ball 13 yards of the TD on a quarterback keeper.  

The drive had one strange moment with the play being whistled dead earlier than it should have been. The play had the potential of being a big-time play for MHS, but it wasn't meant to be. 

MHS chose to replay the down, and Cooper rushed for 11 yards. After another 15-yard flag on Washington, Cooper carried the ball 12 yards with two Blue Lions on his back. Cooper scored on the aforementioned TD run with 4:54 left in the half. 

The final TD of the first half was a pass by Cooper to Uhl near the 4-yard line, with Uhl breaking the tackle, turning and diving into the end zone. Cooper ran for the 2-point conversion. MHS led 20-12. 

The two Blue Lions scores in the first half came on a 25-yard pass by Farmer to Wilson in the back of the end zone. Farmer's pass was an off-balanced pass while under heavy pressure on the run. Farmer finished 3 of 8 for 85 yards passing. 

The second Washington TD came with Riley Shaw powering his way 54 yards off a pass by Farmer to pay dirt. Shaw broke three tackles for the score with 11:05 left in the second. 

Dye said his team is exactly where they want to be after six weeks. 

"Being 6-0 means we've met all our goals up to this point," he said. "We have a tough road ahead and have to get ready for a great Jonathan Alder team next week." 

The Tigers will host the 6-0 (3-0) Clinton-Massie Falcons next week on Senior Night. After next week, the Tigers will play their final three games on the road. 

GAME NOTES: In their previous two meetings, the Tigers defeated the Blue Lions by scores of 29-22 ('08) and 34-26 ('09) … Last week, Parks rushed for 270 yards against Hillsboro … Last season, Matracia had 16 carries for 99 yards against the Blue Lions at McClain Field (On Friday, Matracia was held to 25 yards on 13 carries) … One year ago against MHS, Parks rushed for 133 yards on 25 carries … The Blue Lions and McClain Tigers have been playing for 106 years … Shaw gained 93 total yards on offense with 39 yards rushing … Jared Loftis had 20 yards rushing on six carries … Clayton Burgess had one rush for 15 yards … Mesker had seven kickoffs for 292 yards (41.7 average kickoff).