NEW BETHLEHEM - At this point in the high school football season there are three types of teams playing.
There are the teams that control their own destiny for the playoffs, teams that don't have a prayer and those which require divine intervention. Moniteau falls into the control-their-own-destiny group, while the team the Warriors met, the Redbank Valley Bulldogs, are in hand of God group.
In this battle, a bit of the divine had occurred with the Bulldogs winning 23-16.
Said coach Ed Wasilowski of his team, "We are probably the best 4-3 team around, losing two games by a total of four points. It was a nail-biter to the end."
He was correct.
The Bulldogs defense opened up the game with a 13-yard sack of Warrior quarterback Clay Kohlmeyer and the tone was set for the first half. When the Warriors' were forced to punt three plays later, Moniteau (5-2, 5-1)kicked to Jason Smith trying to elude the ever-dangerous Tyson Truitt. The Bulldogs were prepared for this, reversing the ball to Truitt, who scampered 45 yards to the 12. Three plays later Skyler Smith bulled into the end zone on two of his game-high 121 yards on the night.
The drums from the combined Redbank Valley (4-3, 4-2) and Clarion University bands were pounding a mock Tomahawk Chop poking fun at the Warriors, who were previously undefeated in District IX. Moniteau started the next drive at their 20 and, after stringing together several plays holding onto the ball for six minutes, the Warriors thought they struck paydirt on a 41-yard pass from Kohlmeyer to Eric Hilliard, but looked back only to see the yellow flag of guilt.
Not only was there a offensive pass interference penalty, but there was also an unsportsmanlike conduct flag tacked onto it. The end result was a punt, but not only a punt, a directional punt to avoid the hands of Truitt, which only carried 11 yards.
At this point the crowd was starting to work with the band to make even more noise. The Bulldogs responded with a five-play drive, where the key play was 50-yard dart thrown to Brandon Johnston from Shane Reed. Johnston eventually was rewarded with a 6-yard run for the score.
The crowd knew that the Bulldogs were playing a quality team and that is was too early to celebrate. They were right.
After a 31-yard field goal from Brock Shaffer put the Bulldogs up 16-0, . Moniteau seemed to have a wake up call. With 52 seconds left in the half Moniteau scored on a 7-yard run by Steve Saul. After tacking on a two-point conversion, the scoreboard showed it was now a one-possession game.
The second half was a defensive struggle with drives ending in turnovers of punts throughout the third quarter.
The fourth quarter began like the first did with Redbank scoring on a 24-yard sweep by Bryce Miller. The score was 23-8 and the Warriors changed their philosophy. They suddenly became a high-flying offense, throwing on nine of 10 plays in a scoring drive. Again, the two-point conversion was good and it was again a one-possession game.
It was at this point that the Bulldog band and the crowd realized that their team need a lift. The band led cheers with the crowd and the cheerleaders, but the most amusing thing done to get the crowd more vocal was that one of the Clarion University band members went on to the track and motivated the fans to do a wave repeatedly.
The Warriors started their final drive at their 48-yard line with 3:08 left in the game
"Our kids don't have any quit in them" Moniteau head coach Steve Wilson said.
In stead of staying in its aerial game, Moniteau went to just the opposite. The Warriors climbed onto the back of Saul getting the ball quickly to the 20.
The drums grew louder, the crowd was on their feet and the Warriors with 1:41 left decided to change philosophies to become a passing team, but this time, it didn't work as the Bulldogs defense tightened and held Moniteau off the board.
"We did not want to keep the clock running," Wilson said. "But we were unable to get into the end zone."
And, maybe, the playoffs.
