The Buckeyes showed fight staring down an 18-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter, but it was not enough as Nelsonville-York fell to Portsmouth West 18-12 Friday night.
Similar to last week’s bout against conference-foe Athens, Nelsonville-York faced an almost insurmountable lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The game started as a typical rough-and-tough-style playoff battle as the only score of the first half was a 30-yard pass from Portsmouth West quarterback Levi Ratliff to running back Adam Bricker for the Senators’ lone touchdown toss of the game.
“We knew we were coming to play a pretty good football team and we knew it was going to be pretty physical,” Portsmouth West coach Bob Shaffer said. “It’s just one of those where we made some mistakes but the kids came out with intensity.”
Mistakes and the lack of capitalizing on those mistakes was perhaps the storyline for both teams in the game.
After scoring their first touchdown of the game with 7:42 left to go in the fourth quarter, Nelsonville-York recovered an onside kick, however when Buckeye receiver Austin North fumbled the ball on a short pass from Nathan Dean in the midst of the Nelsonville-York’s rally, the Buckeyes lost all their momentum.
While the chances were slim for a comeback at that point, the Buckeyes did not give up. Austin North would soon atone for his costly fumble with touchdown grab of his own to bring Nelsonville-York to within a touchdown of the Senators. But that would be their last score of the game.
Portsmouth West was able to end any late chance of a Nelsonville-York comeback with a sustained running attack that topped the 200-yard mark on the night and a defensive strategy that derailed the Buckeyes’ plans offensively.
“We had to change up our defenses a little bit,” said Shaffer. “We weren’t getting our drops where we needed to so we changed up to kind of sure-up some lanes.”
Unlike most contests during the regular season, Nelsonville-York had to scrap the running attack heading into the latter portion of the game, forcing quarterback Nathan Dean to attempt almost 40 passes. Nelsonville-York’s predictable offense perhaps led to Dean’s four interceptions on the night.
Portsmouth West had no problems running the ball as the Senators carried it 61 times as a team for 205 yards and two touchdowns. They were able to control the line and perhaps more importantly, the clock.
“We’ve got two halfbacks that are pretty good halfbacks that average us eight yards a carry but down inside, we have a pretty experienced interior line and so we were able to run our base offense essentially and work from there,” Shaffer said.
Nelsonville-York ends the season losing two straight with an early exit from the playoffs for the second straight year. Nelsonville-York coach Dave Boston was unavailable for comment after the game.
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