St. Paul comes up just short at JFK

WARREN — St. Paul found itself in a position to win.After struggling to stop a tough Warren John F. Kennedy offense for a majority of the game, the Flyers got two huge late stops, but did not have enough offense to come all the way back.St. Paul turned the ball over on downs with a minute to play while driving, falling to the Eagles, 27-21, in a Division VII region 25 quarterfinal at Mollenkopf Stadium on Friday.The Eagles (6-2) — ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press state poll — are the top seed in the region and advanced to host No. 4 Dalton (6-2) in a regional semifinal next Firday."JFK did a great job of possessing the ball in the first half," St. Paul coach John Livengood said. "We could not get them off the field. In the second half, we put together some good drives and we got a couple of good stops."The Flyers — ranked No. 9 in the AP poll and the No. 8 seed in the region — fell to 6-2, but have one Firelands Conference game remaining against Ashland Mapleton (4-5) that Livengood plans to play. The game is tentatively slated for 7 p.m. Saturday at Contractors Stadium at the Warren C. Whitney Complex in Norwalk. It's one more chance for the seniors to play after a wild 2020 season."We are planning on playing Mapleton. We feel an obligation to do what the conference athletic directors and principals have suggested we do," Livengood said. "We were hoping it would not be an option for us because we were hoping to win tonight. The commitment that everybody made was that if you were knocked out of the playoffs before the weekend of October 30th, you would try to play that last conference game."With 2:35 remaining, St. Paul got its second consecutive big defensive stop, sacking JFK (6-3) quarterback Cam Hollobaugh for a nine-yard loss and forcing the Eagles to punt.The Flyers took over at their own 31. Quarterback Myron Stoll was sacked for a loss before throwing an incomplete pass. An 11-yard pass to Adam Baker brought up 4th-and-1. St. Paul converted on a run by Camden Crabbs to the 41. Stoll then hit Baker for a five-yard pickup before being sacked again. Back-to-back incomplete passes from the St. Paul 44 ended the drive and the Flyers' season."First, let me say what a great team JFK is," Livengood said. "I have never been prouder of a group of kids like mine. Their effort was relentless. They played as hard as they could."St. Paul found itself in a 13-0 halftime deficit, but opened the second half with the ball. The Flyers, knowing they needed a big drive, cashed in. Crabbs went up the middle for 12 yards to start the half. Crabbs then picked up four yards, but a face mask penalty tacked on 15 yards. Crabbs and Steiber took turns attacking the Eagles before Steiber exploded up the middle for a 10-yard score. Tyler Perkins added the extra point with 9:41 left in the third quarter."We felt confident that we could run the ball, even in the first half," Livengood said. "We just were not able to string things together. We were playing well and playing hard defensively in the first half. JFK had to fight for every yard they got."JFK, like it did most of the night, responded in a big way with its rushing game and clock control. The Eagles went 59 yards in 10 plays, chewing up 5:15 off the clock before a nine-yard run by John Bruce pushed the lead back to 20-7.St. Paul went three-and-out on its next drive, but Perkins' punt pinned the Eagles deep. JFK got a first down, but a big sack by the Flyers on the first play of the fourth quarter gave St. Paul new life."We were able to put them in long yardage situations and we were able to step up and get the stops," Livengood said. "Our defense has played great all year and they played great again tonight."The Flyers went back to their running game, as Crabbs carried the ball nine time on the 10-play drive, finishing it off when he punched it in from two yards out with 6:54 left.The Eagles answered as Hollobaugh ran a stretch play to the right, then cut back through the defense and was off to the races for a 50-yard score.St. Paul answered immediately. Stoll ran a play-action pass to Baker, who went untouched into the end zone for a 60-yard score with 4:18 left."When they went back up two scores, we knew we had to score quick," Livengood said. "Their corner (Jesse Likens) was doing a good job. He is a heck of an athlete. We thought we had a chance to get behind him."Likens — an NCAA Div. I Air Force commit — had touchdown runs of three and 13 yards in the first half."In the first half, I think we were a little bit shy and we did not have enough confidence in ourselves," Livengood said. "After that first quarter, we started to gain some confidence."Hollobaugh ran 26 times for 172 yards on the night. St. Paul 0 0 7 14 — 21Warren JFK 0 13 7 7 — 27ScoringJFK — Jesse Likens 3 run (kick failed)JFK — Likens 13 run (Sharosh Sheth kick)STP — Will Stieber 10 run (Nate Perkins kick)JFK — John Bruce 9 run (Sheth kick)STP — Camden Crabbs 2 run (Perkins kick)JFK — Cam Hallobaugh 50 run (Sheth kick)STP — Adam Baker 60 pass from Myron Stoll (Perkins kick)