South Central outlasts Willard in shootout

WILLARD — Corey Fickiesen said he felt exhausted. His South Central football team probably felt the same way, but coming out of a game that had over 1,000 yards of offense and 73 points scored in the first half made waking up the next day feel a little easier. Both offenses slowed down tremendously in the second half and it was Brandon Mitchell's three-yard touchdown run with 15 seconds left that lifted the Trojans over Willard, 44-43, in non-league action on Friday. "Give Willard a lot of credit," Fickiesen said. "Their skilled kids played well. They are athletic kids. Then, they had a couple other kids step up. In the first half, we weren't good defensively, but that was a testament to them. We looked really tired at times and we blew a couple coverages early to give them some momentum early." After a wild first half, South Central (1-0) led 38-35 at halftime. Fickiesen said the frantic pace and offenses that traded heavyweight blows for 24 minutes was really the reason for the slowdown in the second half. On a warm August night, chasing defenders across the field or blocking for big pass plays wore both teams down. The Crimson Flashes regained the lead in the third quarter when Austin Parsons scored on a 80-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Robinson. Willard went for the two-point conversion and Carson Wiers caught the pass from Robinson for a 43-38 lead with 7:05 left in the quarter. That scored remained until the final minute of the game. Mitchell, a senior quarterback, led South Central down the field and scored late to push the Trojans back ahead. SC went for 2, but the pass failed and South Central was whistled for a 15-yard penalty on the play and that was assessed on the kickoff. Willard got down to the SC 18 with three seconds left and tried a 35-yard field goal for the win, but it was wide left, giving the Trojans the win. "In the second half, we made some adjustments and tried to slow the pace of the game down," Fickiesen said. "To be honest, both teams were struggling. There were so many plays in the game. Both teams stretched the field and played sideline to sideline. Both sides were really tired." There was plenty of scoring in the first half. The Flashes opened it with a nine-yard TD pass from Robinson to Carson Cinniger. The extra point was blocked, but Willard led 6-0 less than 90 seconds in. South Central answered when Mitchell ran in a 15-yard score and Hagen Adams' PAT gave the Trojans a 7-6 edge. Adams added a 30-yard field goal to make it 10-6 with 3:05 remaining in the first quarter, but that's when it got wild and crazy. Cam Robinson scored on a 55-yard touchdown throw from Isaac Robinson to give Willard a 12-10 advantage. The Trojans struck back after Blair was on the receiving end of a 11-yard TD pass from Mitchell. Adams' extra point made it 17-12, but the Flashes answered with a 69-yard scamper by Hamons on the last play of the quarter. Parsons caught the two-point conversion and after a wild 12 minutes, Willard led 20-17. The back-and-forth action continued as Adams caught a 15-yard touchdown pass for a 24-20 lead. It took the Flashes less than 90 seconds to answer as Cam Robinson scored on a 26-yard pass from Cam Robinson. Blair caught 27- and 22-yard TD passes from Mitchell to seize a 38-35 advantage at halftime. "It was a gutsy performance by Brandon, but that's what's expected from a senior leader with the game on his shoulders," Fickiesen said. "Hagen Adams and Isaac Blair both made some tremendous catches. Eric Sanders had some nice catches for us too." Isaac Robinson completed 17-of-23 passes for 364 yards for Willard. The Flashes finished with 539 yards of offense. Fickiesen likened the game to a 47-46 loss South Central had last season against Monoreville. "As a coach and just personally, you take something from each game and learn from it," Fickiesen said. "We remembered how to control the game from that loss last year. There's different situations, but you have that in your mind. Subconsciously, you have the Monroeville loss in your mind, but that experience was helpful here." Mitchell completed 31-of-42 passes for 316 yards while running 26 times for 87 yards. Adams caught 13 passes for 137 yards while Blair had 13 catches for 118 yards. "It was an emotional game," Fickiesen said. "We are happy we won, but not happy with the performance. Between Week 1 and Week 2 is generally where you see the most improvement. For us, it has to be. We have to be a lot better defensively." South Central will host Galion Northmor next week, while the Flashes entertain Plymouth. S. Central 17 21 0 6 — 44 Willard 20 15 8 0 — 43 Scoring First quarter W — Carson Cinniger 9 pass from Isaac Robinson (kick failed) SC — Brandon Mitchell 15 run (Hagen Adams kick) SC — Adams 30 field goal W — Cam Robinson 55 pass from I. Robinson (run failed) SC — Isaac Blair 11 pass from Mitchell (Adams kick) W — Carson Hamons 69 run (Parsons pass from I. Robinson) Second quarter SC — Adams 15 pass from Mitchell (Adams kick) W — C. Robinson 26 pass from I. Robinson (Hamons pass from I. Robinson) SC — Blair 27 pass from Mitchell (Adams kick) W — C. Robinson 1 run (Luis Antonio kick) SC — Blair 12 pass from Mitchell (Adams kick) Third quarter W — Parsons 80 pass from I. Robinson (Carson Wiers pass from I. Robinson) Fourth quarter SC - Mitchell 3 run (pass failed) TEAM STATISTICS SC W First downs 25 12 Rushes-yards 43-147 21-175 Passing 316 364 Comp./Att./Int. 31-42-1 17-23-1 Total yards 463 539 Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1 Penalties-yards 7-58 4-27 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — (SC) Brandon Mitchell 26-87, Aaron Hauler 12-43, Brandon Smith 5-17. (W) Carson Hamons 4-85, Cam Robinson 5-53, Austin Parsons 8-37, Isaac Robinson 4-0. Passing — (SC) Mitchell 31-42-1-316. (W) I. Robinson 17-23-1-364. Receiving — (SC) Hagen Adams 13-137, Isaac Blair 13-118, Eric Sanders 3-48, Gunner Ray 2-13. (W) Carson Cinniger 6-133, C. Robinson 5-93, Parsons 3-113, Hamons 2-20, Levi Schag 1-5.