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Local Sports

Monday, November 23, 2009

Division VI Football: St. John's rallies past Ada in OT
Interstate Court Plaza - Findlay - I-75 Exit #159
By JAMIE BAKER

Staff Writer

Delphos St. John's opened up a hole big enough for a truck to drive through on the Blue Jays' first play of overtime Saturday night at Donnell Stadium.

Junior tailback Jordan Leininger dashed through it.

Quarterback Wes Ulm crashed into the end zone from 1 yard out on the next play to lift St. John's past Ada 34-31 in overtime in front of an estimated 4,500 fans at Donnell Stadium.

The win gives the Blue Jays (13-0), the defending Division VI state champions, the Region 22 title and propels them into next week's state semifinals at Wapakoneta against Marion Local (8-5).

Ada, which was playing in the regional final for the third straight year, completed its season with a 12-1 record.

"We hung with the state champs. I thought we had the state champs. You can say what you want about the Ada Bulldogs; they played their butt off," Ada coach Mike Fell said.

"We did everything we possibly could. We sold out and left it all out on the field."

Ada do-it-all quarterback Heath Jackson ran for 2 yards on the first play of the Bulldogs' overtime possession.

After back-to-back incomplete passes, Austin Everhart booted a 35-yard field goal to give Ada a 31-28 lead.

That set the stage for St. John's two-play overtime touchdown drive that gave the Blue Jays their only lead of the night.

"We did a lot of things that went against us for three and a half quarters. It didn't seem like we could get into the flow of the game," St. John's coach Todd Schulte said. "There were penalties, we put the ball on the ground way too much.

"I'm proud that we were able to fight through it, hang with it and we were able to win in overtime."

Ada had the golden touch in the first quarter.

Jackson, who was 10-of-23 passing for 217 yards with a pair of touchdowns and an interception, marched Ada 72 yards on six plays for a score on its opening possession. He hit Konnor Baker, who starred on both sides of the ball, with a 16-yard TD strike.

St. John's answered with an 8-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a 7-yard run by Leininger.

Ada took charge with a pair of scores in just 14 seconds.

Jackson sprinted into the end zone from 3 yards out with 5:13 left in the first quarter. The run was set up by a 60-yard strike to Matt McBride.

Ada's Alex Weber pounced on a botched pitch out on the 1-yard line on St. John's next play from scrimmage. Jackson took the ball into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to push the Bulldogs' lead to 21-7 with 4:59 left in the first frame.

"Our thing coming in was we wanted to keep our offense on the field," Schulte said. "They were keeping their offense on the field and we were struggling to get our offense back out there.

"We were still confident in our defense. We just needed to do some things and make some tackles. We knew Heath Jackson was going to get his yards."

The Blue Jays managed to claw their way back.

Leininger broke free for a 15-yard TD run and Steven Metcalfe scored on a 25-yard shovel pass from Ulm. St. John's tried a direct snap to Mitchell MacLennan that failed on the PAT, leaving Ada with a 21-20 halftime lead.

Ada went ahead 28-20 with 2:09 left in the third quarter when Jackson found Baker for a 9-yard touchdown pass. That score capped an impressive 17-play, 72-yard drive that was helped by a St. John's roughing the kicker penalty.

The Blue Jays finally strung enough offense together to get on the board in the second half.

St. John's ran the ball seven straight times to the Ada 44. Leininger took a pitch from Ulm, tip-toed the sidelines, beat Jackson with a cut-back and rolled into the end zone for a 44-yard run. The Blue Jays lined up in the power-I on the PAT as Leininger bulled his way in to tie the game at 28-28 with 4:13 left.

"Our kids would execute two or three plays in a row and then misexecute," Schulte said. "Finally, we were able to string some plays together and come through."

The Blue Jays held Jackson to 35 yards on 28 carries. Tyler Simmons rushed for 52 yards on 11 carries.

St. John's, meanwhile, finished with 356 yards rushing. Leininger led the way with 124 yards on 16 carries. Ulm added 120 yards on 29 carries and MacLennan added 112 yards on 10 totes.



Ada 21 0 7 0 3 -- 31

Delphos St. John's 7 13 0 8 6 -- 34

First Quarter

Ada -- Baker 16 pass from Jackson (Everhart kick)

DSJ -- Leininger 7 run (Rode kick)

Ada -- Jackson 3 run (Everhart kick)

Ada -- Jackson 1 run (Everhart kick)

Second Quarter

DSJ -- Leininger 15 run (Rode kick)

DSJ -- Metcalfe 25 pass from Ulm (run failed)

Third Quarter

Ada -- Baker 9 pass from Jackson (Everhart kick)

Fourth Quarter

DSJ -- Leininger 44 run (Leininger run)

Overtime

Ada -- FG Everhart 35

DSJ -- Ulm 1 run (no attempt)

Ada DSJ

First Downs 17 19

Rushes-yards 40-89 55-356

Passing Yards 217 25

Comp-Att-Int 10-23-1 1-7-1

Punts-Avg. 4-33.5 2-24.0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1

Penalties-Yards 4-25 5-45

individual statistics

rushing -- Ada, Simmons 11-52, Jackson 28-35, Decker 1-2. Delphos St. John's, Leininger 16-124, Ulm 29-120, MacLennan 10-112.

passing -- Ada, Jackson 10-23-1-217. Delphos St. John's, Ulm 1-7-1-25.

receiving -- Ada, Baker 5-72, Weber 3-75, McBride 2-70. Delphos St. John's, Metcalfe 1-25.

Baker: 419-422-8409,

Send an e-mail to Jamie Baker


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