Traverse City Record-Eagle

2008 Crosstown Showdown

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  • Jan-Michael Stump

    TC CENTRAL VS TC WEST

  • Jan-Michael Stump

    TC CENTRAL VS TC WEST
October 24, 2008

Central stops West's late drive

By MIKE ECKERT

TRAVERSE CITY -- Since the start of organized football in seventh grade, Traverse City Central's senior class had never tasted victory over Traverse City West.

Ray Gidley's tackle on the 2-yard line as the final horn sounded Friday ended that streak.

Gidley dragged Titans quarterback John Purdy to the muddy turf at Thirlby Field, ending West's 90-yard drive in the final 90 seconds for a 21-14 Trojans' win in the Crosstown Showdown.

"You don't even think," Gidley said of the final play. "You just hope to God you get the tackle and get the stop. He came my way and I got low, stayed in my gap and got the tackle."

The loss means West shares the Big North Conference title with Petoskey with 4-1 records. The Titans will head into the playoffs 6-3 overall.

"It's going to be tough," West coach Tim Wooer said. "I'm sick to my stomach and I'm sure all of the kids are too. When we wake up tomorrow, it's going to be like a nightmare."

Central clinched its second straight winning regular season under coach Tom Passinault and finished 3-2 in the Big North. The Trojans are 5-4 overall and have an outside shot at making the playoffs.

"This means more to me than going to the playoffs," said senior linebacker Kyle McLachlan, who played on varsity for three years. "This is what we've worked for the whole time, to go out on varsity with a win against West. And, one of the best things is, we played one of our best games of the year."

"We've worked for this for five years," senior lineman Jake Carra said. "And now we have a chance for the playoffs. We're hopeful. We just have to see how it plays out Sunday."

TC Central jumped out to a 14-0 lead after an efficient first half on offense. The Trojans had a 14-play drive for 66 yards that resulted in quarterback Mack Sovereign's sneak from the 1-foot line for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Later in the second quarter, the Trojans drove 65 yards and capped it with Ben Broad's 9-yard touchdown run for a 14-0 lead.

Central was 7-for-8 on third down in the first half, which Carra said was one of the team's best offensive halves of the season.

"Our drives in the first half were huge," Carra said. "They ate up time and more importantly, we converted. That's how we won the game."

Passinault agreed.

"Way back in August I stressed third down on both offense and defense," he said. "That stat often goes unnoticed. When you're moving the chains instead of punting, that's how you win ball games."

Equally big for the Trojans was Mike Heim's interception in the back of the end-zone with 48 seconds left in the half. The Titans drove the field and had third-and-goal on the 4-yard line when Purdy rolled left and looked for Shane Totten in the end-zone, but Heim took it away.

"That was huge," Heim said. "If they would have scored, momentum would have been on their side going into the locker room."

Central continued to control the game with another long drive to open the third quarter, ending with Sovereign's 33-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Borysiak on a fourth-and 27 situation for a 21-0 lead.

Then West started its comeback.

The Titans picked up three third-downs before Jay Meyers dove in on fourth-and-goal on the 2-yard line for the team's first score of the night.

After West's defense held the Trojans on a three-and-out, Purdy again led the Titans down the field on the first series of the fourth quarter. He found Greg Forrester for a 14-yard touchdown pass and suddenly the lead was cut to 21-14.

Central had two attempts at running out the clock, but had to punt it away both times.

The Titans got the ball on their 7-yard line with 90 seconds to go and one timeout. Passinault said he was nervous giving them a final chance.

"Purdy's a very good quarterback and with (Jon) Flynn they have good weapons," Passinault said. "They're a very good team."

Purdy got the ball to Central's 34 on a 27-yard pass to Totten before spiking the ball to stop the clock with 32 seconds left. After a short pass, Purdy ran up the middle on fourth-and-three, picking up 22 yards and getting to the 5-yard line with 10 seconds to go.

"That was amazing to be in that situation (at the end)," Wooer said. "Big players make big plays in big games. Unfortunately, we didn't get it done on that last play."

Purdy finished 12-for-20 passing for 191 yards. He also ran 12 times for 111 yards. Flynn carried 12 times for 59 while Meyers had eight carries for 30 yards.

Alex Fancy was Central's leading rusher with 15 carries for 57 yards while Broad had five carries for 50 yards. Sovereign was 7-for-10 passing for 98 yards.

Defensively, Brad Gillison had 11 tackles for West, including two for losses. Morgan Tolle added nine tackles while Flynn had a fumble recovery.

Central had eight tackles and a fumble recovery from McLachlan while Max Walker had seven tackles.

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