Spring Hill defenders meet at the quarterback to seal their 18-14 victory seconds before time runs out in the fourth quarter.
In a hard-fought game that featured six fumbles, Spring Hill got an 18-14 home victory over a Subiaco team that kept up its effort to the end, finally taking a sack as time ran out.
Spring Hill (2-0) Coach Greg Smith said the difference in the game was his defense which often tackled runners in the backfield, allowing few significant runs and kept Subiaco (0-1) quarterback Nick Gehrig under threat of a sack in most passing plays. “When you play physical like that, it takes it out on people,” Smith said.
Spring Hill’s offense started the first quarter in a scoring mood, finding the endzone first on a quarterback keeper for Levin McGuire from the Subiaco four yard line, then scoring again on a short run by Teyton Barton. Two conversion attempts on these were unsuccessful.
The second quarter saw Spring Hill lose its first fumble to Subiaco. The Trojans would take advantage of good field position with Gehrig completing a touchdown pass. The conversion was no good.
In the next drive, two plays after recovering its own fumble, Levin McGuire made a gorgeous pass to Cade Watson on a play that went 70 yards for the Bears third touchdown of the half. With the conversion attempt no good, Spring Hill led 18-6.
An exchange of interceptions at about the eight-minute mark of the second quarter took place, with Teyton Barton picking off Gehrig midfield and in the very next play Anthony Gehrig intercepting Levin McGuire. Neither interception yielded return yardage and Subiaco’s ensuing drive was stopped by a fourth and two sack by Teyton Barton.
But as the first half was running down to its last two minutes, Subiaco was the beneficiary of a Spring Hill penalty, two long Nick Gehrig runs and three good passes to then score on a one-yard Gehrig keeper to make the score 18-12, then with another Gehrig run for the conversion, 18-14.
The second half saw no scoring, as three more fumbles occurred, two of them resulting in loss of possession, first for Spring Hill and then for Subiaco.
In the last minutes of the game, Spring Hill drained the clock with a succession of short running plays, finally turning the ball over on downs at about Subiaco’s 20 yard line.
This left Subiaco with 17 seconds to advance down the field to possibly win with a touchdown. After running for about 12 yards on a first-down play, Gehrig was sacked by multiple Bears on the subsequent play and time ran out before Subiaco could get to the line again.