LOUDONVILLE – A few yards stood between Loudonville and a path to the postseason Friday night inside Redbird Stadium.
But Fredericktown and emergent running back Cash Parker – themselves looking for a foothold toward a playoff spot – blocked the way in one of north central Ohio’s best games of the season.
Parker ran for four touchdowns and the Freddies locked in a 35-34 overtime win, as Loudonville’s 2-point pass attempt into the right corner of the end zone fell incomplete.
Video by Doug Haidet
“Our conversation was going 1-0 this week against a darn well-coached Loudonville team,” Fredericktown coach Scott Spitler said. “We were kind of their Super Bowl computer points-wise, so we knew we were gonna get their best shot. They gave us everything and then some.”
“I told them there’s nothing to hang their head about,” Loudonville coach Keith Lemke said. “I doubt a lot of people had us in this type of game against (Fredericktown), but that’s what we hang our hat on; we’re scrappers and we’re gonna stay around late and have a shot to win at the end.”
The outcome created a domino effect of computer points with massive implications for both teams.
According to the projection website fantastic50.net, the Redbirds (3-5, 1-4 Knox Morrow Athletic Conference) had an 85 percent chance to make the playoffs with a win over the Freddies (6-2, 4-1) and either Cardington (0-8, 0-5) or Northmor (1-7, 1-4) in their final two games.
Fredericktown, meanwhile, is essentially guaranteed a spot now if it can win one of its last two against either East Knox (5-3, 2-3) or Centerburg (6-2, 5-0).
Neither team had a lead bigger than seven points Friday at Redbird Stadium, as the game was tied at three different junctures.
Loudonville star junior Collin Caley lit up the highlight reels at a relentless pace to keep the hosts in the game.
His 80-yard pick-6 of Freddies quarterback Jonny Ashcraft early in the second quarter was the game’s first touchdown.
After Parker (19 carries, 137 yards) scored his second rushing TD of the second quarter, Caley had another instant answer. His 80-yard kickoff return tied it at 14-all with less than a minute to go before halftime after the PAT from Casen McCollough.
Those flashes of brilliance kept the Redbirds in the mix early on a night that Fredericktown proved why it is one of the best rushing teams in the KMAC.
The Freddies ran for 366 yards and five touchdowns on 53 carries, with Ashcraft (13 carries, 102 yards) and freshman Parker Saunders (16-98) adding to Cash Parker’s second consecutive week of stellar play at running back.
“He had almost 200 yards rushing and three scores last week (a 28-18 win over Northmor),” Spitler said of Parker, “so he kind of had his coming-out party in that one.”
Those numbers represented the bulk of Parker’s rushing output this season before Friday night, when he scored all four of Fredericktown’s touchdowns in regulation (carries of 6, 10, 36 and 1 yards).
Parker laughed when asked if “Cash” was his nickname or his given name.
“That’s the real name,” he said. “(On the sideline), they say, ‘Cash money.’ That’s about it.”
“Tonight was the most back-and-forth game we’ve had, no doubt,” Parker added. “… We wanted to take (the playoff opportunity) away from them; we couldn’t let them get in our path.”
Both teams turned in big defensive plays late in the third quarter.
Brock Bryant intercepted Loudonville sophomore quarterback Coltin Caley, but just as it looked like the Freddies were driving for a possible 28-14 lead, Loudonville junior Chayse Wright and freshman Max McCollough made a huge fourth-down stop.
Collin Caley scored from 6 yards out on the eighth play of the ensuing drive, but when the Redbirds missed the PAT kick, the score stood at 21-20 with 9:32 remaining.
It seemed Fredericktown had things clinched after Parker capped a 13-play, 67-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge. Kicker Isaiah Brake hammered through his fourth of five successful PAT kicks there.
That put Loudonville in a 28-20 hole with just 2:54 to go.
But the Redbirds frantically moved the ball downfield, with Coltin Caley (11-of-22, 122 yards passing) connecting with Wright for 23 yards, his brother Collin for another 8 yards, then Wright again for a 15-yard touchdown strike.
Wright finished with five catches for 67 yards and his touchdown came with 49 seconds left in regulation.
Coltin Caley then hit Trenton Gaines for a 2-point pass to tie it at 28-all.
Ashcraft was intercepted by Collin Caley on the first play of the next drive. But the Redbirds’ chance to pull off a stunner was snuffed when Owen Garver and Kamdyn Clutter combined on a sack to send it to OT.
“Too many self-inflicted mistakes with the pick-6 and the special teams score (in the first half),” Spitler said. “But our defense played well, for the most part, the entire game.”
The Freddies needed just two runs in overtime to push ahead, 35-28, when Reese Hannan found paydirt from 6 yards.
Loudonville, which opted to start the overtime on defense, quickly answered. Coltin Caley hit Harrison Ross-Patrick, who made an impressive catch for a 10-yard gain, then found his brother for a 16-yard scoring strike to cut it to 35-34.
The Redbirds threw incomplete on the ensuing 2-point pass play, but Spitler called for a timeout just before the snap, so LHS got a second shot at it.
However, Coltin Caley’s throw into the right corner dropped incomplete and the Fredericktown sideline erupted.
“It was a good play call by them on the last play,” Lemke said. “They had been bringing a lot of pressure up the middle, so we liked (the play) going across, but they switched it up and brought pressure on the edge. We were always going to go for two there; we were trying to get a knockout blow.”
“This game was definitely circled,” he added. “We knew if we won it that it probably put us in the Top 12 (in the region).”
Collin Caley finished with 82 yards on 14 carries and had three catches for 36 yards. He scored four different ways, with touchdowns coming on an interception, kickoff return, run and reception.
Lemke said his junior has been impressive all season, but he was happy with the way the key plays were spread out in the second half for his team, which had been shut out in back-to-back weeks entering Friday.
“Chayse Wright made a big play on that screen to tie it in regulation, and we had a bunch of guys make plays tonight,” the coach said.
“Everybody’s always going to key on the Caley brothers in the backfield, so it was nice to see guys step up.”
Fredericktown, meanwhile, continued to lean on its run game and a gritty defense.
The Freddies are on the doorstep of their seventh consecutive trip to the postseason.
“We have kind of lived that ‘next man up’ mentality all season,” Spitler said. “I’m proud of the guys; we just kept playing the next play and we didn’t panic in certain situations tonight.
“Hats off to Loudonville – it was a war; and the KMAC is a war,” he said. “I’m just glad we came away with a victory.”
The Freddies will be at home in Week 9 when they take on East Knox. Loudonville goes on the road to winless Cardington.
