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| St. Teresa's Brannan Taylor makes a reception in the second quarter of Friday's game at Sullivan. |
Oct. 03, 2014 10:20 pm
SULLIVAN – In a battle for first place of the Central Illinois Conference, it came down to the final seconds. St. Teresa pulled out a 20-17 football win over Sullivan-Okaw Valley on Sullivan’s homecoming Friday night.
The Bulldogs scored with just 17.2 seconds left when Ryan Fyke hooked up with Patrick Althoff for an 11-yard touchdown pass. The play occurred after Fyke suffered a loss of 2, but an illegal motion penalty stopped the clock with 21 seconds left as the Bulldogs were out of timeouts.
"It just just came down to us making plays and us executing," said St. Teresa coach Tim Brilley. "I am so proud of our guys. We don't play that type of football (passing to the flats mainly). We are a smashmouth team, but we have the weapons on the field and can throw it when we need to.
"Obviously the situation called for us throwing the ball and put together a good two-minute drill. We made plays when we had to. I can't say enough about Patrick Althoff. he had a huge interception and the touchdown there. You have to go to guys you trust in game situations like that."
The loss was the first of the season for Sullivan (5-1, 3-1).
“Our kids battled their rear ends off and unfortunately we came up short,” said Sullivan coach Gerald Temples. “We had opportunities and both teams battled the whole way through. Our defense stopped them when we had to except for at the very end.
"Offensively we had good field position and didn’t get it in on a couple of occasion. When you are playing another team sometimes it comes back to haunt you."
Sullivan led 17-6 after Dylan Hart’s 35-yard field goal with 8:46 left in the third quarter. On its next possession, Althoff intercepted a Redskins pass and returned it 32 yards to set up a 5-yard run by C.J. Stuart. Chanley Heykoop knocked down the two-point conversion pass attempt leaving the Redskins ahead by five.
On the ensuing drive, Sullivan marched from its own 9 to the Bulldog 22, but St. Teresa stopped a fourth-down and 6 to end the threat.
The Bulldogs took over on its own 11-yard line and went to the air, moving the ball 89 yards on 15 plays.
Nick Frerichs finished with 27 carries and 154 yards and threw for 81, while Fyke was 11-of-22 for 113 yards and a touchdown. He was 8-of-10 in the final quarter for 79 yards.
The first quarter saw the Redskins outgain the Bulldgos 154-95. The second quarter saw the defenses take over as the two teams combined for 71 yards.
"We killed ourselves with penalties early," said Brilley. "We had a lot of drive-killing penalties. I think we settled down defensively after the first quarter. We missed a tackle on the 68-yard pass play. I think teams are going to have a tough time driving the entire field on us if we just settle down and don't give up the big plays."
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