Vandals take tough loss against G-Ville
Going against the No. 1 offense in the South Central Conference last Friday was a tough enough chore for the Vandalia defense.
Doing it with several injuries and two players – sophomores Ryan Ambuehl and Luke Smith – making their first varsity starts on defense, would seemingly be an impossible mountain to climb.
But that’s just what Vandalia did on senior night, though a happy ending was not to be after Greenville defeated the Vandals, 35-28, in another hard-fought game.
“I want to praise our kids for giving a tremendous effort against a very good football team,” said coach John Stout. “People don’t realize how banged up we were, and to give that kind of effort with kids hurting and two kids starting for the first time on defense, I am more than proud of them.”
The new-look defense was tested early and allowed the Comets (8-1) to jump out to a 14-0 lead just three minutes into the game.
But Vandalia (4-5) slowed down on offense the next possession and got to the endzone with senior Daniel Bell’s first score of the season, a 9-yard reception, on a fourth-down play with 2:37 left in the first quarter, capping off an 11-play, 63-yard drive.
Senior quarterback Marty Johnson threw for 35 yards and junior Levi Ulmer ran for 26 on the methodical drive, but the key play was junior Bryan Hosick’s leaping fourth-down catch two plays before the score.
“Ulmer made a nice run, Marty completed a couple of key passes and we went down and scored to make it 14-7,” Stout said. “We felt like if we could get adjusted to the speed of the game on defense we would be OK, because we were confident we could score again.”
Greenville’s offense continued its torrid pace, however, scoring in six plays on the ensuing drive to bring its first-quarter offensive output to 164 yards and its lead to 21-7.
After the Vandals were forced to punt, the team’s defense was able to slow Greenville down with Bell and sophomore Jeff Lucken teaming up to sack Comet quarterback Brady Huber for a loss of 18 yards, which Hosick followed up with an interception.
Bell then gained 20 of his season-high 99 yards on a third-down play to set up a 5-yard scamper by junior Nate Henna with 7:24 left in the second quarter.
The defense stood strong on Greenville’s next drive, as well, holding the Comets to 8 yards, and on fourth down, stuffing sophomore running back Cameron Walter for no gain at the Comet 43-yard line.
Again, Greenville’s defense quickly forced the Vandals into a fourth-down situation. This time, Henna gained 8 yards on a screen pass for the first down that led to a 23-yard strike from Johnson to Bell that tied the game at 21.
The Comets added a fourth score just before halftime, but on Vandalia’s second possession of the third quarter, it pieced together a 70-yard drive that was capped off by a 9-yard Johnson rush to knot the game at 28.
Greenville and Vandalia then traded punts and turnovers on the next four drives.
To start the fourth quarter, Greenville had the ball at Vandalia’s 35-yard line, but a sack by Ulmer and a pass deflection by Ambuehl forced the Comets to punt.
“Our plan was to make them run the ball to beat us,” Stout said. “Lucken and Ulmer got heat on the quarterback all night, and our secondary did a good job of covering.”
Converting on three straight third downs, the Vandals then drove the ball to the Greenville 37-yard line. But after an offensive pass interference penalty and a sack set the Vandals back 26 yards, the momentum shifted.
After a Vandalia punt, Walter carried the ball 73 yards for a score on second down, but the Vandal offense was left with 4:26 of game clock.
Penalties marred the ensuing drive, however, with five flags thrown on 12 plays, three of which went against Vandalia.
Eventually, the Vandals found themselves in yet another fourth-down situation, and Henna again bailed out the team with a 12-yard gain to the Greenville 31-yard line.
But those would be the last yards of the season for the Vandals, as Greenville, two plays later, would intercept a pass with a minute left in the game and run out the clock.
“Overall, a very disappointing loss for us,” Stout said, “but we couldn’t have asked for more from our kids.
“Our kids are winners.”
Had the Vandals scored, Stout had already made up his mind that he would have gone for a 2-point conversion to try to win and advance to the playoffs.
“We would have faked the PAT,” Stout said. “We saw it on the third touchdown we scored that the way they aligned, we would have faked the kick and ran the option to the left.
“When they went ahead 35-28, I had already made the decision to do it once we scored.”
Notes
The Vandals converted 4-of-5 fourth-down attempts in the game … Johnson’s 10 completions and 148 yards were his second-best efforts of the season … Bell’s 99 receiving yards were easily a season-high (previous best of 32) … Ulmer finished the season with 601 rushing yards on 121 attempts, averaging 5 yards per carry.
Vandalia's football stat leaders for the 2010 season.
Passing
Marty Johnson: 54 of 115 (47 percent) for 869 yards, 10 TD and 8 INT
Rushing
Levi Ulmer: 121 rushes for 601 yards (5 ypc), 9 TD
Nate Henna: 58 rushes for 418 yards (7.2 ypc), 3 TD
Bryan Hosick: 40 rushes for 209 yards (5.2 ypc), 1 TD
Receiving
Nate Henna: 19 catches for 318 yards (16.7 ypc), 3 TD
Bryan Hosick: 13 catches for 179 yards (13.8 ypc), 3 TD
Daniel Bell: 14 catches for 219 yards (15.6 ypc), 2 TD
Tackles
Marcus Mosley: 51 solo, 21 assisted, 72 total
Blake Mills: 51 solo, 18 assisted, 69 total
Daniel Bell: 36 solo, 22 assisted, 58 total
Levi Ulmer: 33 solo, 20 assisted, 53 total
Return yards
Bryan Hosick: 11 returns for 304 yards (27.62 ypr), TD
Daniel Bell: 15 returns for 176 yards (11.7 ypr)
Tim Ritchey: 9 returns for 113 yards (12.5 ypr)
Kickoffs
Daniel Bell: 26 kicks for 1094 yards (42 ypk)
Punts
Daniel Bell: 19 punts for 602 yards (31.7 ypp)
