Colton Powers of Marysville follows the block of older brother Gabe, left, as he scores the overtime touchdown against Hilliard Darby on Friday. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
On the field, the matchup paired to very similar squads – both aggressive and quick. Darby’s smallish, fast defensive front was a near mirror image of Marysville.
“Listen man, they play our style of football,” said MHS coach Brent Johnson.
As you would expect from two even teams, the matchup was a series of ebbs and flows with Marysville having the first half momentum and a 14-0 lead before Darby snatched it back in the second half and evened the game.
The squads were also even on the stat sheet, where Marysville held a lead in total yards 293-255. Marysville rushed for 221 yards and QB Brady Seger was an efficient 7-for-10 for 72 yards. Griffin Johnson again paced the Monarchs with 106 yards and a pair of scores.
Darby QB Blake Horvath was as advertised, a slippery navigator of the Panther veer. He ran for 126 yards on the night and a pair of scores.
The bottom line, however, was that Marysville’s leaders showed up when the game was on the line. After a draining second half, the overtime period saw a revived Monarch squad.
“We got into overtime and for some reason the kids got really excited,” Johnson said.
Marysville was forced to go first from the 20-yard-line in overtime, but was able to elect to set up going into the end zone where the roaring Monarch student section was located.
Despite Griffin Johnson’s success in the game, coach Johnson saw that senior captain and OSU commit Gabe Powers wanted the ball.
“Gabe was feeling it,” the coach said. “We were like ‘give him the ball.’”
And when the game was on the line, the Monarch coaching staff gave the ball to its horse – and told it to follow a bigger horse. Powers was given the ball three straight times and headed left where massive senior offensive tackle Gavin Rohrs, was paving the road.
Powers picked up 12 tough yards and a first down on the first three plays of overtime, sending a message that the sloppy play of the second half was over.
The Monarchs then hit the Panthers with a dose of Griffin’s speed out of the backfield.
He appeared to go into the end zone on the next play, but was ruled out of bounds at the two-yard-line.
From there, Colton Powers followed his older brother’s lead block into the end zone. Marysville hit the point after and led 21-14.
That forced the Panthers to reach the end zone on their overtime try.
Gabe Powers again set the defensive tone.
He threw Horvath for a two-yard loss on first down. Two plays later, the Panther QB backed away from center without a grip on the ball.
MHS’ high-energy player Erryl Will crawled his way to the ball to secure the victory.
“Big players show up in big games,” Johnson said of his senior leadership.
Marysville had opened the game by punching the 4-1 Panthers in the mouth in the opening drive. The Monarchs picked up a couple of first downs before Griffin Johnson ripped off a 47-yard run.
He was hauled down at the one, but took it in on the next play for the early lead.
Riggsby hit the extra point.
“I loved our opening drive,” Johnson said.
From there, the Monarch offense had trouble getting solid gains on first down over the next three drives and was never able to set up short yardage situations on the later downs.
In the second quarter, the Monarchs got things going again as Seger hit Gabe Powers for a 23-yard gain on third and long.
A few plays later, Griffin Johnson danced around the left end, shook a tackle and went into the end zone from 21-yards out.
Riggsby’s point after closed out the first half scoring with a 14-0 Monarch advantage.
But then the third quarter happened, as a Marysville miscue swung momentum to the Panthers, who evened the score.
Darby was forced to punt on its opening drive, but the Monarchs muffed the ball on the return and the Panthers got the ball back at the MHS 47.
Energized, Horvath took a keeper for 23 yards and later called his own number on a dive option over the right side for a touchdown. The point after made the score 14-7 with 8:12 left in the third quarter.
The Panthers got the ball back midway through the third and went on a 75-yard, six-minute drive to tie the game.
A steady dose of Horvath, including a 30-yard run, moved the ball down inside the MHS five.
The Monarch defense held and forced fourth-and-goal at the one, but Horvath plunged in and the extra point tied the score with 30 seconds left until the fourth quarter.
The Monarchs appeared to have put the previous 12 minutes behind them and drove down to the Darby 19 early in the final stanza.
A fumble, though, returned the ball back to the Panthers.
Marysville again moved into Darby territory late in the quarter.
However, MHS turned the ball over on downs when a fourth down pass fell incomplete at the Panther 27 with 3:22 left in the game.
Both teams appeared content to play for overtime down the stretch.
Johnson said the test may turn out to be a blessing for his 5-0 squad, as its smallest margin of victory had been 20 points until Friday.
“This game helps us down the road,” Johnson said.
The Monarchs will travel to Dublin Jerome Friday for another tough game against the 5-1 Celtics.