Jonathan Alder’s Will Heisler (26) picks up yardage Friday evening. JA fell to Thornville-Sheridan, 18-14. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Jonathan Alder football coach Nathan Snedeker felt his squad made strides from a season-opening loss to Amanda-Clearcreek a week ago.
It’s just that Friday’s result against Thornville-Sheridan was the same.
The Pioneers (0-2) held a 14-6 lead during the second half.
They couldn’t, however, overcome two fourth-quarter TDs by the Generals that resulted in an 18-14 setback.
“We knew Thornville-Sheridan was a good football team,” said Snedeker. “Our biggest improvement came in our mentality that we’d have to grind it out to win this game.
“We knew we’d have to get the details right and the guys fought hard.”
Jonathan Alder indeed put up the good fight, but made a couple of mistakes down the stretch to give Sheridan its second victory in as many weeks.
The hot, muggy night certainly had a higher temperature than either team’s offense during the opening quarter.
The period was marked by nothing but punts from both squads.
Neither team could muster enough offense to move the ball downfield.
As such, the quarter ended with a 0-0 tie.
The Generals’ first punt of the second quarter resulted in the Pioneers’ first touchdown of the night.
Alder took over on the Sheridan 33-yard-line with 8:49 left until the intermission.
Quarterback Tabor Headings found receiver Jonathan Keith for a pair of receptions as JA edged close to the red zone.
Will Heisler gained six yards on a carry, but was thrown for a one-yard loss at the Sheridan 17.
Headings found a gap in Thornville’s defense and twisted his way down to the one-yard run.
The signal-caller kept the ball on the next play and burst into the end zone for the score.
Charlie Aurin booted the extra point that gave JA a 7-0 lead.
The Generals mounted their first scoring drive of the game during the final minutes of the second quarter.
Jason Munyan did most of the heavy lifting on the ground.
He moved the ball down to the JA eight-yard-line for a first down.
Quarterback Caden Sheridan picked up six critical yards as the clock read approximately 20 seconds to play until the break.
Munyan was stopped cold for no gain and Sheridan threw an incomplete pass.
The Generals faced fourth down with 10 seconds to play.
Munyan once again swept around the left side with an eye on the end zone.
However, he fumbled short of the goal and the Pioneers should have regained possession on downs.
Instead, a discussion among the officials gave the General another snap, or essentially a fifth down.
This time, Sheridan hit Andrew Holden in the end zone for the touchdown.
The extra point failed, but Alder’s lead stood at just 7-6 as both teams went into halftime.
JA lost the ball on downs to start the second half.
The Pioneer defense, though, forced the Generals to punt from deep in their own territory.
A poor kick gave Alder possession on the Sheridan 35-yard line.
Heisler needed just one play to increase JA’s lead.
He hit the Sheridan line, got through to the second line of defenders and kept churning his legs.
Would-be tacklers bounced off him until he crossed the end line for the score.
Aurin once again was spot-on with the PAT, giving the Pioneers a 14-6 margin.
The Generals lost the ball when Alder’s Baylor Petzinger recovered a fumble.
The Pioneers could not take advantage of the turnover and gave up the pigskin on downs as the third quarter expired.
Sheridan used two quick plays to score another TD.
Munyan took the first snap and went from the Generals’ 32 to the Pioneers’ 31-yard-line.
He received the next handoff and didn’t stop running until he crossed into the end zone.
The two-point conversion failed.
However, with 11:21 left in the game, JA’s lead had been whittled to 14-12.
Jonathan Alder’s offense ran out of steam during its ensuing possession.
JA (which will travel to Bloom Carroll on Friday) went into punt formation on fourth-and-17 after Headings had taken a big sack at the Alder 21.
Holden gathered in the kick near midfield and got through the first line of Alder special teams defenders.
He put on the after-burners and didn’t stop until he was tackled at the JA four-yard-line.
Munyan went into the end zone on a four-yard burst with 9:05 left in the contest.
Cameron Jewell of JA picked off Sheridan’s pass on the two-point conversion attempt.
The Generals, however, had taken their first lead of the game at 18-14.
The combatants swapped punts and JA regained possession with 5:17 on the timer.
Headings directed the series from Alder’s 15 up to near midfield.
Disaster struck, however, when Sheridan recovered a Pioneer fumble at Alder’s 45.
The turnover wasted a bit of time, but Jonathan Alder’s defense soon forced another General punt.
Alder took over on its own 10 with 1:27 to play.
Headings hit Keith with a critical pass to the 19-yard-line.
Thornville’s defense dug in and later sacked Headings on a fourth-and-10 with 25 seconds to play.
Sheridan came out with the offensive unit and took a knee to end the game.