Osmond Tigers downed in second round by Bloomfield Bees
BLOOMFIELD — The Osmond Tiger football team fell short on Halloween night to the Bloomfield Bees 30-20 in the second round of the Class D2 playoffs.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Bees scored the first two touchdowns of the game and led 16-0. The Tigers scored with 4:00 left in the half and carried momentum into the half. The Bees came out of the half with a quick touchdown and held a 22-8 lead. The Tigers responded with a third quarter touchdown. Bloomfield scored a touchdown again in the fourth to make the lead 30-14. The Tigers added a touchdown in the fourth to make the score 30-20. They nearly scored another, but could not.
“I’m very proud of our guys for their efforts,” Coach Scott Morrison said. “It was a great game, and we received Bloomfield’s best shot; we responded with our best shot, and the score didn’t quite work out.”
The fans made the game a state playoffs atmosphere. Raucous Tiger fans lined the visitor sideline and stands, cheering and screaming throughout the game.
“Thank you to our fans who came out in full force!” Morrison said. “There were points in the game where I couldn’t hear anything!!”
The first quarter was hard-fought by both teams; the quarter ended deadlocked at 0-0. The Tigers had three possessions and the Bees had two, but neither team could follow through and score. The Bees looked to be aggressive as they ran a fake punt. The Tigers sniffed it out, though, and took over near midfield.
The Tiger drive stalled thanks to a penalty, and they were forced to punt. Then the Tigers forced the Bees to a three-and-out, and the Bees punted. Unfortunately the Tigers could not get anything started and were forced to punt as well.
The Bees used an 18-yard pass completion from Braden Eisenhauer to Trenton Holz to set up the first score of the game. They took in a one-yard run and converted the two points to take an 8-0 lead. The Tigers then threw an interception on their next possession. This led to another Bees touchdown. This time the Bees set up a 53-yard, fourth down touchdown run. They found themselves up 16-0, and the Tigers were reeling.
“Turnovers and penalties killed us, especially early on,” Morrison said. “To their credit, our guys kept believing in each other and kept fighting.”
In fact, just three plays later, the Tigers scored their first touchdown of the game. Anthony Heiman found Justus Maertins for a 50-yard pass play. The two-point conversion was good and the Tigers had life.
On Bloomfield’s next possession, the Tigers held the Bees from scoring on a fourth down play.
“This stretch where we scored a touchdown and then forced them to turn the ball over on downs told me that we still had fight left in us, and that we were going to make the game a battle,” Morrison said.
Headed into the half down 16-8, the Tigers tried to adjust to the Bees’ offensive attack. The problem was the Bees adjusted too. Their adjustment produced a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.
This was a 46-yard run. The Tigers stood tall on the two-point conversion, and the score was 22-8. Again there was still fight left in the Tigers, who went on an 11-play drive that resulted in a touchdown, a one-yard run by Heiman.
During the drive, the line (Nick Reikofski, Alexis Solorzano, Landon Stelling, Zach Huwaldt and Justus Maertins) was outstanding. It gave Heiman a chance to find Justus Maertins on an 11-yard pass play. He then turned to Josh Gansebom for a 13-yard pass play. Heiman scored on a one-yard run, making the score 22-14.
The Tigers then forced the Bees to punt, but had to punt themselves on their next possession. The Bees started with the ball on the Tigers’ 15 yard line after a punt in the middle of the field set up a 25-yard return.
Receiving a break, the Tigers picked up a Bloomfield fumble and took possession on their own 15. The Tigers ran a trick play where Heiman caught a pass from Maertins after a reverse. The okay got them near mid-field, where they lost a fumble to the Bees on the next play. This took the game into the fourth quarter where Eisenhauer found Holz on a 31-yard pass play for a touchdown. The two-point conversion made the score 30-14.
“Again, things looked pretty bad, our guys kept fighting and trying to give themselves an opportunity to win the game,” Morrison said.
In fact, just three plays later, Anthony Heiman scored on a 43-yard run play. The conversion fell incomplete in the end zone. There was a controversial no call, which preserved the 10-point lead for the Bees.
On the Bees’ next possession, the Tigers forced a big turnover on downs. They took possession and went on the attack. The Tigers picked up two first downs, one of which was a 20-yard pass play where Zach Huwaldt made a great catch. Heiman then found Maertins inside the Bees’ 10 yard line. Unfortunately, the Bees caused a fumble and recovered it.
They used the remaining time in the game to drive down the field. They ran out the waning moments of the game by downing the football.
“Our team fought to the end,” Morrison said. “This was just an example of their resiliency all season long.”
Patrick Vinson had a nice game at linebacker. His counterpart, Nick Reikofski, went down in the third quarter with a leg injury. Logan Stelling and Mason Bykerk shared time defensively trying to fill in for Reikofski. Connor Gutz played well at fullback. He had a nice run on a counter play where he was just tripped up with a shoestring tackle. Parker Johnson made a nice tackle on kickoff team.
The Tigers ended their season at 7-3.
“Thank you to all who chipped in and helped with anything throughout the year,” Coach Morrison said. “This includes bus driver Dwight Kahny, custodians Jo Geneski, Kenny Boos, Beth Maertins and Shannon Wisely. A big thank you goes out to Randy Jochum and Doug Ketelson for preparing the game field each week! Thank you to our administration for being easy to work with and for offering sage advice throughout the season: Brian Guenther, Kurt Polt and Dave Hamm. Thanks to all who chipped in on game day, including Mr. Hamm, Pastor Glen Emery, John Aschoff, Tom Schmit and all our chain gain operators. We could NOT do it without you. Thanks again to all the parents and fans who were supportive throughout the season.”
