When the temperature hits the 30's, playoff time nears, and CBHS comes to Hull-Dobbs, a football fan knows that he is in for one heck of a football game.
Last Friday night at MUS, the Owls and the Purple Wave definitely did not disappoint.
MUS scored the first 21 points of the game and then desperately held on to defeat a charging CBHS team, 28-27, to secure the second seed in the Super 7 playoffs and complete a 7-3, 3-1 regular season.
Early on, this narrow victory looked as if it would be easy for the Owls against the Brothers (7-3, 2-2).
On the first play from scrimmage, MUS QB John Conrad McCrary hit WR Jamie Drinan on a slant, and Drinan raced down the middle of the Purple-Wave secondary for 63 yards and 6 points. Ben Tacker's PAT gave the Owls a lightning-quick 7-0 lead.
MUS doubled that lead just 3 minutes later.
After a Blake Lindsay fumble recovery at the CBHS 7 on the Wave's first play, the Owls needed 2:26 and a key roughing-the-kicker penalty on a Tacker field-goal attempt to add another touchdown as RB Derek Clenin scored from 2-yards out. Tacker's extra-point made the score 14-0 before anyone could even begin to get cold on this frigid night.
The Owls had another great opportunity to keep adding to the advantage.
On the Wave's next play from scrimmage, Clenin picked off QB Carter Giovanetti and returned it deep into CBHS territory. However, the Wave slowly settled down, and their aggressive, large defense held the Owls on a 4th-and-2 from the CBHS 5. From there, the game became a slugfest.
Neither team could establish much offensively as the half progressed as four consecutive punts ensued. Finally, late in the half MUS got another opportunity.
As CBHS TE Brent Russell was headed to the endzone following a long reception, DB Kane Alber hit Russell from behind and knocked the ball loose. Safety Trae Bryant alertly fell on the fumble, and the Owls took over. Needing only 5 plays, MUS moved 59 yards, culminated by a 30-yard pass from McCrary to Clenin for the touchdown. The PAT gave the Owls an amazing 21-0 lead.
Yet the Purple Wave did not lie down.
As the half wound down, Giovanetti, who finished 15-23 passing for 253 yards, and RB Michael Marable engineered a powerful drive. In only 3:03, they had moved CBHS 65 yards in 12 plays to score as Giovanetti hit WR Trip Bennett from 5-yards out. The Christian Looney PAT cut the lead to 21-7 as the first half ended.
Though the Owls still had a large lead, they had to know that CBHS would not give up, and the Owls would have to maintain their aggressiveness to put this win away.
But the Wave made it a game from the outset of the second half.
Taking the opening kickoff, they used 11 plays to drive 80 yards. The Brothers began to control the line, and MUS began to miss tackles. Marable's 3-yard run cut the lead to 21-14 just 5 minutes into the third quarter.
The Owls' offense also began to struggle as they seemed to tighten somewhat. They did put together a nice drive late in the third quarter, but that possession stalled as McCrary was intercepted in CBHS territory by LB Matt Karpovich.
With this turnover, the Wave had the spark they needed to tie the game. Again, controlling the line, CBHS worked down the field as Marable, who rushed for 128 yards for the game, bore the brunt of the load. Finally, on 4th-and-goal, Giovanetti snuck in from 1-yard out on second effort to tie the score at 21.
But MUS had enough to step up and reclaim the lead. On their next possession, the Owls pounded out two first-downs but faced 3rd-and-17 at the MUS 46 with fewer than 5 minutes remaining. Not finding anyone initially, McCrary scrambled and bought himself enough time to hit WR John David Lawhorn in the middle of the field, and he used his speed to bound into the endzone. The Tacker PAT gave the Owls the 7-point advantage.
The Wave came right back.
Behind the arm of Giovanetti, CBHS faced a 2nd-and-3 from the MUS 36. As Giovanetti scrambled, LB Tyler Wohrman leveled and knocked out the leaping quarterback, who nevertheless completed the pass for a first down.
With Giovanetti out, backup Chris Skinner did not miss a beat.
He needed only 2 plays to hit Russell from 10-yards out for the score to cut the lead to 28-27 and send the visitors into bedlam.
However, that euphoria was short-lived as Clenin came around the end to block the Looney extra-point to preserve the lead with 46 seconds remaining.
Even though CBHS recovered the onside kick and had one more opportunity, they simply ran out of time and downs as MUS increased their series lead over their rivals to 13-9.
Though the win was great, the coaches were somewhat concerned about some of the numbers. CBHS outgained MUS 443-320 in total yardage, including a 283-121 advantage in the second half. The Wave also had 4 more first-downs than the Owls and ran 9 more plays.
Yet MUS took advantage of 3 CBHS turnovers as McCrary went 14-29 for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Clenin ran 12 times for 35 yards against the top-ranked rushing defense in the county.
With the win, the Owls get a first-round bye in the Super-7 playoffs and will host the MBA-Baylor winner on November 15 at MUS. MUS defeated MBA, 24-21, in Nashville earlier in the year, while they have not played Baylor this season.