| Mercer made it inside Cochranton’s 30-yard line three times Friday night at Bender Field, only to watch the chain gang reverse the direction of the first down marker and send in their defense without scoring. Cochranton's defense came up with big stops when they needed them most in the first round of the District 10 playoffs and Mercer apparently didn’t find a soccer player who could kick a football this season. Cochranton was able to stop Mercer at the 23, 8, and 1 yard lines to get the ball back. The only bad thing about that is they had to start drives from these backed up positions and had crappy field position all night and that resulted in their 14-0 loss. At the end of the first half, both teams had lengthy drives and only a 64-yard touchdown run by the Mustangs' Daemyin Mattocks was the difference. “At the beginning of the game we drove it all the way down the field and couldn’t get it in the end zone,” said Cochranton head coach Mike Feleppa. Both Mercer and Cochranton defenses came to play. In the third quarter, this game could’ve gone either way when Mercer punted to a no return Cochranton special teams and downed the ball on the six yard line. Again Cochranton was deep in their own territory to start. Up until this point they elected to push forward with a sneak to give them some breathing room. One such effort early in the game nearly resulted in a break away by sophomore quarterback Walker Carroll. But in this case, at the six, he rolled out to the right a foot over the line looking down field for a place to throw. He didn't see anyone and the Mustang defense was bearing down on him when he was grabbed by Mercer’s Colton Davis and dragged down in the end zone for a safety making the score 8-0 early in the third quarter. The worst part about making a mistake, like getting a safety, is you get penalized further by then having to kick the ball away to your opponent. Mercer had momentum going into the fourth quarter. Cochranton got a bit of luck in the fourth when Mercer fumbled, giving Cochranton their best field position on their own 40. But they suffered a damaging holding call on a 14-yard run by Noah Cummings. The penalty put them at first and 18 and they just couldn’t get moving forward after that. What kept them in the game was Mercer too struggled, though they often found themselves on the brink of success, Cochranton found a way to stop them. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said Feleppa. The defense then got another key stop forcing Mercer to punt. Cochranton’s Blake Foulk called a fair catch and tried to field the ball, but it made it to the turf through his arms and was recovered by Mercer. It was exactly what the Cardinals, who perhaps were looking at a momentum shift and the best starting field position of the night, didn't need. “We had too many mistakes there at the end. We finally got the field flipped and we turned it over on the muffed punt,” Feleppa said. This miscue led to the eventual final nail in the Cardinal’s coffin, an 11-yard run by Carter Addison to put them up 14-0 with only 4:47 left on the clock. Cochranton can drive the ball, but doesn't really have that quick hit long-gainer possibility. They got close to scoring with under two minutes to play, but Mattocks intercepted, basically finishing the game and Cochranton’s season. “Defense played great,” said Feleppa. “We had a successful season, that’s what I told the kids. They should hold their heads up high. We had a winning record. Everybody picked us to finish dead last in the region and I think we finished third, but we need to get over the hump to take that next step. We had a pretty good senior class that has been with this coaching staff since we’ve been here. Good core group of guys who work hard and come out every week and try to get better.” Cochranton finishes the year at 5-4 after finishing 1-7 last year. Mercer moves on to face Lakeview who they beat 28-20 nearly a month ago. |           |
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