Mainland led with 2 minutes to go, but the little things hurt
LINWOOD – It was the little things that made the difference in Mainland Regional football’s 22-21 loss to the Millville High School Thunderbolts Friday night at the Mustang Corral.
Up 21-14 with just over two minutes to go, Mainland Regional High School had a chance to put the game out of reach.
Facing a fourth-and-one inside the 10-yard-line, coach Chuck Smith called a time-out to discuss the options, whether to go for the first down or kick a field goal which was well within the kicker’s distance. He opted for the latter.
The field goal just missed and the Thunderbolts had life. They didn’t waste but a few seconds.
On the first play from scrimmage, Millville quarterback Robert O’Connor, who had 292 yards in the air in the game, threw long to Reginald Holley and connected with him near midfield. Holley shook off the defenders and raced all the way for an 80-yard touchdown, making it 21-20.
Not interested in a tie, the Thunderbolts went for the two-point conversion, Holley took a direct snap and went untouched into the end zone for the 22-21 lead.
In the final two minutes, the Mustangs gained some ground, but fell short on their own fourth-down conversion. The Thunderbolts took a knee and ran out the clock.
“It’s tough, man,” Smith said after the game. Asked what he told his dejected players, he said, “Little things mean a lot.
“It’s taking pride in special teams. You know, we kick a field goal there and we probably win the game. I hope we learned from this because there’s a learning situation on down, distance, time on the clock. We’ve got to be smart about things and if we learn from it, we’ll be OK.”
Still, Smith said he saw some good things.
“The kids fought. We had that interception on the very first play of the game. They took the lead. We battled back,” he said. “It was a back-and-forth game against a good team. And they never quit.
That’s the thing I took from it. They didn’t quit. So there’s fire there. We just have to tighten the bolts a little bit.”
On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback John Franchini threw deep to receiver Liam Kennedy, but Millville intercepted.
Not long afterwards, Kennedy returned the favor, intercepting a Millville pass to stop the Thunderbolt drive.
Neither Mainland nor Millville made much of their offensive series, then the Mustangs put together a drive that took them to the one-yard-line, but the Thunderbolts held on three running plays and then knocked away a pass in the end zone.
That’s when Millville put together a 99-yard drive that mixed running and pass plays and culminated with a 20-yard touchdown pass from O’Connor to Jaden Days. The kick failed.
The half ended with Millville up 6-0.
The third quarter had the most scoring on the warm late-summer evening.
Millville received the ball to start the second half, but Mustangs Chase Hoag, Lucas DiBiaso and Brady Kallen forced the Thunderbolt ball-carrier to fumble and teammate Luke Kerrigan jumped on the ball to give Mainland great field position near the 25-yard-line.
Franchini faked a handoff and in a nice run went up the middle all the way to the 5-yard-line. On third down, Franchini rolled out to his right and passed to Kennedy for Mainland’s first touchdown. Nate Kashey made the extra point to put the Mustangs up 7-6.
On their next series, the Thunderbolts were sparked by Aiden Dawkins’ roughly 60-yard run. O’Connor then found Evan O’Neill behind the Mustang secondary for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Holley ran for the conversion to make it 14-7.
Hoag got things going after the kickoff with a 24-yard yard run to midfield. Franchini passed to Jake Blum for a nice gain, but Blum was shaken up by a hard hit on the play.
After three short runs, Franchini hit Andrew Gilman on a pass that took the Mustangs to the 5-yard-line. Franchini, on a keeper, ran for the touchdown and Kashey’s kick tied the game at 14-14.
With a minute left in the third quarter, Millville went for a fourth-and-short, but the Mustangs’ defensive line blasted through the offense led by big lineman Tatum McBall, driving the running back backward.
The Mustangs took over in great field position near the Millville 30-yard-line. As the fourth quarter began, Hoag broke free for a 28-yard touchdown run. With Kashey’s extra point, the Mustangs led 21-14.
Millville came close on its next series, but Kennedy short-circuited the drive with his second interception of the night.
A pass interference call and running plays brought the Mustangs to the 9-yard-line. Facing that fourth-and-one, Mainland ran some more time off the clock before the timeout and then the missed field goal, which set up Millville’s final touchdown drive for the 22-21 win.
Both teams are now 1-2 on the season. Mainland will be at Cherokee at 6 p.m. Friday.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
