After I finally had a chance to catch my breath after the Polar Bears beat the Yellow Jackets, I realized what a great game I had just called for the radio station. It was an instant classic at George Finnie Stadium in Berea, Ohio, on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace. While the drive wasn’t too much fun, the game definitely was one of the best games, if not the best game, I had seen in my four years in Ada.
The play of the game was no doubt the touchdown catch made by WR Devon Price with nine seconds left in the ball game, the game-winner, as it turned out to be. It was hardly the only important play of the afternoon, though.
The Polar Bears started out the game about the same way they started it out two weeks ago in St. Louis, getting down by multiple scores, as they trailed 14-0 in the first quarter on Saturday. This game in Cleveland was a game of runs for both teams, as they each took their turns scoring two touchdowns for the first three quarters of the game. Almost before you could blink, just four minutes into the game, we saw the Yellow Jack- ets score a touchdown with their fine RB, Isaiah Reed III from two yards out. Before you knew it, and after a few drives went south for ONU, the Jackets scored again to make it 14-0 with a Tyler Moeglin run for a score. Moeglin, who quite frankly looked like Johnny Manziel all day, took the game into his own hands and provided most of the B-W offense.
As the first quarter ended with a B-W lead, it didn’t take long for ONU to score their first points, as QB Pat Angle hit TE Shaile Chamberlain with a touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter; just what the doctor ordered. ONU would score again to make their own 14-0 run on the Yellow Jackets, as Price caught his first touchdown of the day from Pat Angle. All the momentum had gone the way of the good guys, but before you could blink, and with just nine minutes to work with, B-W score two more touchdowns to take a 28-14 lead into the locker room with a pair of Moeglin touchdown passes.
The defense once again looked like the villain for the Polar Bears going into halftime; little did we know what was about to happen in the second half. I’m not sure what Coach Dean Paul told his defense at the half, but they would allow just seven more points for the remainder of the game and give their offense a chance to do something like we would see on Saturday afternoon. Coach Paul said after the game that his guys, “just kept battling, hanging in there. It could have gotten away from us on a couple of occasions, but we kept playing hard and got the momentum back each time.” Coming out of halftime B-W had every ounce of momentum, but ONU worked hard to gain it back.
ONU got the ball out of the locker room and went down to put a field goal through the uprights from Andrew DiMario with 11 minutes left in the third, on a very nice drive to get some confidence back. The defense played well the and held B-W in check throughout the entire second half. The game remained scoreless into the fourth quarter, where lightning struck on one of the most important plays of the game. On the first play of the fourth quarter, QB Pat Angle took the snap and ran 56 yards to the end zone to put ONU right back in the ballgame, at a 28-24 deficit. This was an important play not only because of the score, but because it was very early in the quarter and gave the Polar Bears more than enough time to work with their defense, get the ball back and score a few more times in the game. This was only one
of the many ways that a beat-up Angle carried this Polar Bear football team on Saturday.
Just four minutes later, Angle connected with WR Reed Allen for a 25-yard touchdown to give ONU their first lead of the game. A special moment for Allen as well, as it was his first career touchdown reception, and an important one to boot. This score started a back and forth battle for control over the last ten minutes of action. B-W took the ball down after a long and steady drive, scoring a touchdown with a Moeglin 1-yard sneak, giving him his fourth touchdown of the day. The Jacket drive took over seven minutes and left just 3:32 left on the clock, with B-W in the lead by a score of 35-31.
You hear that final drives are where legends are born, and Saturday’s was no different. “The Drive” as it will be called in the ONU history books, took 3:23, and would have been a killer if not for all who did their part to march the required yardage to the ten yard line of the Yellow Jackets. On their way, the Polar Bears converted two big third-down plays and two crucial fourth-downs. “The Drive” included 15 pass attempts by Pat Angle, completing eight of those, while two rushing attempts from Angle may have been game-savers. The drive looked like it had hit a wall with a fourth-down play at the Yellow Jacket 31 yard line, before Devon Price turned and snagged a pass out of the air for a seven yard gain and first down. Just four plays later, another turning point in the ball game took place, as Angle took a fourth-down and five snap, looked for a receiver, but found no one. This is where the broadcast team started to hold its breath, as I didn’t think Angle would have it in him to convert this one. This is it; I thought to myself, this is how we’re going to lose. Angle pulled a rabbit out of his hat, stepped up in the pocket and ran for a gain of nine yards, for an ONU first down to the 10-yard line of Baldwin- Wallace.
The final play of a game is what’s remembered for a lifetime. After a Polar Bear timeout and from the ten yard line in B-W territory, Angle took the snap and looked to his left. Again, no one open. Devon Price ran a route to the back of the end zone, where he got a little space as he cut and headed for the right sideline, closest to the press box. The coverage was outstanding and only a perfect throw would have given Price a chance to make a catch along the sidelines, which was just what An- gle delivered. A pass that seemed to hang up in the air for hours was thrown from Angle to the far side of the field, finding Price as he tip-toed along the sidelines before falling out of bounds. Touchdown Polar Bears, taking a 37-35 lead with just nine seconds remaining.
Dean Paul went for the two-point conversion, failed, and had to kickoff to the Yellow Jackets one last time. If not for a Logan Ray tackle on the kickoff return, I may not be telling you this account today. B-W took over with one last chance. Moeglin scrambled to his right and completed an 11-yard pass to his wide receiver, who was tackled almost immediately to end the game as time expired.
While I may never know why Coach Paul went for the two- point conversion, I do know that this game is one of the greats in ONU history, while Pat Angle and Devon Price claimed their spots among the ONU elite in football history with one drive, “The Drive,” and more importantly, one play.