Ryle completed a come-from-behind win with a savage coda in overtime — and without Mr. Football hopeful Jacob Savage on the field.
Nathan Verax scored a walk-off 2-point conversion to stun host Frederick Douglass 28-27, securing the Raiders a second straight Class 6A region title and a state-semifinal trip to South Warren next week.
Verax was 3 yards across the goal line before he got touched.
“Whether it was right there for me or not, I was getting in that end zone no matter what,” Verax said. “I was not letting anything stop me. I felt the whole city of Union, all of Northern Kentucky behind my back. There was no way I was letting anything stop me.”
Dameyn Anness answered a quick touchdown by Douglass’ Dakari Talbert, then Ryle took a timeout to discuss whether to try for the 2-point conversion, trailing 27-26. Prior to the overtime period, Ryle capped a 64-yard drive with a 1-yard Anness TD run on 4th and goal as time expired in regulation.
Then Gavin Moses’ extra-point attempt ricocheted off the right field-goal post and back into the playing field. That fresh miss was top of mind for Ryle head coach Mike Engler after Anness’ overtime score, and critical in the walk-off call.
“I didn’t want to put that on his shoulders,” Engler said. “If we didn’t make the conversion, I would’ve looked like the idiot.”
The staff in the timeout drew up a quarterback sweep that called for an extra blocker lined up to the right. Ryle lined up in a manner that, based on how they’d executed through the night, suggested they would likely run up the middle.
“I think they moved more guys inside, thinking that, and we ended up bringing it outside,” Engler said. “You can’t account for the quarterback a lot of times in the run game.”
That was true much of the night. Verax ended with 78 rushing yards and a touchdown, the game’s first after both teams came up empty on their first three series. Ryle before that drive caught a significant break: a wide-open, standing-still Douglass receiver dropped a 4th-and-7 pass in front of the goal line. One play later, Verax dropped back and delivered a scorcher down the sideline to Dylan Lee, who traveled 84 yards before getting tackled. A couple plays later, Verax escaped a would-be shoestring tackle then spun to avoid another defender en route to an 18-yard score.
That lead was short-lived. Douglass drew a flag on a 3rd-and-17 pass to get to Ryle’s 26-yard line. Savage on the ensuing 3rd-and-2 bid stuffed Talbert at the line of scrimmage, but nobody could stifle the Broncos star on fourth down: he spun off and around multiple Raiders while bolting for a touchdown. Talbert then accounted for all but four of the 76 yards and a TD on a Douglass scoring drive late in the third quarter.
After losing Savage to an ankle injury on its previous offensive series, Ryle drove 78 yards in just over a minute to tie things again on Anness’ first TD of the evening. The Raiders forced a punt as the fourth quarter got underway and drove to the Broncos’ 7-yard line, but their eventual field-goal attempt got blocked; Douglass recovered the ball at its own 30 and pulled ahead 20-14 with 3:15 to play, but their extra-point attempt was blocked.
Ryle overcame a holding penalty to lead off its ensuing possession, stringing together enough chunks and preserving enough clock to give itself a chance at the end.
“I give all the credit to my o-line for creating holes and making my job easy,” said Anness, who took a handoff and ran up the gut for the overtime-forcing TD. “We started really slow but we knew what we were capable of. We had trust in our defense to put us in position to let the offense do their job.”
The Raiders into the second half were without both of their inside linebackers, Savage and Kai Workman, as well as a starting defensive back. Savage, an Indiana commit who leads the Raiders in scoring, rushing and tackles, was held to 21 yards and had six tackles before exiting.
While Talbert, Douglass’ offensive star, took advantage of that development — 127 of his game-high 210 yards came in the second half — Ryle was able to keep consistent pressure on Broncos quarterback Jayden Guzman, a freshman who finished 12-of-23 and -7 yards on the ground.
“We had guys step up and that’s just heart,” said Bo Gay, a senior defensive lineman. “That’s who this team is. We don’t give up. We don’t stop. We keep going no matter what, we persevere through everything. That’s just how we are.”
Notes
- Savage after the game had ice wrapped around his ankle. He hopes to be able to play next week at South Warren. “It was super hard not being able to play, cause I wanted to do everything out there but I couldn’t, really, and I didn’t want to be dumb,” Savage said. “Obviously our team was able to come out and make plays. It just goes to show, we have so many great athletes and coaches, just me going out isn’t going to change anything.”
- This is South Warren’s first season competing in Class 6A. The Spartans are the only undefeated team in the division at 12-0 following their 49-21 win over Henderson County on Friday.
RAIDERS 28, BRONCOS 27 (OT)
RYLE — 0-7-7-6-8 — 28
DOUGLASS — 0-7-7-6-7 — 27
Scoring Plays
2nd Quarter
(R) Verax 18-yard run (5:03) Moses kick
(FD) Talbert 26-yard run (1:21) Wallace kick
3rd Quarter
(FD) Talbert 19-yard run (4:17) Wallace kick
(R) Anness 11-yard run (2:58) Moses kick
4th Quarter
(FD) Talbert 20-yard run (3:15) kick blocked
(R) Anness 1-yard run (0:00) kick failed
Overtime
(FD) Talbert 1-yard run, Wallace kick
(R) Anness 1-yard run, Verax 2-point rush
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Ryle 258 (Verax 9/21, Kincaid 1/1), Frederick Douglass 134 (Guzman 12/23)
Rushing Yards: Ryle 183 (Anness 15-85, Verax 14-78, Savage 8-21, Collins 1-(minus) 1), Frederick Douglass 227 (Talbert 33-210), Green 1-19, Turner 2-5, Guzman 1-(minus) 7)
Receiving Yards: Ryle 258 (Lee 5-181, Lyons 3-53, Smith 1-14, Elder 1-10), Frederick Douglass 134 (Clay 4-69, Talbert 3-5, Stewart 2-45, Cayson 1-7, Morton 1-4, John 1-4)
First Downs: Ryle 18, Frederick Douglass 17
Turnovers: Ryle 0, Frederick Douglass 0
Penalties: Ryle 7-70, Frederick Douglass 6-40
Records: Ryle 10-3, Frederick Douglass 8-5
