Updated: Saturday, October 24, 2009
With first place in the Federal League on the line, the GlenOak and Hoover high school football teams kept things as unpredictable as the weather. Momentum shifts on the field happened as suddenly as rainstorms started and stopped all night.
So it was only appropriate GlenOak’s defense struck twice out of nowhere with long touchdown returns to take away a 13-9 win on a night of bizarre twists and turns.
Box score/recap
A 93-yard fumble return for a score by Spyro Spondyl, and a 100-yard TD on a interception return by Brandon Martin gave the Golden Eagles a win on a night where they had just seven first downs.
“Our kids have that never say die attitude,” GlenOak head coach Scott Garcia said. “They’re a bunch of fighters.”
The Eagles took their share of punches, including costly penalties, two fumbles, and a blocked punt. But in the end, they delivered the haymakers when they turned potential Hoover TD drives into stunning scores the other way.
“Everybody stepped up when they had to,” Spondyl said.
GlenOak’s win coupled with Boardman’s loss at McKinley gives the Eagles (7-2, 5-1) a one-game lead in the league standings with a game left. So GlenOak is assured of at least a tie for the title.
“Fifteen years,” Spondyl said, referring to the last time GlenOak won the league.
“It’s everything,” Martin said of possibly winning an outright title. “We’ve been working for this for three years, ever since coach Garcia came here.”
Hoover, the two-time defending league champ, is used to bizarre games. A week ago the Vikings (6-3, 4-2) erased a 34-2 halftime deficit against McKinley won, 38-34.
Friday, led by Erick Howard’s 183 yards, the Vikings outgained the Eagles, 258-129. But it wasn’t enough.
“Give them credit,” Hoover coach Don Hertler Jr. said, referring to the Eagles. “They turned a couple of defensive turnovers into scores. ... Our defense did a great job. We held them down. We just missed our opportunities.”
Hoover looked poised to take control in the third quarter when it led 6-0 after Dan Leek’s 22-yard fumble return set up a 1-yard TD run by Howard.
Within four minutes, Hoover had the ball back deep in GlenOak territory after Tyler Mann busted through the middle to block an Eagle punt. The Vikings recovered at the 12 and, after a 5-yard run by Howard, they were at the 7 and ready to take a two-score lead. But they botched the ensuing snap and Spondyl did the rest.
“I was flowing (to the action) ... and all of sudden I saw the ball and nobody else,” Spondyl said. “I scooped it and took off.”
Spondyl sprinted down the left sideline, caught only by his exuberant teammates on the 93-yard play.
“It took awhile,” Spondyl said with a laugh.
“That was huge,” Martin said. “Spyro is our spark plug, period.”
Mann blocked the PAT, though, to keep the game tied, 6-6, with 3:15 left in the third.
Hoover had another chance to take control late in the third when the Eagles fumbled a punt return. The Vikings recovered at the GlenOak 33. Hoover methodically moved the ball deeper into Eagle territory before GlenOak’s defense made two big plays to change everything.
On second-and-goal from the 3, Andrew Garman charged into the backfield to disrupt a Howard run. Zach Rinehart then tackled Howard for a 2-yard loss.
Faced with third-and-goal from the 5, the Vikings went to the air. That’s when Martin stepped forward.
“First of all, it was a coverage bust,” he said.
The Eagles were supposed to be in man-to-man, but when Hoover sent two receivers to Martin’s side, he had to switch to a zone. Howard was on his side of the field, so Martin keyed in on him when Brett Tulodzieski fired a pass to the running back in the right front corner of the end zone.
“I just jumped it, picked it off and had to take it to the house,” Martin said.
His only thoughts as he ran the 100 yards was “don’t get tired.”
He didn’t, and neither did his teammates, as the Eagles protected their lead to secure the win.
