Sports
By JEROME MURPHY
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Saturday, November 15, 2008 12:38 AM EST
Argus-Press Sports Writer
FREELAND - Ovid-Elsie's football team will be playing in the state semifinals for the first time in school history.
Junior tailback Chris Robinson rushed for 263 yards and three touchdowns - including a tie-breaking 47-yard run with 2:32 left in the game - as the Marauders avenged their lone loss of the season by beating Freeland 34-27 Friday in a third-round Division 5 playoff game.
Ovid-Elsie - which set a school record with its 11th victory of the season - will face the winner of today's matchup between Standish-Sterling (11-0) and Gladstone (9-2) next week in the semifinals. If Standish-Sterling wins, it will likely face Ovid-Elsie at Alma College. If Gladstone wins, it is expected the semifinal will take place in the Superior Dome.
Jackson Lumen Christi and Muskegon Oakridge will play in the other state semifinal.
Freeland (10-2) had beaten Ovid-Elsie on the same field 55-35 in Week 7. The Falcons scored on eight of their 10 possessions in that game but had a much tougher time scoring this time.
Ovid-Elsie's defense stepped up several times, including a game-winning fourth-down stop in the final second from the Marauders 14.
“At the end of the game, we said we had to win with defense and it was fitting they finished it out for us,” said Ovid-Elsie head coach Jerry Goosen.
With 24.2 seconds left and facing a fourth-and-9 play, Freeland quarterback Joe Ruhlman rolled to his left and fired a pass at the 1 for Gideon Paetz. But the throw was low and Paetz couldn't come up with the catch near the left sideline.
“Defense was the key,” said Goosen. “We said that going into the week and we had to play better and we did.”
And offensively, the Marauders came up with several big plays to put them over the top.
Senior quarterback Jason Goosen, the coach's son, fired a 45-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Hurst to give the Marauders a 13-0 lead with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.
Freeland bounced back with a 19-point second period. Ruhlman zipped a 45-yard scoring strike to Justin Pettenger, added a 10-yard scoring run and also completed a 9-yard TD pass to Nick Marker with 31 seconds left before halftime. The extra point was blocked by Bob Fraker of Ovid-Elsie and the Marauders led 20-19.
Ovid-Elsie, leading 20-19, scored in the final 31 seconds of the first half to take a 27-19 lead into the final two periods. Goosen's 14-yard scoring pass to a leaping Nick Madden came with no time showing on the clock.
“We were gonna go for the field goal and my son said, ‘Dad, it's open and we can do it.' ”
Robinson, who entered the game with more than 2,100 yards on the season, delivered three scoring runs of 48, 80 and 47 yards.
Freeland tied the game at 27-all with 7:45 left on Justin Pettenger's one-yard dive up the middle. The Falcons converted the 2-point conversion as quarterback Joe Ruhlman found Nick Marker open in the middle of the end zone.
After an exchange of punts with 3:55 left, the Marauders started with Robinson's 10-yard run for a first down. The junior added runs of 1 and 15 yards to take the pigskin to the Freeland 47.
Robinson then busted loose for a 47-yard scoring run and Hurst's PAT kick made it 34-27 Marauders.
Robinson said it was do or die for the Marauders.
“We ran an (isolation) and basically senior captain Cody Staley (the Marauders' offensive guard) told the offensive line they better spill their hearts out on that play or we were going down. And they did. We scored on the play.”
Goosen said Robinson's ability to come up with the big runs shows the junior's true character.
“That kid doesn't go down,” said Goosen. “He runs hard. So you better bring the house and tackle him the first time or you're not going to get him.”
Said Freeland coach Kevin Townsend of Robinson: “We bottled him up pretty well. It was just big plays that broke our back and that was the same thing as last time.”