Leipsic’s Quinn Westhoven breaks the tackle of McComb’s Octavian Gonzales to give Leipsic the lead late in the fourth quarter Friday night in Leipsic.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
LEIPSIC – With a little less than four minutes left in the first half of Friday’s key Blanchard Valley Conference football game, McComb was leading Leipsic 21-0.
McComb seemed to be in complete control.
However, Leipsic battled back from its huge first-half deficit and eventually slipped out with a thrilling 30-27 victory over McComb at John Edwards Field.
Leipsic improved to 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the BVC. McComb slipped to 4-3 in all games played and 2-3 in the conference.
Leipsic claimed its first and only lead of the night with 2:54 left to play in the game.
The Vikings mounted a five-play, 78-yard scoring drive that was capped off with a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marc Kirkendall to Quinn Westhoven. With the two-point conversion, Leipsic led 30-27.
Leipsic’s defense managed to hold off McComb down the stretch for the win.
On the night, Kirkendall was 15 of 24 passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns with a pair of interceptions.
“Give the kids a lot of credit. It would have been really easy to pack it in,” Leipsic coach Joe Kirkendall said. “We knew that we were close, and defensively we finally found a way to make some plays. That was the challenge.”
Marc Kirkendall connected with seven different receivers on Friday. His favorite target was senior Jayce Brecht, who hauled in eight passes for 114 yards and one touchdown.
“That’s what we talk about. … We talk about balance,” Coach Kirkendall said. “Balance for some teams is (balancing the) run and pass. Balance for us is, ‘Who’s getting the ball?’ We want to spread the ball around. We trust our guys.”
Kirkendall said that his confidence grew as the game wore on. Despite giving up 223 rushing yards in the first half and trailing at halftime 21-8, Kirkendall saw a few things that he knew his team could build on.
“We talked about the fact that, offensively, we moved the ball,” Kirkendall said. “On our first interception, the receiver slipped. The quarterback threw where he had to. It was a perfect throw. We just stumbled out of the cut. So, we knew offensively, we could move the ball.
“Defensively, we figured out that what we were doing was not working. So, we went back to our basic roots of the program. We put in a 4-3 and a 5-2 (defensive schemes), and our kids just played hard. They played hard and made the plays they needed to make.”
McComb led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, and 21-8 by the half.
Leipsic scored its first touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Kirkendall to Brecht, which made it 21-8.
McComb senior running back Braydon Shoop was a major part of his team’s offense on Friday.
Shoop rushed for 195 yards on 19 carries and had touchdown runs of 44, 8 and 59 yards. Quarterback Grady Schroeder rushed for 103 yards on 16 carries. Schroeder was 7 of 13 passing for 47 yards and threw one interception.
As a team, McComb rushed for 327 yards.
Leipsic’s offense was clicking on all cylinders in the second half.
With 2:20 left in the third quarter, Leipsic’s Colin Niese capped off an 11-play, 84-yard scoring drive with a 3-yard run to the end zone. That score, along with a successful 2-point conversion, cut the deficit to 21-16.
In the fourth quarter, McComb answered with a 1-yard TD run by Schroeder that extended the Panthers’ lead to 27-16.
However, Leipsic had an answer.
On the ensuing kick-off, following that McComb score, Marquis Williams returned the football 77 yards for a touchdown, cutting the McComb lead to 27-22.
Three minutes later, Kirkendall connected with Westhoven for the 22-yard scoring strike that proved to be the game-winner.
“These guys have to learn to finish. … We didn’t finish,” longtime McComb coach Kris Alge said. “We have to find a way. I think we’re a good football team, but we have to find a way to finish. They made the plays, and we didn’t.”
Kirkendall had high praise for his offensive unit.
“You can’t say enough about the game that Jayce Brecht played. He was the security blanket,” Kirkendall said. “And the fact that Marc (Kirkendall) could make those plays was because he wasn’t getting hit. Our protection was phenomenal.
“They (McComb’s defense) dropped back in coverage, and we ran the ball a little. But again, Jayce Brecht was a man among boys tonight on the outside.”
Score By Quarters
McComb 7 14 0 6 – 27
Leipsic 0 8 8 14 – 30
Scoring Summary
M – 44-yard run by Braydon Shoop (kick by Luke Kern); first, 5:30
M – 8-yard run by Braydon Shoop (kick failed); second, 9:18
M – 59-yard run by Braydon Shoop (run good); second, 3:56
L – 9-yard pass from Marc Kirkendall to Jayce Brecht (run good); second, :37
L – 3-yard run by Colin Niese (pass good); third, 2:20
M – 1-yard run by Grady Schroeder (pass failed); fourth, 6:16
L – 77-yard kick-off return by Marquis Williams (pass failed); fourth, 6:05
L – 22-yard TD pass from Marc Kirkendall to Quinn Westhoven (pass good); fourth, 2:54
Team Statistics
McComb Leipsic
327 Rushing Yards 52
47 Passing Yards 221
374 Total Yards 273
7/13/1 Pass Att./Comp./Int. 15/24/2
16 First Downs 12
6/53 Penalties/Yards 9/60
0/0 Fumbles/Lost 1/0
3/35 Punts/Average 2/45
Individual Statistics
Passing – McComb: Grady Schroeder – 7 of 13 for 47 yards, one interception; Leipsic: Marc Kirkendall – 15 of 24 passing, two TDs, one interception
Receiving – McComb: Donavin Hepperly – 2 catches for 17 yards; Leipsic: Jayce Brecht – 8 catches foe 114 yards and one TD.
Rushing – McComb: Braydon Shoop – 19 carries for 195 yards, 3 TDs; Leipsic: Marc Kirkendall – 3 carries for 6 yards
