Nevada falls in close contest at home

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Pleasant Hill senior Justin Starks misses a last try to stop Nevada's Jordan Herren from giving Nevada 26-22 lead with 1:52 left in the game as the Nevada fans go wild. --Ralph Pokorny/Herald-Tribune

NEVADA, Mo. -- The Nevada Tigers varsity football team made their return to Logan Field Friday night on a substantial high after winning their previous two games on the road.

The Tigers came into the night with a 2-1 record on the year, looking for their first win at home as they took on the Roosters of Pleasant Hill on Parents' night. Head coach Kyle Roach's Roosters also came into Friday's contest with a 2-1 record and just recently fell out of the top 10 in the Missouri Class 3 football rankings.

The Roosters have consistently been a state playoff contender year in and year out and have already become accustomed to very stiff competition this year as they have played two top-10 teams in three games this season.

The Roosters came into Friday night's game on a considerable high of their own as they bounced back from their first loss of the year to defeat Odessa in week three action in come-from-behind fashion by a final score of 39-38.

The last time these two teams met was in Pleasant Hill during the 2008 season when the Roosters squeezed out a six-point win that came down to the wire. This year's Tigers team has shown tremendous improvements over last year and came into Friday night expecting a very close, evenly-matched contest.

That was exactly what the Tigers and all fans in attendance for the game got, as the Roosters needed a last second touchdown to take a 28-26 victory.

As they have in the previous two games, Nevada's offensive line quickly began to take over early in the game, allowing the Tigers to move the ball nearly at will on their opening drive of the game. The Tigers quickly took advantage as they utilized that protection to mount a 15-play, 77-yard touchdown drive that ate up nearly all of the first quarter.

That drive was capped off by a short touchdown run by quarterback Austin Baldwin that gave the Tigers an early 7-0 lead with 3:47 to go in the first quarter.

The Nevada defense struggled to find a rhythm early as well, allowing the Roosters to quickly move the ball down the field. The drive stalled near the Nevada 35-yard line, but was given new life when a roughing the passer penalty on a fourth down play gave the Roosters a fresh set of downs.

Pleasant Hill quickly made the Tigers pay for that mistake as senior Matt Hertzog pounded the ball into the end zone from 5 yards out to cap off the drive. Tyler Dobson made a very big play for the Tigers as he blocked the extra-point, allowing Nevada to hold onto a slim 7-6 lead.

Both defenses quickly found their rhythm from that point on in the first half, shutting both offenses down with relative ease. Penalties continued to be a major course of issue for the Tigers, however, quickly allowing Pleasant Hill to gain an advantage in the field position game.

The Roosters took full advantage of that with just under 8 minutes to go in the half as a 15-yard facemask penalty gave them the ball at the Nevada 22. The Roosters capitalized on that great starting field position with 5:44 to go as Hertzog ran the ball into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game.

"We've talked about that a lot with the guys. We have a tremendous upside and we still haven't played a complete mistake-free game yet and we feel like when we do, we're going to be able to do a lot of good things," Tigers head coach Jay Fleeman said.

A failed 2-point conversion kept the Tigers within less than a touchdown as they found themselves trailing 12-7.

The Tigers were unable to find any kind of an offensive rhythm for the remainder of the half and Pleasant Hill quickly began to take over the game as the minutes wore on. The Rooster offense never let up through the final minutes of the first half, continuing to move the ball down the field at will and threatening to add to their lead in the final seconds.

The Tiger defense made a strong stand near their own 5, however, holding the Roosters out of the end zone, forcing them to settle for a field goal. That kept the Tigers within a single touchdown as they found themselves down 15-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.

The Roosters continued to win the field position game early in the second half, but the Tigers defense was finally able to find a bit of a rhythm and start to make plays when they needed them.

A 44-yard punt return for the Roosters that gave them their best field position of the night proved to be too much for the Tigers to handle, however, as the Roosters got the ball at the Nevada 16 on their first drive of the second half.

The Roosters needed just four plays to cover the short field as Hertzog helped the Pleasant Hill offense overcome a costly illegal block penalty with a 20-yard touchdown run to give the Roosters a 22-7 lead with 6 1/2 minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Tigers quickly answered as senior Tyler Quick ran the ensuing kickoff back 85 yards for his first touchdown of the season. Baldwin's extra-point got the Tigers back within eight at 22-14 with 6:12 second to go in the third quarter.

Penalties continued to be a major course of issue for the Tigers in the second half as the Roosters became the beneficiaries of a number of drive-saving fouls throughout the contest.

The Tigers defense was finally able to start to overcome those penalties in the fourth quarter as they were finally able to start shutting down the Pleasant Hill offense. The Tigers offense continued to struggle, but was eventually able to capitalize as they put together a long drive that started at their own 25.

Herren put an exclamation point on the Tigers' second longest drive of the game as he took an 8-yards run into the end zone. A failed two-point conversion left the Roosters still with a two-point lead as the Tigers cut the deficit to 22-20 with 4:36 to go in the game.

The Tigers needed only 2:24 to erase that lead as Herren took the longest play of the game for either team into the end zone. On a running play straight through the middle of the Pleasant Hill defense, Herren took the ball 69 yards for the score to lift the Tigers to a 26-22 lead with 1:52 to go in the game.

The Roosters refused to go down, however, as they put together a miracle drive within the last 2 minutes of the game to take the victory by a final score of 28-22 on a last second touchdown pass.

"Obviously, they did a good job with limited time running down and made the plays when they needed to," Fleeman said. "That necessarily didn't lose us the game. We should have made some plays throughout the first half. ...The boys just gave everything into this game, pretty tough and I wouldn't trade them for anything."

That loss dropped the Tigers' record to 2-2 on the year and they are now set to head back out on the road next week to take on the Vikings of Parsons High School (Kan.).