Friday, October 23, 2009 11:07 PM CDT
Second half comeback spurs Green Wave to victory
By SCOTT RICHEY, Staff Writer
sports@jg-tc.com
DECATUR -- Decatur Eisenhower had a veritable quarterback carousel in its Big 12 conference game against Mattoon on Friday night at Alexander Field at Eisenhower High School.
Zach Shugart, Kyle Johnson and Nate Pittenger shared quarterback duties throughout the game, but the constant switching led to early bad snaps for the Panthers and three first quarter turnovers.
Then Eisenhower’s passing game started to click with Johnson under center, as it were, in the Panthers’ unbalanced line. Johnson threw two second quarter touchdown passes to senior wide receiver John Fitzgerald for 31- and 25-yard gains to give Eisenhower a 14-12 first half lead.
Mattoon took that first half disadvantage and answered with two second half touchdowns for a 26-20 win in the season-ending game for both teams.
Mattoon tailback Treye Williams doubled his first half rushing output with one rush in the third quarter on a 64-yard touchdown run with 10 minutes, 3 seconds remaining. Eisenhower loaded the box with nine defenders and seemed to have the run bottled up, but Williams broke free for the long score.
“Mattoon did a good job on their counter play,” Eisenhower coach Rick Austin said. “That was killer for us all night.”
Johnson said running the counter play that Williams ran for his 64-yard score was a halftime adjustment he made.
“We felt like when we talked at halftime we could run the counter,” Mattoon coach Troy Johnson said. “We just weren’t getting an inside seal. (Williams) just found a seam.”
Green Wave quarterback Shawnesy Carlen connected with Adam Hall on a 25-yard touchdown pass to push Mattoon’s lead to 10 in the second half, but Eisenhower cut into that lead with a 25-yard touchdown pass of its own from Kyle Johnson to Caleb Davis.
Mattoon started the game hot following Vince Anello’s 60-yard return on the opening kickoff. Three plays later, the Green Wave took the first lead of the game on a 17-yard run from Michael Heller.
Heller also caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Carlen midway through the second quarter. Eisenhower stacked the line of scrimmage with nine players, Carlen hit Heller on a quick slant route and Heller was untouched on his way to the end zone.
“That throw from (Carlen) to Heller was huge,” Johnson said. “In warmups, (Carlen) was throwing the ball better than I’ve ever seen him throw. You’ve got to remember he’s just a sophomore.”
Missed opportunities, however, plagued the Green Wave in the first half. Mattoon forced three Eisenhower turnovers – two fumbles and a Mason Hayes interception off Shugart – in the first quarter. Mattoon was unable to turn excellent field position after the turnovers into any points. The Green Wave’s three possessions after the early Eisenhower turnovers had Mattoon starting its drives at the Panthers’ 38, 15 and 24-yard line.
Even given more opportunities after Mattoon failed to convert turnovers into points, Eisenhower couldn’t capitalize.
“We thought we had a chance,” Austin said. “Then we came out and had a bad third quarter. I think the heart was there, but we weren’t able to get it done. We’ll see them game one next year in Mattoon.”
Eisenhower 0 14 0 6 -20
Mattoon 6 6 8 6 -26
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
M - Michael Heller 17 run (Doug Henness kick blocked), 10:26
Second Quarter
M - Michael Heller 49 pass from Shawnesy Carlen (2-pt conversion no good), 5:29
E - John Fitzgerald 31 pass from Kyle Johnson (2-pt conversion good), 3:26
E - John Fitzgerald 25 pass from Kyle Johnson (2-pt conversion no good), 1:41
Third Quarter
M - Treye Williams 64 run (2-pt conversion good), 10:03
Fourth Quarter
M - Adam Hall 25 pass from Shawnesy Carlen (2-pt conversion no good), 11:52
E - Caleb Davis 25 pass from Kyle Johnson (2-pt conversion no good), 5:38
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Mattoon: Shawnesy Carlen 9-(-14); Michael Heller 3-21, TD; Vince Anello 3-6; Treye Williams 14-128, TD; Desmond McDonald 12-32
Eisenhower: Zach Shugart 10-32; Kyle Johnson 11-30; Nate Pittenger 7-3
Passing
Mattoon: Shawnesy Carlen 6-19-0-135, 2 TD
Eisenhower: Teaonus Perry 1-3; Kyle Johnson 10-20-1-160, 3 TD; Zach Shugart 2-5-1-28; Nate Pittenger 2-3-0-40; Brandon Dupree 0-2-0-0
Receiving
Mattoon: Michael Heller 3-75, TD; Rocky Reynolds 1-28; Vince Anello 1-7; Adam Hall 1-25, TD
Eisenhower: Caleb Davis 5-54, TD; Brandon Dupree 1-20; Nate Pittenger 4-38; John Fitzgerlad 5-118, 2 TD
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