Shot after shot after shot after shot.
That is what you got as a spectator Friday night in Bluffton. Neither the host Tigers or ACAC foe South Adams wavered from that as a big offensive night for both teams finished with a 44-41 win for the Tigers, their third in a row over the Starfires.
There were 826 yards of combined offense in the game with 47 total first downs.
It was a game that was not decided until 14.5 seconds were left on the clock when Bluffton’s Marshall Gerber intercepted a South Adams pass. That came less than 12 seconds after Axton Beste found AJ Streveler on the left side of the end zone for the Tigers to take the final lead of the game.
“We played not a great first half, but those guys were getting to the quarterback and I feel like we have one of the better secondaries. Tonight, South Adams had a great game plan but I think we defended it to the best of our abilities, but have to fix a lot from film tomorrow,” Gerber said after his game sealing interception, one of two INTs from Bluffton on the night. He finished the game with 6 tackles as well.
The first two offensive series of the game didn’t make it seem like it would be such an offensive affair. Bluffton was forced to punt on its opening possession, while South Adams quarterback Tytus Lehman threw an interception on the Starfires’ very first offensive play. But that flipped quickly for Lehman, who was excellent through the entire game. After the interception, he completed his next 14 passes in a row and finished the game 41-of-60 for 434 yards and 5 touchdowns.
It was Bluffton that opened scoring in the first on an Ethan Ribich 22-yard field goal. South Adams turned around and spent four minutes marching down the field through the air, going up 7-3 on a Lehman pass to Gavin Herring. Beste and Lehman each had two more passing touchdowns before the halftime break, with Bluffton striking last on a 22-yard connection between Beste and Streveler for a touchdown; but the Tigers still trailed 21-17 at the break. The score was a big balancer before halftime and the message in the Tiger locker room kept things relaxed heading into the final 24 minutes.
“Slow down, stay calm and collected and just don’t get super out of control,” Gerber said of his coach’s halftime message.
“It’s the mantra we’ve had for two years now is just ‘good.’ I walked in there and said ‘guys we are in a dogfight. Good.’ That is where we want to be,” Bluffton coach Brent Kunkel said. “If this team wants to do the things that we want to accomplish, we are going to be in situations where it is not going our way.”
Bluffton then struck twice to start the second half, both on touchdown runs from Cooper Craig, who scored from 1 yard out and from 29 yards. With 6:32 left in the third, the Tigers led 31-21 and it was starting to look like they could put some separation between the rivals. But Lehman and the Starfire offense were far from done, powering their way up the field for a Lehman to Will Patterson scoring play from 21 yards out. The teams would trade shots again until the Starfires took control of the ball with just over seven minutes to go in the game, trailing 38-34.
South Adams took the ball for what would be uts last offensive possession after forcing Bluffton into a rare three and out. The Starfires then marched down the field, cutting the clock in half in the process. On the drive, South Adams successfully converted on fourth down three times.
The first came with 6:45 to play with South Adams lined up to punt. Instead, it faked the punt and, needing 12 yards, saw Patterson squirm his way by the defense for a 13 yard gain and a first down. It was far from the first time that Patterson sped his way by the Bluffton defense, previously doing so with 8:49 to play on the previous South Adams score; he finished with 43 yards rushing and 43 yards receiving with two touchdowns.
South Adams would convert again with 5:41 on the clock on 4th and 3 on a seven-yard connection between Lehman and Derek McKean. Finally, with 3:28 to play and facing another 4th and 3, now on the Bluffton 9-yard line, Lehman connected with McKean for the go-ahead touchdown, 41-38.
The clock however, had a lot of time left on it for Bluffton’s just as high powered offense, especially after Craig returned the ensuing kickoff to the Bluffton 45 yard line.
“When they scored with 3 minutes left, Axton Beste said ‘good, now we get to have a game winning drive.’ So when your leader is talking that way, that trickles down to everyone else. When your starting quarterback is ready for that moment and is not nervous, then why should I be nervous if Axton is not nervous. He just brings that calming presence to everything.”
The game winning drive didn’t go completely smooth. With just 42.6 seconds left at Bluffton threatening, the Tigers were hit with a false start penalty that pushed them back to 3rd and 10 from the Starfire 22 yard line. But then Beste found Streveler as the receiver turned and caught the ball at the one and basically back stepped into the endzone to put Bluffton up for good.
“Its one of those games where whoever had the ball last is going to win. Thankfully we had it last enough. Heck of a play by Axton and AJ but we had a couple of plays to get into position there,” Kunkel said. “Incredible job by [Axton] and heck of a high point catch by AJ Streveler. It was a well executed play by our guys for sure.”
Gerber picked off Lehman just 20 seconds later to lock up the win for Bluffton in what continues to be one of the area’s most captivating friendly rivalries.
The Bluffton defense was led by a very vocal Griffin Morgan, who had 8 tackles, forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Declan Greiser finished with 5 tackles, a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss. Bluffton forced South Adams into five turnovers including a fumble recovery from Cooper Jenkins and interceptions from Aaron Jessup and Gerber.
Craig ran for 66 yards with Beste rushing for 67. Beste also completed 16-of-23 passes for 203 yards, 72 of those to Treyton Bustos and 63 yards to Streveler.
McKean caught 16 passes for 191 yards for South Adams; Wes Summersett caught 11 balls for 148 yards. Kaleb Minger and Summersett each had 7 tackles and Drew Subler recovered a fumble for the Starfires.
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