Hayman picks up Mohawk at Pandora-Gilboa

PANDORA – With two picks and a pitch, Mohawk's Tyler Hayman changed Friday night's Division VII Region 26 postseason game at Pandora-Gilboa. Hayman intercepted Rockets quarterback Silas Schmenk twice in the second half. The first came with the Warriors trailing 14-6 in the third quarter, and led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Mason Danner, which brought the Warriors' within 14-12 after a conversion attempt failed. Hayman's second interception came on the final play of the third quarter, and set the stage for the pitch – or lateral – that turned the game, and sent Mohawk to a 26-14 win. With the ball on the Rockets 44, and with nine minutes left in regulation, Mohawk quarterback Landen Snyder completed a pass to Hayman for 14 yards to the 30. There, Hayman was met by P-G defenders Bryce Basinger and Charles Ritchey, who began to bring the receiver to the ground. "I noticed I was getting tackled, and I was this close to being down," Hayman said. It was then that Hayman flipped the ball back to lineman James Clouse, who was following the play just to Hayman's left. "Apparently," Hayman said, "(Clouse) runs like a 4.4-40." Clouse took the ball and took off, easily running the remaining 30 yards to the end zone with 9:07 left. After a two-point conversion, the Warriors led, 20-14. Clouse, meanwhile, celebrated his first touchdown. Not just of the season, but ever. "We repped it in practice a couple times," the 5-foot-10, 225-pound senior said. "I thought the coaches were just messing around at first, (but) they said they were being serious." Pandora-Gilboa still had a serious chance to rally. Behind Schmenk's control-passing, the Rockets moved to the Warriors' 33 after a 14-yard completion to Basinger with about 6 ½ minutes left. But a 15-yard penalty for a block on the next play pushed the ball back, and eventually forced a punt. Then Danner practically iced the game with a 75-yard touchdown run at the four minute mark. Danner finished the game with 249 yards rushing and four touchdowns. On the ensuing P-G drive, Schmenk was picked off by Mohawk's Skyler Williams. From there, the Warriors ran out the clock. "Being able to run the ball and stop the run is huge, and the turnover battle is always huge" said P-G coach Matt Hershey. "And we did not win either one of those. We weren't even close." Schmenk completed 21 passes for well over 200 yards. He threw a pair of touchdown strikes in the first half – a 20-yard connection with Bryan Pugh, and a 10-yard catch-and-run to Basinger. The Rockets fell to 3-4. Mohawk improved to 6-2, and will play at Lima Central Catholic next Friday. Hayman was a big reason for that. "He had the best week of practice I've ever seen a kid have," said Mohawk coach Eric Daniel. "He was totally locked in." And it showed with two picks and a pitch.