St. Henry slips past Bulldogs

TROY – With exactly one minute remaining in the first half of Friday's state semifinal game with St. Henry, Columbus Grove quarterback Landon Best hit Trevon Baxter down the near sideline.Baxter caught the pass and tight-roped into the end zone.Columbus Grove, which gave up a pair of early touchdowns, now trailed the Redskins just 13-10.It appeared the Bulldogs had the momentum going into the break, down just three.But St. Henry coach Josh Werling had a simple message for his team in the locker room."Our conversation at halftime was, 'Let's run the dang ball, and then, if they don't score, we win,'" Werling said. "It was that simple, and our defense responded."As it turned out, neither team scored in the second half, and St. Henry beat Columbus Grove 13-10, reaching its first state final game since 2006."I'm just so damn proud of my kids, you know? Holy smokes," Werling said. "Going back to state for the first time in 19 years. I could not be prouder of that group."Known as a run-heavy team, the Redskins went to the passing game early. After Columbus Grove punted on its first possession of the game, St. Henry quarterback Charlie Werling found a wide open Landon Schwartz down the far sideline for a 55-yard touchdown. The extra point failed, and the Redskins led 6-0.After Columbus Grove's Evan Verhoff converted a 29-yard field goal to make it 6-3, the Redskins passing game came up big again.This time, Charlie Werling found Austin Zimmerman for a 29-yard score. It upped St. Henry's lead to 13-3 with 33 seconds left in the opening quarter."With our offense, because we do run the ball, it opens up a lot in our passing game," Charlie Werling said. "I think that was a good example of that tonight."Columbus Grove coach Andy Schafer said his team had to switch around its defense to go up against the Redskins."We said, if we force St. Henry to throw, we've got a chance," he said. "That's what we basically did. We forced them to throw early, and they had those two big plays, unfortunately. I wish I could have those back, since that definitely cost us part of the game."But Schafer said his team kept its composure. "For high school kids, that's very difficult," he said. "I'd like to say that I coach that. I don't think that I coach that. I think it's ingrained in them. When you get down in a game like this, how do you respond? Our kids fought back."In the second half, now down by three, Baxter intercepted a Charlie Werling deep pass and Grove went on a 10-play drive to get inside the St. Henry 40.But the drive stalled and the Bulldogs punted.Grove had another drive, early in the fourth quarter, where the offense moved the ball to the Redskins 32, and faced a fourth and 2.But Best's pass fell incomplete and the march ended.Best finished 20 of 32 passing for 138 yards. Baxter ended with 12 catches for 84 yards.With about 6 ½ minutes left in regulation – after the teams swapped punts – Charlie Werling took the ball himself. He carried it eight straight times, and converted a crucial fourth and three inside the Bulldogs 20 with a little more than two minutes remaining."That's been our identity all year, is our Q-run game," coach Werling said. "When it's that kind of time in the ballgame, it is 'Let's lean on who we are, not reinvent ourselves.' The kids responded."None of Charlie Werling's rushes during the drive were for more than five yards."Sometimes, there's not gonna be a big hole there and there wasn't much of that tonight," the St. Henry quarterback said. "So, you've really got to put your nose down and get what you can."Werling ran the ball 25 times for 103 yards. He was 7 of 13 passing for 144 yards.Grove did get the ball back, deep in its own territory, with 1:11 left. But the Bulldogs didn't move the ball and turned it over on downs, effectively ending the game."Just wish we had a few more minutes on the clock," Schafer said.Columbus Grove had won 10 straight games after dropping its first three of the season."A lot of people counted us out," Schafer said. "I knew this team was special a long, long time ago."St. Henry (13-1) will face Hillsdale next week for the state championship.