It came down to the wire, and with 29 second on the clock, the tip drills in practice paid off as No. 4 West Holmes (10-2, 6-1) receiver Graham Martin snagged a tipped pass intended for another receiver to win the game 22-19 over the No. 5 Galion Tigers (8-4, 4-3).
The win sends the Knights to the OHSAA Region 14 semifinals.
With the ball at the 16-yard line, Quarterback Morgan Smith was out of the shotgun and threw a bullet to Cline who was open in the end zone. The throw was up over at the eyes with plenty of mustard, placed well, but went off the hands of Cline. Martin was to his left to make the dramatic catch to take a 20-19 lead. They went for two and Nate Fair took it in on and end-around to secure a three point lead.
After a great kickoff putting Galion at the 29-yard line with Galion’s backup quarterback Ayden Schmidt in the game due to the injury of Braxton Prosser, Fair picked off a pass to seal the win for West Holmes.
This could have been anyone’s game, but West Holmes was the team who got on the board first with a touchdown early in the first quarter. Smith, who is this year’s OCC player of the year, was out of the shotgun and found Cline, who caught the ball at the 10-yard line and took it in for a score. Galion responded with a score on a short rush by Prosser in the second quarter.
Senior wide receiver Kyle Maltarich, who is a top tier receiver heading to Yale next year, went down with an injury in the first half on a play where he fumbled on his way into the end zone.
After a scoreless third quarter, Galion went up 13-7 on a rushing 44-yard rushing touchdown touchdown by Gabe Ivy with 11 minutes to go in the game. West Holmes went up 14-13 on a Smith touchdown run with eight minutes left, but with less than three minutes on the clock the Tigers took a 19-14 lead on a rushing score by Ivy. They failed to conversion the two point conversion and West Holmes went on to win on the Martin touchdown catch.
Smith was 23-for-44 with 219 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. He 140 yards on the ground with a touchdown. as well. Grant Miller had a sack and Fair had a pick on defense.
Next up is the regional semifinal game against No. 1 Perkins on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
