Mike Campbell wanted to end it, right then and right there.
The Greenwood coach had just seen Martinsville rally back from a 28-14 deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime and thought it best not to keep giving the Artesians chances to win the game. So when Greenwood scored a touchdown on its first drive of overtime, he thought it best to go for two and the win instead of taking the extra point and playing on.
It didn’t work. Martinsville stuffed a run play a yard or two short of the goal line to take a 35-34 overtime win and drop the Woodmen to 2-1.
“We wanted to win it,” Campbell said. “We felt like they had some momentum. If we get a chance to control the outcome of the game, I want to control the outcome of a game. We didn’t make a play at the end. They did and we did not.”
The Woodmen had seemed to take complete control early in the second half. With the game tied at 14 at the break, the scored on the first possession of the third quarter on a 28-yard touchdown run by senior running back Ethan Haessig. They then forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Martinsville possession and scored on the first play of their second drive when junior Noah Apgar bounced off the left edge and sprinted 46 yards for another touchdown to make it 28-14.
Haessig and Apgar were dominant as usual, finishing with over 300 rushing yards between them. Apgar rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns and Haessig finished with 184 yards and a score.
Martinsville went three and out again after the Apgar touchdown and Greenwood appeared destined for a score that would put the game away. However, the Woodmen’s drive stalled at the Martinsville 23 and the Artesians answered — and did so quickly.
Tyrus Martin, Martinsville’s 6-5 senior quarterback, hit Braxton Dilley on an out route that Dilley turned into a 34-yard reception to put the Artesians deep in Greenwood territory. Martinsville took advantage of a pair of Greenwood penalties, then Martin found Dilley in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown.
Greenwood went three and out on the next possession, and Martinsville scored through the air again. This time, Martin found sophomore wideout Garrett Skaggs in stride deep down the right sideline for a 45-yard touchdown and tied the game with 3:31 to go.
“I felt like we relaxed,” Campbell said. “We relaxed offensively. We relaxed defensively. That is 100 percent on me. It’s on me to help us maintain our mental focus. I did not do a good with our team of keeping us focused in the fourth quarter. I did a poor job and I’m going to work on that.”
Greenwood caught a break on the final drive in regulation on a roughing-the-punter penalty that kept the drive going. It advanced to the Martinsville 9, but missed a field goal at the end of regulation.
Martinsville got the ball first in overtime and scored on a 5-yard pass from Martin to junior wide receiver Chase Mabry. Martin completed 16 of 23 passes for 203 yards and four touchdowns.
Greenwood scored on a rush by junior Gavin Ruppert but couldn’t get a hole for Haessig on the two-point try.
“We were just going with our blast play,” Campbell said. “They cut our puller and they cut our fullback. It’s tough when they do that. I’m not sure the interpretation we got on that was correct, but we’ve got to execute and make plays. They got momentum and they beat us tonight.”
