Greenwood’s Ben Hommell, left, tries to get past Seymour’s Charlie Rockey during Friday’s game.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
Seymour coach Tyson Moore figured the time was right for a gamble with the clock winding down.
“You want to run the ball to end the game, but we knew they were going to sell out,” Moore said. “They stuck us for a 2-yard loss and we decided we’re going to take a chance here. We’re going to let our quarterback put the ball in our best player’s hands and those two hooked up for the biggest play of the night.”
Seymour quarterback Mikey Wright connected with senior Jaylan Johnson for a first down and the Owls were able to run out the clock for a 23-20 victory over host Greenwood in Friday night’s season opener.
“At that instance, it looks like a great play call,” Moore said. “But if it’s incomplete then it’s, ‘Why are you throwing the football?’ But we decided we’re going to let our players make plays.”
Johnson was previously in the right place when he came up with the onside kick after it hit a teammate’s face mask. Greenwood coach Justin Boser said the Woodmen had two or three players around the loose ball — but “probably the best player on the field came up with the ball,” he said.
With less than four minutes left in the fourth quarter, Adrian Medina hit a 33-yard field goal to push the Owls’ lead to 23-13, but the Woodmen scored on a 2-yard run by Anthony Scaramazzo with 1:37 left to narrow the deficit to three.
After leading twice in the first quarter, Greenwood trailed 20-13 at halftime.
“Defensively, we weren’t quite ready; Johnson is a really good ballplayer,” Boser said. “We struggled to get some movement.. We had a lot of guys that hadn’t played on a Friday night. We have a young group and weren’t quite sure how we handle adversity. We were able to make some adjustments at halftime.”
A bad snap and a blocked punt by Seymour’s Bradyn RIley gave the Owls the ball on the Woodmen 12. Three plays later, the Owls took a 20-13 lead on a 1-yard run by Wright with 1:42 left in the second quarter. The two-point conversion pass failed.
“The blocked punt killed us as far as turnovers go,” Boser said.
Greenwood took a 7-0 lead on the opening possession in the first quarter on a 9-yard run by junior Gunner Ruppert.
Helped by a big kickoff return, the Owls scored on an 18-yard TD pass from Wright to Johnson (five catches for 69 yards) The PAT was blocked and Seymour trailed 7-6.
A 8-yard touchdown run by Ruppert put the Woodmen ahead 13-6, but the PAT attempt was blocked. The Owls then went ahead 14-13 on the 1-yard TD run by Nick Wheeler with 7:38 left in the second quarter.
Ruppert limped off the field in the third quarter. Scaramazzo replaced him and finished with 11 carries for 62 yards. Ruppert had 19 carries for 68 yards.
“Ruppert is a good running back, but we feel good about Anthony,” Boser said. “Anthony stepped up and played linebacker and ran the ball for us tonight. We’ll look to take advantage of having two running backs we can rely on to pick up yards when we need it.”
The Woodmen also were hurt by a few dropped passes that would have gone for long gains.
“We had some balls in the right place, but in the end they’re young kids,” Boser said. “They’re going to grow; I have no doubt about it. They’re going to learn from this moment and get better.”
Woodmen junior quarterback Ayden Houseman was 8 of 22 passing with two interceptions, both naturally by Johnson.
Boser said the Owls were likely pretty motivated for revenge after Greenwood won 51-49 at Seymour. Boser said Indian Creek also will be looking to avenge a 2023 loss in next Friday’s game.
