Tim Young’s long TD run key in Plano’s 17-14 win over Ottawa

OTTAWA – Plano senior Tim Young laughed when asked if playing fullback can be a tough spot.

“It can be, but you have to just keep working,” he said.

Young’s 75-yard touchdown scamper through a handful of would-be Ottawa tacklers and then down the south sidleline of King Field on Friday night was the key play in Plano’s 17-14 victory over the Pirates to open the season.

Young finished with 154 yards on 21 carries.

“Our linemen hit hard all game, and that play was no different,” Young said of the long dash to paydirt on the final of the third quarter. “Once I got through the line, I saw an opening to my left and just ran toward it. It was just my line making blocks and me making one move to an open space. As a fullback, once you can see daylight it feels so good.”

Young’s TD gave Plano a 17-7 lead, but Ottawa closed the gap to three on an 8-yard scoring pass from quarterback Mark Munson to wideout Andrew Vercolio with 5:17 remaining in the game. The drive went 16 plays and 66 yards.

Ottawa’s defense forced a punt and took over at the Plano 31. Then on fourth down from the 15 and less than a minute to play, the Pirates tried a 32-yard field goal for the tie. A low snap led to a miss, and the Reapers went into victory formation.

“Defense is what we are going to hang our hat on this season, that’s what we are going to be about.”

—  Kyle Tutt, Plano head football coach

For the game, Plano allowed 152 total yards, including only 66 on the ground on 30 Pirates carries.

“I want to shout out our new defensive coordinator. His name is James Ford, and he drew up a tremendous game plan for tonight,” Plano coach Kyle Tutt said. “Ottawa came out and did some good things early, especially on the first drive of the game, but from there I felt our defense really settled in and adjusted.

“I thought Tim and Kolten Schimandle with pressure at linebacker and our secondary, including Amari Bryant did an excellent job. Ottawa made a couple plays on us here and there, but it seemed like we’d come back with a big play to get the momentum back right away. Defense is what we are going to hang our hat on this season, that’s what we are going to be about.”

Ottawa grabbed the lead on the game’s opening possession with Weston Averkamp running it in from the 11 and Lucas Farabaugh kicking the PAT.

Plano tied the score with five minutes left in the second quarter, using a 15-play, 66-yard drive that ate up almost nine minutes of clock and ended with Young bulling over from the 2 and Colby Byrd booting the extra point.

On the first possession of the second half, Plano used a 48-yard kickoff return by Tristan Meszaros and a pass interference call on Ottawa to take a 10-7 lead on a 22-yard field goal by Byrd.

Ottawa was led on the ground by Averkamp (5 carries, 27 yards), Cechowicz (3-26) and Jack Pongracz (10-24). Junior quarterback Mark Munson completed 7 of 13 passes for 86 yards, including three to Vercolio for 34 and two each to Owen Sanders and Averkamp.

“We have to learn from this game,” Ottawa coach Chad Gross said. “We have to make plays when we have the opportunity to make them. I felt like we were in the right position much of the time, but just a step off here or there. We were able to get into the red zone a of couple times in the second half and came away with no points. Those empty drives really hurt us.

“We did a lot of good things tonight, but we’ll look at tape and work towards getting better this week at practice at the things that weren’t so good and hopefully have them corrected against Streator next Friday night.”

Next week Ottawa travels to play Streator in the 103rd meeting between the two programs who first met on the football field in 1894, while Plano will be hosting Manteno.

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BOX SCORE

At King Field, Ottawa

Plano 17, Ottawa 13

Plano (1-0) 0 7 10 0 — 17

Ottawa (0-1) 7 0 0 7 — 14

Scoring by quarter

First quarter

O – Weston Averkamp 11 run (Lucas Farabaugh kick), 10:26, 0-7

Second quarter

P — Tim Young 2 run (Colby Byrd kick), 8:47, 7-7

Third quarter

P — Colby Byrd 22-yard field goal, 6:06, 10-7

P — Tim Young 75 run (Colby Byrd kick), :00, 17-7

Fourth quarter

O — Andrew Vercolio 8 pass from Mark Munson (Lucas Farabaugh kick), 5:17, 17-14

Team statsistics

Plano Ottawa

Total plays: 46 43

First downs: 10 11

Rushes-Yards: 44-191 30-66

Passing yards: 9 86

Total offense: 177 152

Comp-Att-Int.: 1-2-0 7-13-0

Third downs: 2-of-10 3-of-10

Fourth downs: 1-of-2 1-of-2

Fumbles-Lost: 2-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards: 3-30 6-45

Punts-Avg.: 2-11.5 3-24.7

Time of possession: 26:17 21:43

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Plano: Tim Young 21-154 (2 TD), Amari Bryant 9-19, Kolten Schimandle 3-14, Tristan Meszaros 3-5, Kaiden Schimandle 8-(minus 1). Ottawa: Weston Averkamp 5-27 (TD), Archer Cechowicz 3-26, Jack Pongracz 10-24, Jace Veith 3-1, Mark Munson 9-(minus 12).

PASSING (C-A-TD-INT-YD) – Plano: Kaiden Schimandle 1-2-0-0-9. Ottawa: Mark Munson 7-13-1-0-86.

RECEIVING – Plano: Tristan Meszaros 1-9. Ottawa: Andrew Vercolio 3-34 (TD), Owen Sanders 2-33, Weston Averkamp 2-19.

MISSED FGS — Plano: none. Ottawa: Lucas Farabaugh (44, 32).