by Buckeye High School travels to Westlake tonight for the last game of the regular season for both teams. Buckeye comes into this game 4-5 and Westlake comes in at 2-7. Westlake is not looking at playoffs, but if Buckeye wins tonight they are in. It is Westlake’s senior night tonight and both teams look to leave this regular season finale with a win.
This was an incredibly high scoring game tonight between the Buckeyes and the Demons. The Buckeyes utilized a very crafty run game that kept the Demons guessing, and the Demons air attack left the Buckeyes secondary frustrated as they could barely ever stop them. The entire game was a shoot-out, with both teams combining for 16 touchdowns on 22 drives, and it all came down to an untimed two-point conversion.
Westlake won the toss and chose to return the ball. Westlake came out of the gate firing on their first drive of the game with a 45-yard rip from running back Hadi Mustafa who was finally tracked down by Aiden Mangin. After a few more plays to Mustafa, Moe Abdelhady found Gavin McMillen in stride over the middle of the end zone for the first score of the game. The Demons led the game 7-0 after a 1:45 drive. Westlake kept this momentum through to the defensive side and forced a quick three and out after nice stops by Anshpreet Singh and Jacob Neff. With the ball back, the Demons were faced with a third and long, where McMillen was found again over the middle for a clutch completion, which led to two broken tackles for extra yards after the catch. Another great catch and run by running back Hadi Mustafa set Westlake up just outside of the red zone. This is when Abdelhady was able to find Nate Meyer in the back corner of the end zone for another first quarter passing touchdown for the Demons. They now led 14-0 with about half of the first quarter gone.
This is the drive where Buckeye started to establish their run game that would carry their offense throughout the rest of the game. They started with a pitch to Liam Phillips who took the ball outside for a 12-yard gain. They would keep feeding Phillips the ball, sending him each time behind his blocker, Denis Shevchenko, moving the Buckeyes further and further into Demon territory. Right outside the redzone, they switched their play from a run to a screen pass to their wide receiver Nick Prouza, which caught the Demons off guard allowing for a 17-yard run after the catch. On first and goal, the Buckeyes handed the ball off to fullback Shevchenko, which the Demons did not see coming, and he easily walked into the end zone untouched behind his line. The Buckeyes did not celebrate long though, as Westlake’s Seth Eagle made a big play and blocked the extra point.
Westlake was then back with the ball at around their 30-yard line. This led to a tipped pass at the line by Mark Shevchenko, which put the ball right in the hands of Colton Homchik who barreled through the Demons for a pick-six. Seeing as they were down, the Buckeyes went for a two-point conversion and Liam Phillips was able to get in after a pitch play, tying the score up 14-14.
Westlake would then start moving back down the field in the air, finding Nate Meyer for the majority of these completions. This led to Westlake looking at a 4th down, just outside of the Buckeye red zone. They decided to go for it, and after a handoff and a pitch, Nate Meyer was the one passing the ball to McMillen who completed the pass right before the sideline at the 1-yard line. Abdelhady would line up and snap the ball quickly, and when he saw the defense committing to the run, he kept the ball and took it to the end zone for a touchdown. Westlake now led 21-14 with 9 minutes left in the second.
Buckeye stuck to the ground on their next possession, moving up the field with ease thanks to the rushing by Liam Phillips and Denis Shevchenko. They found themselves quickly in the Demons red zone, and after running the ball the whole drive, Shane Metter faked the handoff and found Colton Homchik wide open in the end zone for a touchdown. This tied the game back up quickly at 21 with 5 minutes to go in the half.
After a nice return by Mustafa and a big pickup on a jet sweep, Abdelhady dropped back, evading incoming lineman in the pocket, and found Nate Meyer again over the middle where he sheds a tackle and beats a defensive back to the sideline, turning the ball up field for a massive 59-yard passing play. This quickly put the Demons back on top 28-21. This would not last long though, as Buckeye would come down and convert a first down almost every single play with Liam Phillips leading the way. This would lead to a very crazy play where a wayward pass bounced straight up off the helmet of a Demon and again, straight into the hands of Colton Homchik who nearly took it into the end zone. This again set up a nice fullback dive to Denis Shevchenko who once more, walked right into the end zone. Another made extra point tied the game back up at 28 with 2:18 left in the half. Westlake would try to score again on their next drive but missed a 30-yard field goal to send the game to halftime.
The Buckeyes received the ball out of half, and just like their first possession of the game, they went three and out. This led to some of the only signs of defense we saw all game. Westlake were looking at a second and long around midfield, and big pressure from the Buckeye defensive line forced a fumble on the tackle that was recovered by the defense. This gave the Bucks another chance to take the lead. They would not hold onto the ball long though, as Nathan Gentry would smash through the line and cause a fumble which was recovered by Ethan Boll.
With the ball back, Westlake would get back to work over the air, marching down the field with multiple completions to McMillen and Meyer. This led to another red zone visit that ended in a beautiful pass by Moe Abdelhady that found Nate Meyer perfectly in stride over the shoulder in the corner of the end zone. After a shaky start to the second half, Westlake led again, 35-28 with 5:11 to go in the 3rd.
The Buckeyes came out strong again on the ground, and in a trick play where they handed it to Phillips and reversed it to Prouza, which set the Bucks up right outside the red zone again. It would take only two more runs from Liam Phillips before Denis Shevchenko would punch in another full back dive for a touchdown. This was the response that the Bucks needed and they were now tied up again at 35.
On Westlake’s next possession, they would quickly enter the Bucks territory from a big run by Wes Urich. This was followed by a screen pass to Meyer who was downed just outside of the red zone. The Bucks finally came and made a stop here forcing a 4th down, but the Demons looked to go for it again. So, on 4th down and long, Moe Abdelhady made an unreal pass over the middle, threading the needle perfectly and finding Kareem Musleh who was able to run right into the end zone untouched. Westlake was back in the lead 42-38 with 43 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Bucks next possession brought us to the fourth quarter. Down one score in the beginning of the fourth, the Bucks kept the ball on the ground. The Bucks continued to find success from the run game and started to run their nearly unstoppable full back dive to Shevchenko over and over. After their fourth time running that play in a row, Shevchenko found the end zone again for another touchdown. This put the Bucks right back in it, tying the game at 42 with 9:07 left to go. Westlake would get the ball back, but a risky run play from Abdelhady saw him lose the ball from a hit by Colton Homchik, and Bucks defensive back Liam Phillips recovered the ball. This gave the Buckeyes the ball back right on midfield, and they went right back to their explosive run game. Liam Phillips marched down the field, following his blockers to wide open space almost every play. Now at the goal line, the Buckeyes again ran their nearly unstoppable fullback dive to Shevchenko, who found his way into the end zone again. A bad snap on the point after led to the score being 48-42 with 3:39 left to go in the game. This left a real opening for the Demons to come and win this game.
On the first set of downs for the Demons, they found themselves again on a 4th down. After being iced by the Bucks, Abdelhady continued his great night of passing by finding Meyer over the middle again for a big first down. Abdelhady then found McMillen and Mustafa near the sideline on two massive consecutive plays, converting first downs and stopping the clock on both. Westlake then started to chew clock a little bit by handing the ball off to Mustafa up the middle over and over, getting the Demons down inside the red zone. This is when Moe Abdelhady threw another perfect pass over the shoulder to McMillen who caught the ball in stride for a huge touchdown. After a made extra point, Westlake led 49-48 with 1:06 left.
Tony Kobasuk had a great return for the Bucks, setting them up right outside midfield. On the first play, the Bucks went with a pass to confuse the defense, and it worked, getting the first down and entering Demon territory. Then Nick Prouza was found on a wide receiver screen where he followed a herd of Buckeye Blockers all the way inside the 10-yard line. Liam Phillips would then rush the ball straight up the middle and bulldoze his way into the end zone, taking the lead with 30 seconds left. The Bucks went for two, back to Phillips, and converted, extending their lead to 56-49.
With one last drive to their season, Westlake looked to win this game. After a 1st down incompletion, Abdelhady found Meyer on the sideline for a big gain, going out around the 50. Abdelhady then found McMillen on the sideline, who got out of bounds at the Buckeyes 32-yardline. With 9 seconds and one play left to run, Abdelhady launched it into the end zone where it was intercepted. However, this was called back by a defensive face mask, which gave the Demons one more shot from the 14-yard line. On an untimed down, Abdelhady found Nate Meyer again over the middle for a touchdown, giving the Demons the opportunity to tie, or to win. They decided to go for two, and after a perfectly drawn up play, the ball fell incomplete, a little bit short and through the hands of a wide-open man in the end zone. This ended the game at 56-55, Buckeyes over Demons.
Westlake could not stop the run down the stretch which allowed the Buckeye’s to stay in the game and eventually pull out a win. On the other side, Buckeye could not find any answers to Westlake’s impressive passing game, which allowed Westlake to stay in the game all the way until the last second.
The player of the game for the Westlake Demons was Moe Abdelhady, who led this offense, passing for 7 touchdowns and rushing for 1 touchdown.
The player of the game for the Buckeye Bucks was their running core getting most of the bulk yards from Liam Phillips who had over 100 yards rushing and a touchdown, and a lot of the inside goal line work from Denis Shevchenko, who had 5 touchdowns.
