Poland Seminary Bulldogs at Louisville Leopards 2014 Football Playoff Video Highlights
Poland Seminary 41, Louisville 21
The 3rd Seeded Louisville Leopards fell to the visiting 6th seeded Poland Seminary Bulldogs 41-21 in the DIII, Region 7 Quarterfinals Friday Night at Louisville Leopards Stadium. With the loss, Louisville finishes the 2014 Season with a record of 9-2.
The Leopards were led by Quarterback Connor Zwick who ran for 87 yard & 2 touchdowns. Runningback Walter Schrock also punched in a touchdown on the ground for Louisville and Alec Jones was the team’s top receiver with 5 catches for 58 yards.
Two back-breaking plays proved to make the biggest difference in deciding the contest. Poland Wide Receiver Tate Duarte caught a 39 yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Dom Petrony as time expired at the end of the first half to give the Bulldogs a 17-0 advantage at the break. Later, on the final play of the third quarter, Runningback Austin Wilson broke free for a 93 yard scamper to the endzone to give Poland a three possession advantage at 31-14.
Wilson finished with 176 yards on 13 carries and 3 touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs offense that amassed 325 of its 394 total yards on the ground. Fellow Runningback Marlon Ramirez also racked up 130 yards on 28 attempts while finding the endzone from 2 yards away, Duarte caught 3 passes for 54 yards, and Petrony completed 6 of 13 passes for 69 yards through the air.
Despite trailing by three scores at the break, the Leopards came out of the locker room fired up in the third quarter. A 19 yard Zwick to Jones connection followed by a 30 yard gain on the ground by Zwick had Louisville in prime position to score at the Poland 25.
However, two plays later a tipped pass found the arms of Geno Petrus giving the ball back to the Bulldogs, Poland would snatch 5 interceptions on the night defensively. Along with Petrus, other aerial thieves included Wilson, Marty Malenic, Nick Buccieri, and Tyler Smith.
Joe Crank came up big for the Louisville Defense on the following two possessions. Crank recovered a fumble that led to a 4 yard touchdown run by Schrock. Then Crank intercepted a pass near the Bulldogs sideline which setup a 2 yard touchdown run by Zwick. Unfortunately for the Leopards that’s where the rally ended as Poland scored 24 unanswered points in return.
The loss snaps an 8-game winning streak overall and the Leopards are now 13-15 in the playoffs all-time. Louisville now leads the all-time series over Poland 12-8 with a 7-3 mark at home. One other note, the Leopards did break the team scoring record for points in a season with 446. The previous mark was held by the 1965 team that scored 427 (10 games).
