Alliance Aviators at Louisville Leopards 2012 Football Highlights

By Leopard Nation · Published September 28, 2012 · Updated August 20, 2018

Louisville 13, Alliance 8

Trent Ohman returned a punt back 88 yards for a score and also caught a touchdown pass to boost Louisville to a 13-8 win over Alliance Friday night at Louisville Leopards Stadium. The Senior finished with 73 yards on the ground, while amassing 107 yards in returns.

With 10:00 left in the second quarter, the gameplan for the Louisville Leopards was forced to change. Backed up in their own end, Louisville hiked the ball and whistles instantly blew the play dead on the field for an off sides call against a Alliance. The Aviators defenders charged in anyways and the play that never should have happened left starting quarterback Joey Duckworth on the ground with a devastating knee injury. For the second consecutive year, Louisville’s starting quarterback did not return to the game after suffering a knee injury from an Aviator hit.

The next three offensive plays netted negative 18 yards for Louisville and they were forced to punt out of their own endzone. For many teams, the fight may not have been worth it. After all, the Aviators milked the clock in the first quarter scoring on a 15 play, 76 yard drive that ended with an 8 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kordelle Phillips to Ryan Bevington. The drive also featured multiple 3rd-and-1 conversions by Alliance, which would take the heart out of any defense. But not the Leopards, not on this night.

The first big defensive play came came when the Aviators had a 2nd-and-Goal from the Louisville 8. Pressure from Louisville linebacker Josh Brown forced Phillips to his right where he was met by Defensive End Dylan Kline who recorded the sack. Two plays later, a 4th-and-Goal Alliance pass from the 11 sailed out of the endzone giving the ball back to Louisville on downs.

On the ensuing series, Louisville was forced to punt after a three and out and a blessing in disguise followed. The Aviators nearly blocked Alex Schooley’s punt which led to the trajectory of the punt being higher than intended. The ball bounced off the 30 yard line and then off Bevington of Alliance. After a mad scramble and pile up for the ball, the punter Schooley alertly fell on it giving the Leopards new life with 3:42 left in the half.

Louisville excelled in the opportunity with their best drive of the night. Jeremy McQuilkin took over duties at quarterback and immediately hit Wide Receiver Alex Hollifield over the middle for a 28 yard completion. Two plays later a McQuilkin to Schooley connection picked up another Louisville first down. Finally, the 6 play 70 yard drive ended with a McQuilkin 12 yard touchdown pass to Ohman on a fade rout into the left corner of the endzone. Unlike the Aviators extra point that was blocked, Merrick Storlie’s kick went through the uprights to give Louisville a 7-6 advantage which they would take into the half. McQuilkin finished 8 of 10 passing for 54 yards on the night.

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In the second half, Alliance’s opening drive was ended when combined sackers Kline and Kobie Shepard brought down Phillips in the backfield. A good run back by Ohman set up Louisville on the Alliance 35. Louisville converted on a 4th-and-2 play, but then went backwards to setup a 4th-and-14 play from the 29. From there, the Leopards elected to kick a 45 yard goal which would have been the school record. However, Storlie’s kick dinged off the crossbar coming up inches short.

The Aviators flew right back down the field in response. Parrish Martin, who finished with 23 carries for 116 yards, ripped off a long run to move the ball past midfield. Then Bevington, who
finished as the games leading receiver with 5 catches for 37 yards, caught another pass before the scoreless third quarter ended. After switching sides of the field, Alliance faced a 3rd-and-17 from the 26. Following an Alliance timeout, Phillips rocketed a pass into the endzone that went through the fingertips of Bevington. Leopards defensive back Kyle White made an extremely athletic move to intercept the tipped pass in the endzone for a touchback. Another threat evaded.

Unfortunately, 51 seconds later Louisville gave it right back. After a three-and-out, the snap on the punt sailed over the head of Schooley and bounced out of the back of the endzone for a safety. The lead was the Aviators at 8-7.

After a free kick, the Alliance drive stalled at the Louisville 36 and the Aviators were faced with a 4th-and-6. With a one point lead they decided to punt the ball away and Ohman made them pay. The line drive punt entered the hands of Ohman at the Louisville 12 yard line and he immediately sprinted to his right down the sideline. The play seemed almost deja vu to Duckworth’s 81 yard run the week before as two key blocks from Cory Neff and Trevor Hostetler sprung Ohman into the endzone. The Senior exploded into raw emotion after the score as he celebrated with his Louisville teammates. An incomplete conversion attempt kept the score at 13-8 with 7:18 remaining in the game.

Louisville would keep it at that margin, but not without a fight. The Aviators looked poised for a game-winning drive after Martin burst into Louisville territory for a 32 yard gain. A few plays later, Phillips hit Bevington on the right sidelines for a gain of 7 on a 2nd-and-8. Bevington was forced out by McQuilkin just shy of a first down. On 3rd-and-1, Kline and Neff stuffed Martin at the line for no gain and on 4th down a wall of Leopards clogged the hole again leaving Martin to no yardage.

The Leopards took over with 4:37 remaining in the game and would not give the ball back again. The key play came when Ohman ran for 23 yards on a 3rd-and-18 to keep the drive alive. Ohman would run for two more first downs before the Leopards entered the victory formation to improve to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the NBC.

From the very beginning of the contest, the Leopards defense rose to the occasion. McQuilkin intercepted a pass on the first play of the game from scrimmage. Charles Beamer, Gary Anile, Brown, Weiss, Neff, Kline, and Shephered were all involved in the backfield all night in recording sacks and runs for losses. Their defensive effort kept Louisville alive long enough for Ohman’s big punt return.

UP NEXT: Varsity Football will next travel to Carrollton to take on the Warriors on Friday, October 5 at 7:00 PM. JV will travel to Alliance on Saturday, September 29 at 10:00 AM and Freshman will host Kent Roosevelt on Thursday, October 4 at 5:00 PM.