Western Reserve Wins 1st Playoff Game at New Stadium
Berlin Western Reserve 29, Malvern 20
The last playoff game played in Louisville ended with a Red Devils team celebrating, this time a Blue Devils team did. Berlin Western Reserve rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit to defeat the Malvern Hornets 29-20 Saturday night at Louisville Leopards Stadium.
Donnie Bolton led the Blue Devils rushing for 242 yards on 24 carries, 3 touchdowns, and 2 two-point conversions. He helped rally Western Reserve with touchdown runs of 14 and 17 to tie the game at 14-14 before quarterback Jeff Clegg scored from 6 yards out to give Western Reserve their first lead of the game with just 8:29 remaining.
Malvern drove the length of the field on the ensuing drive and Shawn Ball capped off the drive with a 5 yard score up the gut. Ball would finish the night with 207 yards through the air and 103 on the ground. However, disaster stung the hornets as a packed Louisville Leopards Stadium watched the kick sail wide left leaving the score at 21-20 with 2:28 remaining.
The Blue Devils recovered the onside kick and Malvern couldn’t stop them. Bolton put the finishing touches on a championship-like performance with a 12-yard touchdown run. Then he removed all doubt by running in a sneaky two-point conversion to make it a two score game at 29-20 with just 73 seconds remaining. The Devils defense did the rest.
Malvern’s first two scores came on a 1 yard touchdown run by Ball and a 15 yard jump ball catch by Clay Davis from Ball. But the 14-0 halftime lead was whipped away by the 12-0 Blue Devils.
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