Zanesville wins thriller against Newark

ZANESVILLE – The mental wherewithal of the Zanesville seniors has been questioned on more than one occasion during their days as Blue Devils.

They took a big step forward on Friday night.

Staring at a three-point deficit with 10:34 to play against rival Newark, Zanesville didn't flinch.

The Blue Devils rode tailback Leondre Crosby on the go-ahead scoring drive, then staved off three Wildcat scoring chances in the closing minutes earn a thrilling 20-17 win at John D. Sulsberger Memorial Stadium.

The win was Zanesville's ninth straight against the Wildcats under coach Chad Grandstaff, but this was the first time since then that the game was decided by less than 14 points.

Grandstaff was relieved his team escaped with a victory and lamented the mental mistakes.

"Give Newark credit, they played about as good as they can play," Grandstaff said. "But we didn't play to our capabilities. We gave them every opportunity to win."

Down 14-6 at halftime, Newark drove 54 yards in 14 plays then notched the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14.

After Zanesville misfired on a wide open deep ball to Ja-Quan Mathews — he had beaten his defender by some 20 yards — Newark regained possession and marched to the Blue Devils' 1-yard line.

But things went awry for the Wildcats, as a motion penalty backed them up to the 6, and they were unable to get past the 4 in two tries.

They settled for Jed Quackenbush's third field goal — a 21-yarder — but still led 17-14.

Worsening matters, they lost quarterback Kaleb Jarrett to a shoulder injury in the process. He didn't return.

Zanesville took advantage of its defensive stand.

The Blue Devils marched 75 yards in 10 plays — Crosby carried six times — and scored on Crosby's 2-yard run, a play set up by Derek Grandstaff's majestic 28-yard completion down the sideline to senior Ben Kaufman.

The PAT kick was wide left, however, keeping the Cats within a field goal at 20-17.

"The penalty down at the 1, that was the play of the game," Newark coach Mike Kopachy said. "I have no doubt that we're 1-0 if we punch it in right there."

Newark had two chances to tie or take the lead as time slipped away, but Crosby snuffed out a key fourth-and-3 from the Devils' 38 with 2:20 to play.

With no timeouts, Newark saw the Blue Devils work the clock inside a minute, but Crosby fumbled on a third-down run which gave Newark another chance with 38 seconds left.

Crosby sacked sophomore Ty Scott rolling to his right, and Scott's last-gasp effort from the Zanesville 49 fell incomplete.

"After that fumble I knew I couldn't lose my head because we had to go and play defense," Crosby said. "We had to go out and win the game."

Quackenbush's 42-yard field goal with 9:53 left in the second quarter gave Newark a 3-0 lead, but Zanesville responded when Grandstaff found Kaufman on a rollout for a 5-yard scoring toss that made it 7-3 with 3:58 left before halftime.

Newark was driving near midfield on its ensuing possession when Alessio Amato stole the ball away — a la Alabama's George Teague — from Levi McKee to get possession back to the Blue Devils.

Four plays later, Crosby leapt in from the 2 to make it 14-3.

Quackenbush's second field goal, this one a 27-yarder after Richardson's 41-yard reception on a tipped ball, made it 14-6 at halftime.

sblackburn@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

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Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR