By Craig Hull
sports@joplinglobe.com
GREENFIELD, Mo. — Needing to cover 60 yards in less than three minutes to tie the game, George Bruto gave the ball to his playmaker quarterback.
Trevor Gregg, all of 5-foot-10 and 167 pounds, directed a 12-play, 60-yard drive allowing him to score on a 4-yard run with two second left to tie the game at 22.
Then in overtime, Bruto let Gregg and classmate Skyler Kariker carry the Blackhawks into the Class 1 state quarterfinals.
Gregg’s 20-yard fade to Kariker on Adrian’s third play in overtime lifted the Blackhawks to a 28-25 victory over Greenfield Monday night in a standing room only crowd at Wildcat Stadium in the Class 1 sectional championship.
“All I told him was make sure you put it in the corner and I knew I could catch it,” said Kariker while shedding tears of joy following the game-winning catch. “I didn’t even see it when he released it, but when I turned to find it, it was right there for me to catch.”
The victory sends the Blackhawks (10-2) into Saturday’s quarterfinal contest at home against undefeated Tipton, a 49-7 winner over University Academy.
The loss caps a 10-2 season for Greenfield, the Spring River Valley league champs.
“The Kariker kid is an all-state caliber player,” said Greenfield coach Jamie LaSalle. “We had our best corner on him all night and that final play, the coverage was great, we just didn’t get pressure on the quarterback.”
Trailing 15-14 to start the fourth quarter, Greenfield took advantage of Adrian’s second turnover of the game driving 28 yards in eight plays with Jamie Gray scoring on a 1-yard run and quarterback Jordan Bryant adding the two-point conversion run with 6:40 left for a 22-15 Wildcat lead.
After trading three-and-out possessions, Adrian took over at its own 40 with 2:59 left to play.
Bruto, Adrian’s head coach, put the ball in the hands of Gregg and senior tailback Erik White.
The two combined to carry the ball on 10 of the 12 snaps on the game-tying drive with White eating up 18 yards on six carries and Gregg running four times for 44 yards on scrambles of 11, 13 and 16 yards.
“We were wanting to get it down through the air, but their defense had our routes covered so I just pulled it down and took off,” Gregg said. “I tried to make something out of the play.”
On second and goal from the Greenfield 3 with 26 seconds left after Adrian called its final timeout, Gregg tossed the ball on a wishbone sweep left to White who was stopped for a 1-yard loss.
Gregg quickly scrambled to his feet and set the offense in the same formation and called the same play, when he noticed the defense overloaded to his left, he faked the toss to White, bootlegged out to his right and met Greenfield’s John Riley at the 2-yard line.
Gregg bulled into Riley pushing him to the one before Gregg stretched the ball out over the goal line for the touchdown with two seconds left on the clock.
Jimmy Ray’s second PAT kick of the game tied the score at 22.
“It was supposed to have been a toss sweep again, but he read and it worked,” Bruto said. “He did great job making a play. If he doesn’t make it, that’s it, game over.”
On the final play of regulation after the Blackhawks kicked the ball out of bounds at the 40, Bryant dropped back and hit Riley on a go route at the Adrian 14 and he was pushed out of bounds at the 4-yard line for a 56-yard completion.
In overtime, Greenfield had the ball first and picked up a first down at the 14 and was first and goal at the 2 before Gray was stopped twice on a pair of dive plays. A 12-yard holding penalty on third down back the ball up to the 13 and after a carry by Bryant, got the ball to the 10, he booted a 27 yard field goal for a 25-22 lead.
On Adrian’s possession, an isolation play for White was stopped for no gain, a second iso for White got five yards to the 20 and on third down, Gregg dropped back and lofted a pass to Kariker for the game-winner.
“That was a great call by their coach ... he’s a genius and that’s why he has won so many games over the years,” LaSalle said.
Said Bruto, “(Gregg) came of age tonight. Late in the game, when plays needed to be made, he came through. When we needed a touchdown, we gave the ball to our best players and they came through.”
Gregg finished 6 of 11 passing for 126 yards and two touchdowns – both to Kariker.
White led the Blackhawks rushing with 75 yards on 17 carries, part of Adrian’s 97 yards on 39 carries in the game.
Bryant led Greenfield with 160 yards on 19 carries, most coming on quarterback draws, sweeps and designed bootlegs. Gray added another 84 yards on 24 carries.
