Comets playing live Thursday night against Avon Lake on FSN Ohio

Associate editor

With first place in the Southwestern Conference and playoff hopes on the line, the Amherst Comets eked out a 17-16 win over an equally determined Olmsted Falls team Friday.

"It's been one point three years in a row," said Olmsted Falls coach Jim Ryan. "Unfortunately we've been on the wrong side the last two."

Although the weather was clear at game time, rain throughout the day left the field soft and muddy, resulting in a defensive struggle for the first half. The Bulldogs scored on a 20-yard field goal by Zach Ferster on their opening drive, and Charlie Davis scored a 1-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds to play in the first half to leave Amherst ahead, 7-3, at the half.

After trading punts to begin the second half, Olmsted Falls resorted to trickery to take the lead.

On third-and-8 from the Amherst 26, quarterback Nathan Ferster passed to Jeremy Ortiz for 6 yards. Ortiz then lateralled the ball to Chris Clark, who raced the 20 remaining yards for the touchdown.

The extra point would give the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead. Amherst coach Kevin Fell said he had not seen Olmsted Falls use the hook-and-ladder play in any of the film he had studied.

"I was laughing because that hook-and-ladder they probably got off of us, because that's what we run all the time," Fell said. "In fact we tried to run one in the first half, but our kid got loose, so he just ran it up to about the 5."

Following another exchange of punts, Jason Stump took the ball around the left end and motored 39 yards to the Olmsted Falls 1. But after two rushes for no gain by Alex Basinski and a 3-yard loss by Stump, Cameron Lombardi kicked a 20-yard field goal to tie the score at 10-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs responded with a 10-play, 56-yard drive, helped along by a face mask penalty on the Comets. Denton Segerman finished off the drive with a 3-yard run with 7:28 left to play.

But this time, the extra point attempt hit the right upright on the goal post. The miss kept the score at 16-10 and gave the Comets an opportunity.

Following a punt with 4:40 left to play, Amherst took the ball on a punt at their own 11. Eleven plays later they had third-and-2 from the Olmsted Falls 5.

Davis took the handoff from Basinski up the middle for three yards, then dragged defenders the final two yards into the endzone.

"They called the run to me, and I was just excited," Davis said. "I knew there was just no way they were stopping me from getting in that endzone."

The score stood at 16-16 with 34 seconds left, pending the extra point. The Bulldogs called consecutive time outs to try to "ice" Lombardi, but Lombardi kicked the extra point to give the Comets the lead.

Mat Malloy sealed the victory by intercepting a desperation pass on the last play of the game.

The win lifts the Comets to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the SWC. The Bulldogs fall to 6-3 (5-1), and a tie for first place in the conference with Amherst and Avon Lake (6-3, 5-1).

The Comets finish the regular season at home Thursday against Avon Lake. The game is being broadcast by Fox Sports Net, so kickoff will be at 7 p.m.

The winner of that game will earn at least a share of the SWC title. Amherst can claim the title for itself by winning if Olmsted Falls loses to North Olmsted Friday.

"We're going to play them hard no matter what," Basinski said. "But now we know we've got a conference championship attached to it, which we haven't won in a long time."

Fell said the Shoremen are always tough for the Comets. They have not won against Avon Lake since Basinski and the other seniors on the team were in sixth grade.

"We've lost to them eight years in a row," Fell said. "One year they beat us twice -- the last game of the season, and then in the playoffs."

He said both teams are close to qualifying for the state playoffs. But a loss would dash the playoff hopes of either team.