Fliers win share

out Chargers

By SCOTT BLACK

Enterprise sports writer

clydenews@bizwoh.rr.com

Friday night's football game at Edison was a case of pride versus history for the Fliers and the Chargers.

The Fliers were playing for pride. They were picked to win the Sandusky Bay Conference by both the media and the coach's poll. They stumbled out of the gate with three straight losses and were written off by a lot of people.

They then turned around and reeled off five straight wins to lead the SBC, but were upset by Oak Harbor to again put their SBC hopes on the ropes.

The Chargers were playing for history. In their 23 years of playing in the SBC, they had never won a football championship. They were 8-1 and playing at home against the Fliers, who were coming off of the upset by Oak Harbor. Even though a loss would still probably put them in the playoffs they did not want to continue to be the only team in the SBC to have never won a football title.

In the end, pride prevailed as the Fliers picked themselves up after the loss to Oak Harbor and defeated Edison on the road 7-0 despite playing the game with their starting quarterback in street clothes. The Fliers now share the SBC Title with co-champions - the Perkins Pirates.

It is the Fliers' 12th SBC title and third in a row and fourth out of the last five years.

It puts them three titles behind all time SBC leader Huron, which has 15 titles and ties them for second with St. Joseph Central Catholic who no longer plays in the league.

Clyde's Drew Frazier turned out to be one of the big stars of the game and an equal opportunity player as the senior caught a big pass from Flier quarterback Ryan Meyer and another big pass from Edison quarterback Zach Yovanov.

With 9:19 remaining in the first half and both teams locked in a scoreless battle of field position Meyer found Frazier crossing over the middle for a 27-yard touchdown. Frazier had to reach behind his back to snag the pass as he split two defenders.

"At the start of the season coach came up to us and said our first goal was to win the SBC," Frazier said. "Tonight we did that. That was all that we came out here to do.

"It's the greatest feeling you can have winning a championship. We knew that the media was counting us out. First before we played Perkins and then here tonight. It feels great to know that you went out there and played your heart out and proved everyone wrong."

With 25 seconds remaining in the game and Edison at the Flier five-yard line, Frazier picked Yovanov in the end zone to stop Edison from tying or possible wining the game.

The Chargers' drive had started at the Edison 29-yard line with 2:58 remaining in the game. Yovanov had only completed one pass prior to the drive in the entire game.

But on this drive, he resembled Peyton Manning as he completed five passes and had the Fliers flagged on another one for interference to move straight down the field to the five. The only other speed bump up until the interception on the drive had been a sack by senior Kyle Smetzler. The interception in the end zone was tipped into Frazier's hands by Thomas Glick. Frazier ended the night with two receptions for 40 yards not counting the one he got from Yovanov.

"Their quarterback started rolling right," Frazier said. "We had all the guys covered, but I saw one guy slip open but then Thomas Glick stepped right in front of the guy and got his hands on it and it just fell right into my hands and I went straight to the ground. If I could I'd give that pick to Thomas. With how close the game was and with defenses dominating all night, what better way to end it then with a pick."

The two other big stories of the night were the defense and the play of Meyer at quarterback. Meyer, a sophomore, was making just his second start as a varsity player filling in for the injured Gabe Gilbert. When Flier fans arrived at Edison High School to watch the Fliers take on the 8-1 Chargers and saw Gilbert in street clothes they probably thought that the night was not going to go well for the Fliers.

The gutsy little sophomore did the two things that he needed to do in order to win the game. He put enough points on the board to win, and he didn't turn the ball over to the Chargers save for an early interception.

"I knew that I had to step in and get the job done tonight," Meyer said. "I couldn't have done it without my teammates. They encouraged me all week and told me that I could do it, and that's what carried me through this game.

"My line was great, they were into it. After the interception they told me that I had to look for the two safeties in the middle and I had to find that chute. Everyone cleared the field off to the right and I saw man coverage, and I knew that if I threw it up there Drew would catch it. He's been doing it all week in practice for me. He did a wonderful job of adjusting to the ball."

Coach Marc Gibson added, "That kid knows no fear.

"He's from a great family. I had the honor of coaching his older brother and he was a tough, gutsy hard-nosed kid and Ryan has a lot of those same characteristics. He didn't blink an eye when he knew that he was going to start this week. He did everything we asked him to do."

The game was a defensive struggle right from the get go. After holding the Chargers on their first possession, it looked like the Fliers might score early but Meyer was intercepted by the Chargers Evan Lee after driving to the Edison 22.

The Chargers returned the favor as Glick recovered a fumble for the Fliers. After the second quarter touchdown, both teams played a scoreless second half.

There was only 74 yards passing between the two teams and 228 yards rushing. Kade Kramer led all runners with 80 yards. Yovanov led Edison with 49. There were seven quarterback sacks and numerous tackles for losses.

"The last drive was something that Edison knew they had to do," Gibson said. "Give them credit for going out of their game plan, which is running the ball and going to the passing game to move the chains.

"There was no quit in them. They have nothing to hang their heads about. Tonight shows the resolve and character of our team after going through some adversity early on," Gibson said. "People were starting to write them off, and they came through once again. They knew how special this night was. The seniors wanted a three-peat tonight, and they came out and gave championship effort.

"They did a fantastic job and they can forever say they were champions."

CLY 0 7 0 0 7

ED 0 0 0 0 0

Second Quarter

CLY - Drew Frazier 27 pass from Ryan Meyer (Jordan Colson kick) 9:19

ED C

First Downs 11 10

Rushes/Yards 39- 91 39-137

Passing Yards 28 46

Com-Att 6-of-15 6-of-11

Passes Int 1 1

Punts-Yds 5 -193 4-131

Fumble-lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties -Yards 7-45 4-37

Individual Stats

Rushing - Clyde, Kramer 80, Meyer 3, Flores 8

ED - Yovanov 49, Gelvin 39, Howard 24, Matula 17, Lee 8

Passing - Clyde, Meyer 6-of-11 - 46, 1 - 1

ED, Yovanov 6-of-15 - 28, 0 - 1

Receptions - Clyde - Kramer 2-(-6), Frazier 2-40, Colson 1-12, Rex 1-0

ED - Tiura 3-3, Divers 2-20, Tomson 1-5