In one of the wildest games imaginable, Whitmer scored on three fumble recoveries, surrendered an eight-point lead with 1:40 remaining, then defeated visiting Lorain 31-28 on Eric Filby’s 20-yard field as time expired in a Division I regional quarterfinal Friday night.
“It’s pretty cool — because I pretty much cost us six points [earlier] — to make up for it, and go home with the win,” Filby said. “I knew I could make that kick any day.
“It was pretty much an extra point, so it was nothing new. That’s the first time I’ve ever kicked a game-winner. It’s crazy. We thought we had the game in the bag, but we let off a little bit. But we got the ball back and drove down the field.”
It was sweet redemption for the second-ranked Panthers (11-0), who had lost their second-round playoff game 24-21 to Lewis Center Olentangy in 2015 on a 52-yard field goal as time expired, and squandered a 24-0 lead in a 38-31 first-round loss to Medina last year.
“This is so sweet after what we went through the last two years,” Whitmer coach Ken Winters said. “To have some success at the end like that is unbelievable.
“It means a lot, especially for the seniors, to win their last game on their home field and then keep going [in playoffs]. We want to keep this thing rolling.”
After the Titans (8-3) saw Whitmer take a 28-20 with 4:41 to go on a 9-yard fumble return by Panthers safety Sam Stickels, they calmly marched 64 yards and scored on a fourth-and-9 play from their 20-yard line. On a reverse pass play, Davion Dower threw a rainbow into the end zone to brother Daylin Dower.
VIDEO: Whitmer-Lorain
Then, Lorain quarterback Justin Sturgill hit Davion Dower on a two-point conversion pass to tie it at 28 with 1:40 left.
That was enough time for Whitmer and senior running back Kobe Myers.
After the Titans’ kickoff went out of bounds to give the Panthers the ball at their 35, quarterback Riley Keller threw incomplete once, then handed off to Myers on the next six snaps.
Myers (24 carries, 142 yards) ran for 14, 8, 13, 13, 8 and minus-4 yards to set up Whitmer at the Lorain 11 as time ticked away.
“They were calling the plays and I just had to get the job done,” Myers said. “I just had to do my job, and the O line did an amazing job there. They were opening the holes and I just had to go through them.”
After a timeout, Devin Mauder ran for eight yards to the 3 and, after another timeout with two seconds left, Filby kicked the game-winner. He had missed earlier field-goal attempts from 44 and 38 yards.
“We saw that they were tired, and we didn’t need to throw it because we were gashing them the series before,” Winters said. “We had three timeouts, and we had the luxury of running the ball. We elected to keep pounding it.
“Kobe is a workhorse. He’s been doing that all year. He was a little banged up on that last drive, but he gutted it out like the warrior he is.”
Lorain drove 80 yards on seven plays to open the scoring on a 5-yard pass from Sturgill to Davion Dower with 4:30 left in the first quarter.
Jasean Rader scored on a 9-yard pass from Keller on the first play of the second, and Filby’s PAT put the Panthers ahead 7-6.
Whitmer then took advantage of one fortuitous bounce and fell victim to another before halftime in trading touchdowns with Lorain.
The Panthers used a 16-play, 88-yard drive to extend its lead when Keller, who was 10-of-27 passing for 122 yards, tried to sneak in from the 1 on fourth-and-goal.
As he was stacked up at the line, Keller was hit, and the ball bounced forward into the end zone, where teammate Patrick Mappe recovered for the score as Whitmer went up 14-6 with 1:05 left in the half.
But the Titans caught their break when Sturgill threw deep for speedy receiver Zion Cross down the left sideline. Whitmer cornerback PaSean Wimberly leaped and tipped the ball forward, where Cross caught it in stride and streaked to the end zone for a 54-yard touchdown with just 17 seconds left in the half.
After Lorain went up on Sturgill’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Tyshawn Lighty with 5:26 left in the third, Whitmer answered on another fumble-recovery touchdown.
This time, Mauder fumbled forward at the end of 9-yard run, and Zach Walling recovered for the Panther touchdown 13 seconds into the fourth.
Lorain topped Whitmer 391-312 in total offense, with Sturgill completing 16 of 23 passes for 172 yards, and Daylin Dower rushing 22 times for 130 yards.
Contact Steve Junga at sjunga@theblade.com, 419-724-6461, or on Twitter @JungaBlade.
First Published November 4, 2017, 3:23 a.m.
