“I’m just super proud of my guys,” said Tigers coach Dan McGill. “They kept fighting, even when we faced adversity. Obviously, some of that adversity was self-inflicted, but we just told the guys in the locker room that this is not going to be a game of finesse. It’s going to be a street fight, and we’ve got to keep showing up and swinging and the guys did that tonight.”
Tigers quarterback Nick Shifflet rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns and went 12-for-17 for 173 yards and a touchdown pass as West Liberty-Salem won its ninth straight game, improving to 12-1. Tigers senior Josh Wilcoxon rushed for 90 yards and a TD and senior Jacob Evans caught six passes for 90 yards and a TD.
Waynesville senior Garrett Lundy rushed for 176 yards and a TD and senior quarterback Alexy Amburgy rushed for 68 yards and two TDs and went 15-for-33 for 186 yards and a TD through the air. Waynesville senior Trenton Davis caught 12 passes for 166 yards and a TD as the Spartans finished the season 9-4.
“I’m really proud of the way our kids battled back and kept fighting back through adversity,” said Spartans coach Ben Johnson. “We gave up too many big plays to overcome tonight. We had some other opportunities we didn’t take advantage of. Hats off to West Liberty-Salem. They have an outstanding team. I was just telling the guys you could probably find a few plays, one play here or there where if the ball bounces a different way or whatever and it flips the game right around. It was one of those games and they made that one extra play that we didn’t make tonight.”
Trailing 42-21 at the half, the Spartans cut the lead to three points with about three minutes remaining on a 20-yard TD pass from Amburgy to Davis. The Spartans had all three timeouts remaining, but the Tigers were able to get several first downs to seal the victory.
“We had to pick up those first downs and make them use their timeouts,” McGill said. “It was a gut-check time for the offensive line and my guys have been undersized pretty much most of the year, but they’re scrappy.”
After an interception by senior Hunter Knotts, West Liberty-Salem took a 21-14 lead on a 45-yard TD run by Wilcoxon. The Spartans tied the scored on a blocked punt by Caleb Sullivan that was recovered by junior Cody Gunn. On the ensuing kickoff, Tigers senior Jack Bahan returned the kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-21.
“Jack is a dangerous guy,” McGill said. “He’s fast. I know they’ve got fast guys as well, but Jack did a great job hitting that seam and our guys did a great job of being hat-on-hat and finding somebody. It’s a credit to the kids that show up on Monday. We do special team drills until they’re nauseated with them, but they work.”
The play swung momentum back to the Tigers. With two minutes remaining, Shifflet scored on a 27-yard run to make it 35-21. After forcing a quick Spartans punt, Shifflet broke free for a 65-yard run that led to a 4-yard TD run with :49 seconds remaining to make it 42-21.
“(The kickoff return TD) was a backbreaker for sure,” Johnson said. “You can’t give up plays like that in games like this against good teams. That was sore spot for us all night was our kickoffs and giving them too good of field position. Giving them short fields all night did not work in our favor.”
The Spartans responded with 14 points in the third quarter on TD runs by Amburgy and senior Lincoln Buck to cut the lead to 42-35. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Tigers senior Gideon Cole hit a 21-yard field goal to increase the Tigers lead to 10 points.
The Spartans will graduate 16 seniors from this year’s squad that won 20 games over the past two seasons.
“This group of kids have had outstanding careers,” Johnson said. “They’ve rewritten our school record books. I couldn’t be more proud of the way that they’ve handled themselves.”
The D-V Region 20 final will see two Logan County teams face off with a berth to the state final four on the line. The Tigers advanced to face Indian Lake at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22 at a site to be determined. The Lakers beat top-seeded Greeneview 28-13 in the other Region 20 semifinal.
“It’s a county showdown,” McGill said. “It’s exciting. We play 7-on-7 over there every summer. Our lineman go over there and do a lineman challenge. (Lakers coach Jonn Rapp) does a great job. We’ve never played them since I’ve been coaching so this would be a first.”
The Tigers became the first team in school history to win 12 games. With one more victory, they’ll become the first team to advance to the state semifinals. West Liberty-Salem is 0-3 in regional final games, most recently falling to West Jefferson in 2019.
“We’ve never won one and I told the guys that’s the next goal, find a way to win,” McGill said.
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