Kroger KSR Game of the Week: Male Hangs On, Defeats St. X 28-21
Two 6A powerhouses in No. 1 Male and No. 9 St. Xavier met Friday night for a battle for the Kroger KSR Game of the Week that came down to the wire.
“We came out here and we expected a dog fight and so we had a dog fight,” Bulldogs wide receiver Max Gainey said. “We came out on top, that’s all that matters.”
Male held on late after building a 28-7 first-half lead. St. Xavier brought their A-game in the second, holding the Bulldogs scoreless for the remainder of regulation but came up just short after a fourth-down incompletion from St. Xavier with 17 seconds remaining.
“I think we started out pretty well,” Male Head Coach Chris Wolfe said. “We lost our focus, we couldn’t put them away. Give credit to St. X, they battled and came out with a focus and it came down to a fourth (and four).”
Male quarterback Nic Schutte completed 11-24 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were caught by Gainey. Running back Daniel Swinney also had 99 yards on 26 attempts (3.8 per carry) and a touchdown.
Male’s four-star DE Selah Brown suited up completely healthy for the first time in 2021 Friday night as he’s had a “nagging leg injury” during the summer “and it just got a little bit worse,” during the Bowling Green scrimmage on Aug. 13. He missed the season opener the next week against Floyd Central (Ind.).
Brown was back in action, feeling 100 percent Friday night, though. “I missed the first two games and now I’m back for obviously a big win that we just had,” Brown said after the game. “… I feel like we closed the game out pretty good as a defense.”
First Quarter:
A slow start for both teams was capitalized on first by the Bulldogs. Swinney couldn’t get anything going in the first so Wolfe and his offense transitioned to the air.
Schutte took his team 87 yards on their third drive, completing all six of his passes, including a 27-yarder to Max Gainey and a 30-yard completion to Dominic Vrbancic that set up the first score of the game on a six-yard completion from Schutte to Gainey.
Going against their normal philosophy, the Tigers decided to air it out in the first. Tiger QB Jack Sivori overthrew his man near the end of the first, resulting in an interception by Male’s Deshaun Cooper, who found his way inside the Tiger’s 10-yard line.
Second Quarter:
Male began the second already inside the 10 off the INT, and a couple of plays later, Schutte scrambled into the end zone from nine yards out.
Adding insult to injury, Wisconsin commit Vinny Anthony broke free inside the 10 on Male’s next drive after a St. Xavier three and out. Anthony’s play set up a four-yard Daniel Swinney touchdown, giving Male a three-touchdown lead.
The Tigers finally answered back with a touchdown of their own as Sivori found wide out Mekhi Smith for a 29-yard score on the ensuing drive.
Schutte, who doubles as Male’s punter and QB, pinned St. Xavier inside the one-yard line with six minutes remaining in the half. The Tigers made it past midfield and found their way into the end zone before a holding call brought it back and they were forced to punt, giving the ball back to the Bulldogs with just under two minutes remaining.
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Schutte showed off his gunslinger mentality, executing the two-minute drill with a 36-yard strike to Gainey for their second scoring connection with 17 seconds remaining in the half.
Male finished the half with the advantage in overall yardage 261-151.
Third Quarter:
After a Male three and out to start the second half, St. Xavier capitalized with a long drive, taking up most of the third quarter that ended with a Sivori eight-yard touchdown run to cut the Bulldog lead in half.
The Tigers’ defense came up huge for St. X with eight seconds remaining in the third, breaking up a pass from Schutte to Anthony on fourth down. The Tigers then took over on their own 26 — you could tell the Male sideline was getting nervous.
Fourth Quarter:
Sivori took the first snap of the fourth for 41 yards. All of a sudden, the Male defense was on their heels.
Three plays later, Sivori couldn’t convert on a fourth and two QB draw. There were less than 10 minutes remaining in the ballgame and Male took over on downs — much to the elation of the Bulldog student section, who came in full force to their rival’s stadium.
St. Xavier made the most of their next fourth down opportunity where Sivori connected with Smith for a 13-yard touchdown to bring the Tigers to within a score with three minutes remaining.
After failing to recover the onside kick, the St. Xavier defense forced a mandatory three and out. On the ensuing punt, Male faked it. Schutte had Anthony wide open and he dropped the ball — a completion would’ve sealed the deal.
Wolfe said after the game that “nine times out of ten, maybe 99 times out of 100,” Anthony is going to make that play.
With all the momentum in the world, the Tigers began driving downfield, driven by the fans in attendance for their last shot to tie or take the lead. It all came down to a fourth and four on Male’s 23-yard line that was broken up by the Bulldog defense and Male held on to win the thriller.
“We needed to be tested, and we were tested hard today,” Wolfe said. “… Glad to get out of here with a win and work on what we need to fix.”
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