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St. Xavier grinds out win over Winton Woods

FOREST PARK, Ohio – Friday’s nights Ohio Division I, Region 4 second-round playoff game between the sixth-seeded St. Xavier Bombers and the third-seeded Winton Woods Warriors was the typical “irresistible force meets immovable object” contest.

It was the Bombers who remained irresistible, while the Warriors became moveable, as St. X ground out a 22-10 victory over the Warriors to advance to the regional semifinals next week.

A matchup between two of the top defenses in Greater Cincinnati, and featuring two teams that each shut out their opening round playoff opponents last week – St. X destroyed Milford 41-0, while Winton Woods blanked Little Miami 35-0 – it was expected to be a defensive struggle, where big plays or mistakes could easily turn the tide one way or another.

The start of the first quarter set that tone early, as St. X took the opening kickoff and promptly went three and out against the Warrior defensive, punting it away to the Winton Woods 22-yard line.

That’s when the Warriors had one of those big plays, as RB Isaiah “Zeek” Garrett took the handoff on first down, appeared to have been tackled in the backfield by Bomber defenders but, giving his best impression of NFL legend Barry Sanders, twisted and turned his way out of danger and romped for 65 yards down to the St. X 12-yard line.

The Warriors drive stalled there, however, and K Bryan Knighten put Winton Woods on the scoreboard first with a 24-yard field goal at the 7:58 mark of the first quarter.

The Bombers offense got somewhat on track on their next possession, with junior QB/RB Daniel Vollmer and QB Chase Herbstreit taking to the ground, running St. X down to the Warrior 19-yard line before the Warrior defense stiffened. A 28-yard field goal by Owen Davidson, with 3:28 left in the first quarter.

The St. X defense forced Winton Woods to go three and out on their next possession, and picked up right where they left off on the previous drive, grinding it out on the ground down to the Warrior 19-yard line. But the drive fizzled again, and the Bombers had to settle for a 35-yard field goal by Davidson to take a 6-3 lead early in the second quarter.

That’s how it would stay for remainder of the second quarter, with both squads stepping up the defensive effort and not allowing either offense to get going, forcing several three and outs. But, with only 15 seconds left in the first half, one of those pivotal moments that can change a game took place, as the Warriors botched a punt return at their own 8-yard line, with the Bombers recovering. It looked as if St. X would dent the end zone, but the Winton Woods D held up and forced Davidson’s third field goal of the game, an 26-yard kick, to go into the half with a 9-3 lead.

Winton Woods took the kickoff to start the second half, and despite QB Bryshawn Brown guiding them down to into Bomber territory – due in part to a huge third-down completion to wideout Jack Oliver IV – penalties stalled the drive and the Warriors turned it over on downs.

That’s when Herbstreit and the Bombers got their passing game untracked, as Herbstreit deftly led the Bombers down the field into Winton Woods territory and finally dent the endzone, with Herbstreit hitting his tight end Matthew Hoerst on a 22-yard touchdown with 2:22 left in the third quarter. Despite not converting the two-point attempt, the score put St. X up 15-3.

They would score again soon after, as their defense again rose to the occasion and forced the Warriors to punt from deep in their own territory. The St. X special teams had come close, earlier in the game, to blocking a Warriors punt, and this time, they did, recovering it in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point by Davidson was good, and it was suddenly 22-3 Bombers with one quarter left to play.

The Warriors finally made some noise themselves in the fourth quarter, with their season on the line, as QB Bryshawn Brown hit a couple of big completions to lead Winton Woods down to the goal line, where Brown would punch it in for the Warriors’ first touchdown of the game with 7:30 left in the game to close the gap to 22-10.

That’s how it would end, though, as both Vollmer and Herbstreit led the Bomber ground attack again, whittling away the clock. Winton Woods forced a late punt, but found themselves pinned at their own 2-yard line, and their final drive ended at midfield with a turnover on downs.

Two kneel downs later by Herbstreit, and the Bombers were moving on as one of 16 teams remaining in the Ohio Division I playoffs.

St. X head coach Steve Specht said after the game that Friday night turned out how his team was expecting it to – a defensive struggle where big plays would make the difference.

“We knew going into the game it was going to be a defensive battle,” he said. “I think Winton Woods has one of the best defenses we’ve seen all year long, and our defense has gotten better over the past few weeks, and it kind of played out the way we thought it would – low-scoring in the first half, caught a couple of breaks on verticals in the second half, and the defense bent but didn’t break there at the end. So, a great team victory.”

While there are things Specht would like to clean up before next week’s game, such as penalties, it is more about surviving and advancing this time of the season.

“Right now, it’s survive and advance,” he said. “You’ve got to stay healthy. At this point in time, you are who you are, regardless of who you play. They are who they are, we are who we are, and you’ve got to execute, you’ve got to stay healthy, and you’ve got to play better. I don’t think you change anything, you just try to play a little better every week.”

St. X moves to 9-3 on the season and will face second-seeded Lakota West, who knocked off Elder 20-14 Friday night, in next week’s Division I, Region 4 regional semifinal. Winton Woods ends their first season in Ohio Division I at 10-2.

BOX SCORE
St. Xavier 3-6-13-0 22
Winton Woods 3-0-0-7 10

SCORING PLAYS
W: Bryan Knighten 24-yard field goal
X: Owen Davidson 28-yard field goal
X: Davidson 29-yard field goal
X: Davidson 18-yard field goal
X: Matthew Hoerst 22-yard pass from Chase Herbstreit (2-point conversion no good)
X: Punt blocked and recovered for touchdown (Davidson kick)
W: Bryshawn Brown 1-yard run (Knighten kick)

RECORDS: St. Xavier 9-3; Winton Woods 10-2
UP NEXT: St. Xavier will face Lakota West (11-1) in Ohio Division I, Region 4 semifinal

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