Bishop Neumann defeats rival Wahoo in overtime
WAHOO — Like the rainbow hair guy, or the guy who holds the John 3:16 sign, Tyler McGill showed up in the strangest place to lead Bishop Neumann to a 33-27 overtime victory over archrival Wahoo Friday at Wahoo High.
That McGill scored the winning touchdown on a 7-yard run in overtime was no surprise. McGill threw for two touchdown passes and 214 yards and ran for 54 yards.
But that McGill showed up at linebacker and made the tackle of the game when he managed to stand up Wahoo quarterback Tyler Brunsting on fourth down in overtime was a surprise.
“Yeah. Well. I talked coach into letting me go in for Ryan Luetkenhaus (130-pound junior) on that play because I’m a little bigger and I really wanted to help,” McGill said.
So McGill, who has all of two tackles this year in very limited time on defense, put his 169 pounds into the legs of Brunsting long enough for the rest of the Neumann defense to stop the play for a loss.
Cross-town rival Neumann took over in overtime and McGill took a bootleg run around the right, followed a block by Toby Martin and scored on a seven-yard run.
“We’re facing fourth down and 6 inches and we ran a play that’s been good to us where Dylan (Brunsting) find a seam, and it doesn’t have to be much of a seam, and they wrapped him up,” said Wahoo coach Chad Fox. “We had such a great opportunity. We had some other chances and we came up with a big play to get into overtime, too.”
Neumann (3-2) and unranked after getting a preseason No. 1 nod, appeared completely lost in the first quarter.
No. 9-ranked Wahoo (3-2) stomped 70 yards in eight plays to take the lead on a 4-yard dive by Casey Nice. The Warriors scored in a hurry when Layne Moore, who rushed for two touchdowns and 178 yards, scored on a zig-zagging 61-yard run to put Wahoo ahead 14-0.
Another possession and another score on a 13-yard run by Moore, who rushed for 61 yards on the 75-yard drive to increase the lead to 21-0 with 6:07 left in the first half.
Neumann finally answered with a scoring drive on the running of McGill and Tyler Benal. Benal, who rushed for 134 yards, scored the first of his two touchdowns with 2:55 remaining in the first half. Neumann missed a field goal attempt at the end of the first half.
“We knew we needed to score right away in the second half and we’d get some momentum going,” said McGill. “Our seniors and our coaches were pretty vocal about that at halftime.”
The Cavaliers responded with a 10-play scoring drive to open the first half. McGill hit Martin on a 28-yard touchdown pass for the score. “Toby Martin made such a great catch of a not very good pass, I think it fired all of us up,” McGill said.
Luetkenhaus intercepted a Wahoo pass a minute later and Benal scored on a 4-yard run to cut the score to 21-19.
Wahoo, which hadn’t posted a first down since taking the 21-0 lead, blasted its way through the Neumann defense on a 15-play, 80-yard rive that finished on a 1-yard touchdown run by Taylor Murren with 8:38 left in regulation.
McGill ignited a quick scoring drive to tie the game and the Cavs appeared to have the game in hand as McGill sparked a drive to the Wahoo 6-yard line with 31 seconds left. But Wahoo’s Nice slammed the ball loose on a short run and teammate Corey Davis recovered the fumble to force the overtime.
“The fumble, the heck with it, we all said,” McGill said. “We did that kind of thing in the state championship last year. You just shake it off and keep going.”
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
That McGill scored the winning touchdown on a 7-yard run in overtime was no surprise. McGill threw for two touchdown passes and 214 yards and ran for 54 yards.
But that McGill showed up at linebacker and made the tackle of the game when he managed to stand up Wahoo quarterback Tyler Brunsting on fourth down in overtime was a surprise.
“Yeah. Well. I talked coach into letting me go in for Ryan Luetkenhaus (130-pound junior) on that play because I’m a little bigger and I really wanted to help,” McGill said.
So McGill, who has all of two tackles this year in very limited time on defense, put his 169 pounds into the legs of Brunsting long enough for the rest of the Neumann defense to stop the play for a loss.
Cross-town rival Neumann took over in overtime and McGill took a bootleg run around the right, followed a block by Toby Martin and scored on a seven-yard run.
“We’re facing fourth down and 6 inches and we ran a play that’s been good to us where Dylan (Brunsting) find a seam, and it doesn’t have to be much of a seam, and they wrapped him up,” said Wahoo coach Chad Fox. “We had such a great opportunity. We had some other chances and we came up with a big play to get into overtime, too.”
Neumann (3-2) and unranked after getting a preseason No. 1 nod, appeared completely lost in the first quarter.
No. 9-ranked Wahoo (3-2) stomped 70 yards in eight plays to take the lead on a 4-yard dive by Casey Nice. The Warriors scored in a hurry when Layne Moore, who rushed for two touchdowns and 178 yards, scored on a zig-zagging 61-yard run to put Wahoo ahead 14-0.
Another possession and another score on a 13-yard run by Moore, who rushed for 61 yards on the 75-yard drive to increase the lead to 21-0 with 6:07 left in the first half.
Neumann finally answered with a scoring drive on the running of McGill and Tyler Benal. Benal, who rushed for 134 yards, scored the first of his two touchdowns with 2:55 remaining in the first half. Neumann missed a field goal attempt at the end of the first half.
“We knew we needed to score right away in the second half and we’d get some momentum going,” said McGill. “Our seniors and our coaches were pretty vocal about that at halftime.”
The Cavaliers responded with a 10-play scoring drive to open the first half. McGill hit Martin on a 28-yard touchdown pass for the score. “Toby Martin made such a great catch of a not very good pass, I think it fired all of us up,” McGill said.
Luetkenhaus intercepted a Wahoo pass a minute later and Benal scored on a 4-yard run to cut the score to 21-19.
Wahoo, which hadn’t posted a first down since taking the 21-0 lead, blasted its way through the Neumann defense on a 15-play, 80-yard rive that finished on a 1-yard touchdown run by Taylor Murren with 8:38 left in regulation.
McGill ignited a quick scoring drive to tie the game and the Cavs appeared to have the game in hand as McGill sparked a drive to the Wahoo 6-yard line with 31 seconds left. But Wahoo’s Nice slammed the ball loose on a short run and teammate Corey Davis recovered the fumble to force the overtime.
“The fumble, the heck with it, we all said,” McGill said. “We did that kind of thing in the state championship last year. You just shake it off and keep going.”
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
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