WELLS — Sometimes chances pay off and sometimes …
Trailing by one touchdown early in the fourth quarter Thursday night, Yarmouth faked a punt in its own end zone. It didn’t work and Wells took advantage, leading to a 21-14 victory in a Western Class C football game.
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Yarmouth (3-2) faked the punt on a fourth-and-26 play, throwing an incomplete pass to gift-wrap the ball at the 5 for Wells (4-1) .
The Warriors scored on third down to make it 21-7 when quarterback Nate Booth snuck in from the 1.
The fake punt came when John Thoma, a sophomore quarterback, was in punt formation and given the option by Coach Jason Veilleux, who feared a blocked kick, of kicking or passing.
Thoma threw to Cody Cook but the pass was knocked down by a defender. Even if Cook had caught it, he would have been well short of the first down.
“It kind of surprised us,” said Mike Curtis, a Wells defensive end. “We were still ready for the play. We thought we could block the punt.”
Wells Coach Tim Roche called Yarmouth’s decision “a gutsy call.”
“These young coaches are kind of riverboat gamblers,” said Roche. “Obviously (Veilleux) knows his kids and was confident they could pull it off.”
In hindsight, Veilleux said it was a tough situation to put his sophomore quarterback in.
“He needs a little more experience,” Veilleux said.
Yarmouth responded to make it a one-touchdown game when Thoma passed to Cook for a 76-yard pass/run play.
The Clippers then got the ball back with 6:13 remaining after stopping the Warriors on downs. Yarmouth drove to the Wells 26 but on fourth and 6, Ryan Marsh of the Warriors knocked down a pass that would have been just enough for the first down.
In the final four minutes, Wells kept giving the ball to Curtis, a 215-pound senior fullback, and he banged out two first downs to run out the clock.
The game was marred by penalties, including numerous illegal motions.
Asked if playing on a Thursday might have thrown the players off, resulting in a lot of timing isues that caused the penalties, Curtis said, “Not at all.”
“We came ready to play and the line did a good job blocking downfield,” he said.
Veilleux, the Yarmouth coach, said he learned something about his team.
“We can throw the ball better than we can run it,” he said.
His team’s performance reaffirmed something else: “They don’t quit,” said Veilleux.
The Clippers’ first touchdown also came on a pass. Thoma displayed a strong and accurate arm for most of the game. Yarmouth’s defense did a good job containing Chris Carney in the second half. Carney, Wells’ leading rusher, gained 145 yards in the first half and scored on a nifty 46-yard run that made it 14-0 with 2:32 left. He had 30 yards in the second half.
The Clippers responded when Thoma and Cook teamed up on a 54-yard pass play to move the ball to the 22. On second down, Thoma passed to Jack Snyder for an 18-yard touchdown with 1:41 left before halftime.
Both teams pretty much kept it on the ground in a scoreless third quarter. Wells drove to the 15 after a fingertip catch by Marsh for 21 yards, but the threat ended on downs.
At halftime, Roche got on his team for its sloppy play. “We’re better than this,” he said.
Curtis finished with 145 yards on 19 carries. He scored his team’s first touchdown on a 6- yard run late in the first quarter.
Thoma was 5-of-11 passing for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
I thought our defense played very well,” said Roche. “It was a big win for us.”
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