LUCAS — Victor Skoog felt he owed his Clear Fork teammates a better performance in the fourth quarter at Lucas on Friday night.
Consider that debt paid in a thrilling, come-from-behind 21-20 win at Bob Wine Field in a backyard brawl between two traditional football powers located just nine miles apart.
The elusive, 5-foot-11, 163-pound senior quarterback, whose team trailed the Cubs 20-14 with just 5:17 remaining, led the Colts on the kind of winning drive that defines instant classic — 67 yards on 12 plays in less than three minutes.
All Skoog did was account for all 67 yards, completing four passes for 27 yards and rushing four times for 40 yards, including the game-winner on a 9-yard QB draw with 2:36 showing. (below)
“I didn’t play my best game throughout the first half. Even in the third quarter, I wasn’t really playing the way I would like to have played,” the veteran QB said. “So I knew i had to go out and give my all on that last drive.”
Skoog, who the finished with 109 yards on 20 carries and 68 yards through the air on 8-of-16 passing, credited sophomore wide receiver Jay Jackson with catches along the sideline and also his offensive line for protection on the winning drive.
“I had quite a bit of time. (Lucas was) blitzing off the edge to try to get to me, but I’d scramble and get some yards. Huge shoutout to (junior guard) Ty Sellers on the touchdown.
“We ran a quarterback draw, they blitzed (up the midde) and Ty just wiped the linebacker out of the way. I could walk into the end zone. So that was all the offensive line on that play,” Skoog said.
Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll, in his 14th season at his alma mater, said he put the ball in Skoog’s hands.
“He’s such a smart kid … most of the time,” Carroll said. “He (had a questionable decision) in the first half and threw that pick.
“But he is so elusive. He throws a nice ball, but he really breaks people down with his legs and his scrambling. He gives us that extra dimension and that’s hard to coach and teach,” Carroll said.
“I am happy for our kids. We made some mistakes and there are things we need to clean up. But I am proud of our kids. They fought, man. That was a classic. The backyard brawl is on,” he said.
Lucas coach Scott Spitler knows his Division VII team is playing perhaps the most rugged schedule in the area. An independent school, every team the Cubs play this season was in the playoffs in 2021, including the larger, Division IV Colts, one of the favorites in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference in 2022.
“We don’t apologize for our schedule. We play up every week. Us playing (Clear Fork) would be like if they chose to play a Division I school. Our schedule is tough and we gotta get better and learn to win these type of games.
“When we get on the field, we expect to win. I don’t care what the division is. We found out tonight we got a lot of things we gotta get better at,” Spitler said.
The game-winning drive came against a tiring Lucas defense that had bottled the larger Colts up most of the game.
“I thought towards the end there, when it was tight at the end, we kind of lost a little gas. We were cramping really bad, but they put it away,” he said.
Lucas returns most of its backs and receivers in 2022, but is working behind largely rebuilt offensive and defensive lines that battled all night.
“It’s part of that expectation. We don’t allow ourselves moral victories or ‘oh, graduation.’ We know who we gotta play every week. We play good football teams, winning football teams. We have to come ready to play,” Spitler said.
“No matter how young we are, we still got a lot of Lucas fight in us. If you can take anything positive away from this, because this one stings and it’s gonna motivate us to get back to work, it’s that some of our young pups grew up a little bit tonight against a darn good football team,” Spitler said.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Clear Fork had 301 yards in total offense, including 40 carries for 233 yards. The Colts completed 8-of-17 passes for 68 yards.
Lucas had 250 yards in offense, including 155 yards rushing on 32 carries. The Cubs had 95 yards through the air on 7-of-14 passing.
In addition to Skoog, senior RB Trystyn Robison had 60 yards on 11 carries and caught four passes for 17 yards. Senior Pawie Ault had scoring runs of 28 and 2 yards. Junior tight end Milo Burgholder had one catch for 32 yards and Jackson had three catches for 19 yards.
Lucas senior QB Andrew Smollen did all the passing for the Cubs, including a 9-yard TD toss to senior Corbin Toms to open the scoring in the first quarter. Toms also ran for 52 yards on eight carries and scored on a 90-yard kickoff return. Junior Graysen Jackson led Lucas with three catches for 56 yards.
UP NEXT: Lucas hosts Hillsdale next week, back at Bob Wine Field. Clear Fork is at Granville in another non-league game on Friday night.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st quarter
Lucas — Corbin Toms 9-yard pass from Andrew Smollen (PAT Aidan Culler kick)
2nd quarter
Clear Fork — Pawie Ault 28-yard run (PAT Adam Vanausdle kick)
Lucas — Corbin Toms 90-yard kickoff return (PAT kick blocked)
3rd quarter
Lucas — Graysen Jackson 6-yard run (Culler kick)
Clear Fork — Ault 2-yard run (PAT Vanausdle kick)
4th quarter
Clear Fork — Victor Skoog 9-yard run (Vanausdale kick)
