PLYMOUTH — Mapleton quarterback Keith Donley fired two touchdown passes, the second one to tie the game late in the fourth quarter and added a two-point conversion pass J.J. Guilliams to rally the Mounties past Plymouth 30-28 in Friday night’s Firelands Conference encounter.
The Big Red Vikings tried to respond, but an interception in the end zone turned away their final threat.
Guilliams finished with 161 yards rushing on 24 attempts to spearhead the Mounties’ offense.
Plymouth’s Isaiah Miller racked up 217 yards rushing and two long touchdowns of 56 and 43 yards.
It was a see-saw game with the Big Red Vikings scoring first on Lincoln Distl’s 9-yard run. But Guilliams responded with an 8-yard scoring blast and the two-point conversion pushed the Mounties on top 8-7 at the end of the first period.
Landon Jenkins added a 1-yard plunge in the second quarter and Guilliams tacked on his second two-point conversion run for a 16-7 halftime advantage.
Mapleton quarterback Keith Donley fired a 53-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Bowles to make it 22-7, but then the Big Red roared back.
Miller put together back-to-back highlight-reel runs of 56 and 43 yards to pull Plymouth within 22-21 heading to the final 12 minutes.
Plymouth grabbed the lead on Ben Trimmer’s 9-yard TD run to make it 28-22, setting up the final, frantic finish.
Mapleton drove 90 yards, with Donley finding Jack Keener on a 13-yard strike to tie the game with 1:09 showing. Donley then hooked up with Guilliams on his third two-point conversion for the final score.
Plymouth’s last gap resulted in the pick that finished it.
The Big Red Vikings are now 0-5 overall, 0-2 in the Firelands Conference. Plymouth is at Crestview on Friday night.
Mapleton improves to 2-3, 1-1 and will host South Central next week.
(Photos below were taken by Diane Bemiller)
