TC falls short at Perkins; Pirates clinch league title

PERKINS TWP. — Columbian was right there in its battle for a league championship.Then, Perkins scored a touchdown out of the halftime locker room, recovered an onside kick, turned a near-interception into a big completion and followed that with a field goal."Every time we needed something, didn't get it," Columbian coach Judd Lutz said. "Just a couple of those against a good team, you've got to have against a great team."The Div. III No. 6 Tornadoes (7-2, 3-1 SBC Lake) couldn't catch up in a 31-14 loss at D-IV No. 6 Perkins (8-1, 4-0) on Friday night. The win meant the Pirates clinched a share of the league title.The only way Columbian can share it is with a Week 10 win against Norwalk coupled with a Perkins loss to Sandusky."Whether we win by 20 or lose by 20, get better," Lutz said of next week. "Told a couple of the guys don't forget, but get over it."Things started so well for the Tornadoes, which scored on their opening drive. They opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 40.Junior QB Brayden Roggow found an opening on the left side and went all 60 yards for a touchdown."There was a hole and we ran through it," Lutz said, "and he ran hard and fast."Perkins scored 24 unanswered points from there.Logan Lesch threw a 64-yard touchdown to Isaac Bunts on a jump pass, then hit Weston Sturzinger for a 35-yard score right before halftime."Good plays by them," Lutz said. "It's bang bang and they make a great play. They're explosive on offense, we know that, and it showed up."The Pirates added that immediate score out of the break, a 15-yard throw from Lesch to Jayden Rowe. Then they went onside, with junior Aiden Gruden recovering the kick from Jon Normington-Slay after a slight deflection off a Columbian up-man. Columbian could've intercepted a lofted deep ball, but instead Weston Sturzinger came down with it for a 35-yard gain on third-and-19. A few plays later, Normington-Slay made a 37-yard field goal.The Tornadoes did get on the board once more, when Roggow pounded in a run from three yards out, but it was too late.Perkins held down Columbian's rushing attack. The SBC Lake's leading rusher, Damien Brockington, carried 17 times for 68 yards. His longest carry went for 10 yards as he was mostly contained."Felt like we were one block away," Lutz said. "Their D-line is good, and they play well at linebacker.""We put in a lot of different zones and pressures this week," Perkins coach Jalen Santoro added. "Credit to our defensive coaching staff and the kids, they did a good job of picking up a lot of new stuff in one week."There'll still be plenty to play for this season for Columbian, but the league title most likely escaped the Tornadoes' grasp. They'll look to right the ship in Week 10 against a winless Norwalk team that has played better the past two weeks.Columbian will hope to use that game to propel itself into the playoffs, where it'll be one of the top few seeds in Division III, Region 10. There could still be a lot of football in the Tornadoes' future, and Lutz wants them to embrace that."Use it to burn and leave a mark, but it's gonna be a battle scar and hopefully something really good," Lutz said. "We'll see."