New Richmond’s A.J. Metzger threw for 307 yards and three touchdowns against Tecumseh. He also ran for 62 yards and another score. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
New Richmond’s Laurence Smith made two key receptions on the Lions’ final drive. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
New Richmond’s Jack Moore forced two fumbles and recorded 18 tackles for the Lions. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
New Richmond’s Tanner Skaggs hauls in a first-half touchdown pass from A.J. Metzger. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
New Richmond celebrates after defeating Tecumseh 28-27 on a touchdown as time expired. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
The New Richmond student section cheers as the Lions take the field for the first half. Photo by Garth Shanklin.
In all likelihood, it would be an impossible task to find a better playoff game than the one between New Richmond High School and Tecumseh High School on Friday, October 28.
The battle between the No. 9 seed and No. 8 seed in Division III, Region 12 came down to the final play. New Richmond scored a touchdown on the last snap from scrimmage and kicked the extra point to win 28-27.
“It’s amazing,” New Richmond head coach Brian Pitzer said. “Winning the way we did, the last second, was unbelievable and super emotional…for the community of New Richmond and all the alumni that came up to me, it was awesome.”
Let’s jump back to the beginning. Neither team’s defense could do much to slow down the offensive attack in the first half. Tecumseh scored on their opening possession to go up 7-0.
Not too much after that, A.J. Metzger scored on a one-yard run and Cooper Tidball’s extra point tied the game at seven. New Richmond trailed 14-7 after one quarter.
That deficit lasted exactly 11 seconds into the second period. Metzger threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Cohen Manning to tie the game at 14.
New Richmond forced the game’s first punt on the next drive but turned it over on downs. The Lions then forced a fumble and converted on a 68-yard touchdown pass from Metzger to Tanner Skaggs. The extra point put New Richmond ahead 21-14 with 1:56 left in the half.
Tecumseh answered with 15 seconds remaining in the half, sending the game into the break tied at 21.
The defenses took over from there. Tecumseh intercepted New Richmond’s opening drive of the second half. The Lions’ defense answered by forcing a punt.
After another punt, Tecumseh got the ball to the New Richmond five but a holding call derailed the drive. New Richmond’s defense stopped a third-down run for a loss of 10 and a pass on fourth down didn’t get anywhere near the end zone, giving the Lions the ball back.
New Richmond was forced to punt on that drive but the ball hit a Tecumseh blocker and the Lions recovered near midfield. Three plays later, New Richmond threw an interception.
Later in the fourth quarter, Tecumseh converted a fourth and 11 from the 32. They would go on to score with 1:46 left but New Richmond’s Silas Jacob blocked the extra point, putting the Lions in a 27-21 hole with one timeout left.
New Richmond moved down the field quickly. A third-down pass fell incomplete with 1:07 left but a defensive holding call kept the drive alive.
On third and nine from the 45, Metzger connected with Laurence Smith for a gain of 20. He then scrambled to move the ball to the 16 and found Smith again down to the seven.
With seven seconds left, Tecumseh called timeout. New Richmond ran a trick play out of the break, but the Arrows were there to snuff it out.
The clock hit zero during the play, but the officials put one second back on. The Lions made that second count with Metzger connecting with Tidball for a seven-yard score. Tidball’s extra point sent the Lions to the regional quarterfinals.
On the final drive, the Lions converted two third downs on the field and another via penalty. Pitzer walked through the coaching staff’s thought process on that possession.
“You’re not really thinking, you just take it play by play,” Pitzer said. “I didn’t have a ton of thoughts. We were going to go with a Philly Special type play there from seven yards out, they knocked it down. We worked a red zone route that we haven’t worked in a game yet this year, we scored.”
Metzger finished with 29 completions in 43 tries for 307 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He also carried the ball 12 times for 62 yards and another touchdown.
Tidball had 12 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. Smith finished with four receptions for 47 yards. Trey Sininger added four receptions for 39 yards.
Skaggs (104 yards and a touchdown) also had four receptions. Manning recorded 20 yards and a touchdown on three grabs. Andrew Hawkins had one catch for nine yards.
Jack Moore forced two fumbles for the Lions. He recovered two as well. Luke Abbott also forced a fumble for New Richmond.
Moore led the Lions with 18 tackles. Jacob had 15 tackles and the key block on the extra point.
“[The defense] did an amazing job,” Pitzer said. “[Coach] Nick Schmidt does a fantastic job on defense. They were so ready all week. They played lights out.”
Pitzer praised the host Arrows for how tough they played the Lions.
“Credit to Tecumseh, they stopped us multiple times,” Pitzer said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple times but overall, the whole team played amazing tonight. We’re proud of their grit, effort, toughness, everything.”
New Richmond’s reward for the thrilling victory is a matchup with the top-ranked team in Division III, Badin, at Hamilton High School on Friday, November 4 at 7 p.m.