BELLVILLE — Friday night’s football game between the Colts and the visiting Tygers of Mansfield Senior was a tail of two halves. The first half seeing most of the scoring, twenty-plus possession changes and taking nearly two hours to play, with Mansfield Senior building a 42-31 advantage
The second half was just the opposite, with Clear Fork doing the only scoring.
But in the end, Mansfield Senior’s big first half was enough to hold off the Colts, 42-39.
The Colts made their second-half run at Senior without starting quarterback Tommy Staab, who sprained his ankle in the second quarter. He was replaced by Jared Schaefer, who led the Colts to their only score in the final two quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Clear Fork trimmed the Tygers’ lead to 42-39 on Ian McDaniel’s 5-yard run and Schaefer’s 2-point conversion run.
“I can’t say enough about Jared Schaefer,” said Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll.
And although his team came out on the losing end, he was pleased with the effort.
“This is the first four-quarter football game we’ve played,” he said. “With your quarterback out that’s a lot of adversity for a high school football team, I couldn’t be more proud.”
Late in the game, Clear Fork drove deep into the red zone and lined up for a possible, game-tying field goal, but the kick missed to the right, and Mansfield Senior ran out the final minute of the clock for the win.
The Colts struck first in Friday’s homecoming game, early in the first quarter. On their first possession, Staab connected with receiver Christian Reed on a 10-yard hook, but Reed some broken tackles and turned that pass into a 48-yard TD run. The PAT gave Clear Fork a 7-0 lead.
A fumble led t0 Mansfield Senior’s first score, a 16-yard run by Brian Benson.
But the Colts responded three plays later when Staab connected with Bryce Lyon, who broke for 67 yards and the TD with 4:47 to go in the first period.
Mansfield Senior responded with a Sid Caudell pass to Jorell Manns that covered 67 yards. The Tygers took the lead on another Benson touchdown, this one from 27 yards out.
Once again the Tygers came right back, with quarterback Sid Caudill throwing to Jornell Manns for a 67-yard score.
The Tygers would be the next team to tally a score. Turning back to Benson, the running back rolled off a tackle, broke to the outside and carried the ball in from 27 yards out, giving his team a 21-14 lead.
Clear Fork’s next drive included a 40-yard run by Staab and another TD pass to Lyon, cutting the lead to 21-2o, with 10:37 left in the half.
Cuddle hooked up again, this time with Davis Chapmen on a 40-yard bomb to push the Tygers’ lead to 28-20.
Again Clear Fork responded. This time, Staab hit Matt Thran with a 53-yard scoring pass. Staab tied the score with a run for the two-point conversion.
Clear Fork took a 31-28 lead on a 32-yard field gobal by Sloan Bowman.
But the lead was lost in just a few seconds, as on the ensuing kick off, Senior’s Angelo Gross returned the kick 83 yards for the score.
Benson added his third TD of the half, this one from 2-yards out with two minutes to go in the half, accounting for the 42-31 halftime lead.
Despite a successful faked punt and some Mansfield Senior turnovers, Clear Fork didn’t score in the third quarter.
On the Colts’ final drive, an interference ball moved the ball to the Tygers’ 22. Thran pushed the ball deeper into the red zone to set up the final field-goal attempt, that missed to the right.
Benson finished with 143 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
Before being injured Staab completed 5 of 10 passes for 161 yards and four scores. He ran for 61 yards.
The Colt next take on Wooster in Wooster at 7 o’clock next Friday.