Otsego edges Three Rivers in wild fourth-quarter finish

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

THREE RIVERS — Wolverine Conference foes Three Rivers and Otsego have played a couple of close games in recent years, but none of them have quite had a finish like last Friday’s game at Armstrong Field.
In a wild fourth quarter that saw 30 points scored combined between both teams, it was the Bulldogs eventually emerging triumphant over the Wildcats, 36-28, in a game that featured plenty of drama in the final minutes and ended a few yards short of the end zone.
Coming in to the fourth quarter down 20-14, and having scored the only points of the third quarter on a 4-yard rushing touchdown by Brayden Carpenter, Three Rivers had a comeback on its mind. Three Rivers stalled on its first drive of the fourth quarter, leading to a punt. Otsego’s ensuing possession would get into Wildcats territory before a sack by Caiden Westcomb would force the Bulldogs to punt it back to Three Rivers.
Carpenter would get a good 27-yard return on the punt to get it into Bulldog territory, but a block in the back penalty would bring the Wildcats back to their own 20. The offense would get a couple of first downs before a fumble by Canady Marzett on a pitch to him gave the ball back to the Bulldogs in Wildcat territory.
Three plays later, on a third-and-long behind the sticks, Otsego quarterback Blake Mathieu was flushed out of the pocket to the right by the Wildcats’ defensive line, leading him to throw the ball back toward the middle of the field and into the waiting arms of Aden Clemmons, who stepped into the path of the receiver and took the ball 64 yards to the house for a pick-six with less than five minutes remaining. Jacin Selent’s extra point gave the Wildcats the lead, 21-20.
The Bulldogs would strike back quickly on their next possession in less than a minute. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Mathieu launched a deep ball to wideout Zeke Andrina, who was a few yards behind a quartet of Three Rivers defenders and raced on in for a 72-yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion was good to give Otsego the 28-21 lead with 4:07 to go.
Three Rivers would get a good return near midfield by Carpenter, and they would take advantage after getting into Otsego territory on their first play of the drive. Two plays after that, the Wildcats’ Rylan Corte would find a wide-open man downfield himself, flinging a deep ball down the left side to Clemmons, who reeled it in for a 42-yard touchdown strike. The extra point by Selent was good, tying the game at 28-28 with 2:53 to go.
After an out-of-bounds kickoff by Selent put Otsego at their own 35 to start the next drive, the Bulldogs drained the clock, getting three first downs on a few of chunk plays to get all the way down to the Wildcats’ 3-yard line with less than 30 seconds to go in the game. Mathieu would run in the next play after an Otsego timeout for a touchdown, and with a two-point conversion, made it 36-28 with just 23 seconds left in the game.
Clemmons would get a decent return, which was aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Bulldogs, which placed the ball at midfield with just 16 seconds left. The Wildcats took a lot of time off the clock on their first play, heaving a deep ball just short of the end zone that was jumped up and caught by Caiden Westcomb at the Otsego 8-yard line. Three Rivers head coach Jeff Awe quickly called timeout with just four seconds remaining.
With one final chance, Carpenter tried to go outside to the right side, but Otsego’s defense had the play read well, stopping Carpenter two yards short of the end zone as time expired, with the Wildcats falling short, 36-28.
“I’m proud of the kids for fighting. They fought their tails off to get back in the game,” Awe said after the game. “And then, it’s kind of typical. You take the lead, you fight, fight, fight, you take the lead, then you lose a little air out of the balloon and then they come firing back. Give them credit, [Otsego] played a whale of a game. They played better than us; they deserved to win.”
Otsego took the early lead in the first quarter on another long 52-yard touchdown pass by Mathieu to Andrina to go up 6-0 after the conversion failed. In the second quarter, Three Rivers would get the lead briefly as Corte scored on a one-yard touchdown carry to make it 7-6 after a Selent extra point. Otsego would get the lead right back on a 99-yard kickoff return by Andrina to make it 12-7 after a failed conversion. Late in the second quarter, Andrina would score his third of four touchdowns of the day with a 19-yard reception from Mathieu to make it 20-7 at the half after a two-point conversion. The only points in the third quarter came off a Carpenter four-yard rushing score that made it 20-14 after the Selent extra point, setting up the wild fourth quarter.
Clemmons, a sophomore, was the star of the day for the Wildcats, mainly in the fourth quarter, notching the pick-six and the 42-yard touchdown pass from Corte, his lone reception of the game. In total, Clemmons had two interceptions on the game to go along with two tackles.
“Aden’s a heck of a football player. Everybody’s going to get to see that for two more years,” Awe said. “He made two big plays. That’s why he’s up.”
Tyson Rohrer was the bellcow back for the ‘Cats, notching 136 yards on 19 carries. DJ Fuller had five carries for 20 yards, and Carpenter had two totes for 10 yards and a touchdown. Corte was 7-of-14 passing for 137 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while also gaining eight yards on five carries for a rushing touchdown. Outside of Clemmons, Westcomb had two catches for 53 yards, Carpenter had two catches for 38 yards, Rohrer had one catch for five yards, and Braylon Faile had one catch for no gain.
With the loss, Three Rivers goes to 1-2 on the season, and will take on Plainwell on the road tonight at 7 p.m. Awe said last week was a “sloppy” game for his team, and is looking for his Wildcats to do better against the 2-1 Trojans.
“We’re making too many mistakes, too many penalties, turning the ball over, and ultimately that’s my responsibility. I’ve gotta get that corrected,” Awe said. “We can’t beat another team until you quit beating yourself.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.