St. Paul stops Calvert in final seconds

NORWALK — That looked familiar. For a third straight year, Tiffin Calvert and St. Paul played to a thrilling finish. After the Senecas claimed a 10-6 win in 2024, the Flyers returned the favor with a 22-20 win last season in Tiffin. The Flyers got the go-ahead 12-yard touchdown on a leaping grab, falling backwards into the end zone by Levi Rospert, then turned away the Senecas on fourth-and-goal at the 5 with nine seconds left in the game for the 14-10 win at Contractors Stadium on Friday. The cumulative score over the past three meetings is 42-40 in favor of St. Paul. "What a great high school football game," St. Paul coach Chris Doughty said. "It's always nice for our kids to win a game like that in their first time at home and celebrate tonight. Calvert has a very nice team that also gave an outstanding effort as well. "To be able to be part of something like that with three straight years with games come down to the finish like that, it's an awesome thing to be a part of." After pinning the Senecas at their own 12-yard line with 9:06 left in the third quarter, the Flyers bent but didn't break on defense. Calvert moved to the St. Paul eight-yard line with a pair of third-down conversions and a 34-yard run by Nolan Lee. But the next three plays resulted in two yards, and the Senecas were forced to settle for a 27-yard field goal at the 2:29 mark of the third from Cameron Lucius for a 10-7 lead. St. Paul responded with a lengthy 15-play, 80-yard scoring drive for its first offensive touchdown of the season. The Flyers used 7:02 of the second half clock as running backs Casey Fries and River Couch combined to run for 41 of the 80 yards. The Senecas were also flagged for pass interference on a third-and-8 to keep the drive alive, but then they stopped the Flyers for -7 yards after St. Paul had moved to a first-and-goal at the 5. Faced with a third-and-goal from the Calvert 12, quarterback Wyatt Houser found Rospert for his impressive touchdown catch with 7:27 left in the game. Nate Griffin added the extra point for a 14-10 lead. St. Paul then forced a punt, but kicked it back to the Senecas to give them one more chance with 1:25 left at their own 42-yard line. On the first play, they got a double-pass from quarterback Bentley Colon to Niko Marinis, who threw 35 yards to Branyan Coleman. Two plays later, Colon and Marinis connected for a 15-yard gain to the St. Paul 11 with under a minute to play. After a two-yard run by Lee to the St. Paul 9, Colon had two incomplete passes — including a diving catch by Marinis in the end zone with 22 seconds left in which he was well out of bounds. On fourth-and-8 from the St. Paul 9, Colon went to his left and dumped off a short pass to Lee. The running back cut upfield, but was met by Krosby Hartman and River Couch for a four-yard gain well short of the first down with nine seconds left to seal the win. "I think when you look at a highly-competitive game from start to finish, you have to have several players step up and make plays throughout the course of the game, and that's what we had tonight," Doughty said. "You can look at any given play in big moments, and we had a lot of different kids rise up in those spots. "You can't just pinpoint one player who had a great game. This was a complete team effort. Our offense scored on a great drive, our defense got some key spots, and the special teams showed up big as well." In the first half, the Senecas spent most of the first half on the St. Paul side of the field. Despite that, the game was tied 7-7 at halftime. Forced to start at their own one-yard line after the Senecas punted to start the game, the Flyers got to their own 17-yard line. But then Coleman intercepted a Houser pass by the Flyers and returned it to the St. Paul 32 with 8:10 left in the first quarter. Four plays later, Lee was in the end zone on a seven-yard touchdown run at the 5:52 mark. Lucius added the extra point for the 7-0 lead. St. Paul again ended up in the shadow of its own goalposts and punted from its own end zone, giving Calvert the ball at the St. Paul 37. But that drive resulted in a fumbled snap on a 40-yard field goal attempt by Lucius to give the ball back to the Flyers. The Flyers then had their first promising drive of the game, but it still went south when Houser was flagged for intentional grounding. That resulted in a fourth-and-42 from the St. Paul 14 to force another punt. But on Calvert's next possession, it was its turn to go backwards. A holding penalty took away the good field position that began at the St. Paul 47, and the Senecas were forced to punt. St. Paul sophomore Casey Fries fielded the punt at the 11 and was able to follow two blocks up the left sideline, including a key one from River Couch. Fries did the rest with his speed, outrunning three more defenders for an 89-yard punt return touchdown — the first points of the season for the Flyers — with 6:54 left in the half. Griffin's extra point tied the score at 7-7. From there, both teams exchanged possessions on punts. But the Senecas missed a prime chance to score just before halftime. Calvert took possession at midfield with 2:23 left in the second quarter. Two first downs later, including a fortunate fumble forward past a first down marker, the Senecas were at the St. Paul 5 with first-and-goal with 31 seconds left and two timeouts. Lucius carried for two yards to the 3 and Calvert used its final timeout with 17 seconds left. But a jump pass attempt into the end zone was intercepted by Houser with 11 seconds remaining in the half to keep the score at 7-7. Fries ran 19 times for 58 yards and Abel Couch added 39 yards on 12 attempts for St. Paul. Houser was 5 of 9 passing for 49 yards with Rospert catching three passes for 38 yards and the touchdown. The Flyers host Northwood on Sept. 4.