Inside Norwalk's league title-clinching defensive stop

NORWALK — It will go down as a signature moment.And given the stakes — in a year the program is marking its 125th season — it will go down as a top 10 play in the history of Norwalk football.Leading 41-40 in overtime of last week's Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division game at Clyde, the Truckers were forced to defend a two-point conversion attempt. The Fliers were attempting to win the game and not play for a second overtime — exactly what they had done a year before when they won at Norwalk (32-31).But this time, the Norwalk defense blew up the play almost instantly. The stop of Clyde quarterback Ryan Lozier, well short of the end zone, gave the Truckers at least a share of the Lake Division championship.Norwalk (8-1, 4-0) will host Tiffin Columbian (8-1, 3-1) at 7 p.m. Friday with a chance to win the league title outright.The win at Clyde assured just the fourth league title in the past 76 years for Norwalk, covering both the Northern Ohio League and SBC. There is no downplaying the significance of the play in program history.Here is a breakdown of the defensive stop by four players and head coach Todd Fox: Lozier had just thrown a 3-yard touchdown pass to Nick Webb to the right side to bring the Fliers within 41-40. There was little hesitation about the offense staying out on the field, prompting a timeout call from Fox. Fox: "We were prepared all year and all week mentally to be in that type of a situation, and really the timeout was just to remind them of that. We reminded them of their base responsibilities as well, and then we did throw in a blitz there to kind of eliminate where one of their choices to go would be because we would have guys there."And we just asked them to respond. We wanted them to respond, and the timeout was more to check on them and let them rally together and know the situation."Trey Leroux, DT: "We were all focused on doing our own jobs and saying we had each other's back."Josh Neuberger, LB: "As soon as we went to OT, you could feel the same thing as last year playing out. Once we scored, I knew in the back of my head if they scored they would go for two and the win." Lozier lined up in the shotgun, and had two running backs to his left and a slot receiver to his right lined up off the ball. Norwalk had eight defenders in the box, including Leroux, who asked to be put into the game. The Ohio State University recruit (left tackle) doesn't play a lot of defense. Leroux: "I felt that if I wasn't in the game and doing something to help our team in that spot, then I was in a way letting my teammates down. My job is to hit whoever is in front of me so they don't touch our linebackers. Just hit whoever is in front of me — that's it."Alec Maloney, LB: "They weren't going to pass out of that formation. As soon as it was snapped, I knew where he (Lozier) was going and the point of impact. We had a pretty good idea of what they might do." Lozier snapped the ball and immediately went to his left to follow his blockers. However, Neuberger from inside linebacker was able to slip down and below a Clyde offensive lineman and went to the ground, also taking out a running back — which forced Lozier to change directions back toward Leroux and Jakob Stebel. Neuberger: "We were blitzing, and my job was to get through the B gap. I had to get through the line so that he couldn't get outside of me. I had to keep it all inside. I got through and saw him coming right at me. He stopped, and I got excited because I thought I was going to make the tackle — but then he went back the other way before I could get there."But I knew if I just pushed him back inside, someone was going to be there. I relied on them to make the stop, and then we just all kind of pushed the pile back."Ethan Hernandez, OLB: "He went left and had nowhere to go because Josh filled up that gap."Leroux: "Josh being there is what made him cut the other way. It was the key to the entire play."Fox: "Josh is a special player in his own right and he has a great sense of awareness. He just has a sense for where the football is." Forced to head back the other way, Leroux and Stebel had occupied three Clyde linemen. That allowed Maloney and Hernandez to slip through the right side — and suddenly a host of Norwalk players were at the point of impact. The QB again tried to find a different path, but Leroux had spun off his blockers and grabbed Lozier. The resulting scrum saw Gabe Phillips, Andrew Mozina, Kaleb Bauman, Jake Sommers, Ethan Phillips and Ryan Sowders all get involved. Neuberger: "Trey took the guard and center right away, and that allowed me to go through. That's why I felt like right away we had it. Our push helped keep him tied up. I got back up and behind Trey. I know at some point Trey had him, and I kind of took a step back and started pushing behind him to make sure the pile couldn't go forward."When he got tackled and the whistle blew, I was at the bottom, but I really didn't make the tackle. I just pushed Trey forward ... that's all I really remember."Leroux: "I could see all the players in the backfield were shifting to their left, which is our right side. I kind of shot that gap, and when I saw him cut across, I did a spin move, and I was just kind of right there in his way."Hernandez: "We had too many guys there for him (Lozier). I saw Alec pushing back, and I tried to follow him and hit him second. He tried mto move forward, but there was no getting past that many of us." Once Leroux initially stood Lozier up to stop forward progress, and the rest of the defense joined in, it took another six seconds before the officials blew the play dead. All told, Lozier had only gained about a half-yard in the 10 seconds the it lasted. The Truckers were SBC champions, stopping a conversion play one year after failing to do so in the same situation. Leroux: "I was questioning why or when the whistle was going to blow, but we just continued to push until we heard it. At that point the pile was definitely moving backwards so I knew we were good. It wasn't that close."Neuberger: "That was a terrible feeling last year, and once I saw them line up, part of me thought they were going to run the exact same play as last year as well. But once they came out in a different formation, I was like, 'OK, let's do this.'"Hernandez: "Last year when it came down to this, I missed a tackle I shouldn't have and it cost us the SBC title. I knew the whole time it was going to come back to us, and sure enough it did. For us to get in there and make that tackle to give us the fourth league title in Norwalk history is an awesome feeling."Leroux: "Coach Fox talked all week about how we needed to do everything as a team. As a group, we needed to finish the play. We just continuously brought up last year … being in the exact same situation, none of us wanted to react the wrong way. Having everyone come together at the point of attack was definitely special."Norwalk defensive lineman Trey Leroux stands up Clyde quarterback Ryan Lozier, and gets help pushing him back from Gabe Phillips (74), Ryan Sowders (2) and Andrew Mozina (5) on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime of Friday's 41-40 win at Robert J. Bishop Stadium in Clyde.Clyde quarterback Ryan Lozier tries to extend for yardage as Norwalk's Josh Neuberger, left, and Jake Sommers, right close in for a tackle during the fourth quarter of Friday's SBC Lake Division game at Robert J. Bishop Stadium in Clyde.