Parker TD with no time remaining lifts Sandusky

SANDUSKY — Sandusky senior Landon Parker is scheduled to have season-ending knee surgery next Wednesday. It would be hard to imagine a better way to walk off the football field than Parker and the Blue Streaks did Friday night. With five seconds left and down to its final play, Parker was open in the end zone and Jason Henlon found him for the touchdown to lift Sandusky to a wild 22-21 Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division win over Clyde at Strobel Field. "It means the world to me," Parker said. "Playing with my brothers all four of these years has been great. My last game here, I enjoyed it. It was my first touchdown on varsity. I appreciate everything. I appreciate my coaches and my teammates." The Blue Streaks (5-3, 3-0 SBC Lake) needed an equally big miracle just two plays earlier to give themselves a chance. Facing 4th-and-17 at the Clyde 37, Dale Johnson found Amir Aaron over the middle for what became a 31-yard completion and first down. After a timeout with 21 seconds left, Henlon hit Aa'Zoriyon Bonner for what looked like a touchdown — to the point that the clock was stopped — but Bonner was ruled inbounds. That would force the clock to keep running and send Sandusky into scramble mode with no timeouts. After the officials convened, the clock was trickled down to five seconds and started on the ready for play whistle. That's when Henlon connected with Parker to send the Sandusky faithful into jubilee. "He worked his tail off," Sandusky coach Jamaris Brown said. "He started for me when he was a sophomore and I'm freaking overwhelmed for him right now. Tonight, it seems like the Lord was watching over him and made him go out the right way. I'm just freaking happy for him. It's a touching moment for me right now." The ruling of Bonner being inbounds nearly cost Sandusky, but had new life breathed into it when the officials stopped play to figure out the ruling. That gave the Blue Streaks enough time to regroup and get exactly the play they wanted for one last go-round. "We thought we had more time," Brown said. "We called in two plays, two of our bread-and-butter plays. We thought the first one went in. I thought he caught it in the end zone, so that threw me off-guard. This team, these guys, they have the sort of resilience that you just can't comprehend." For the Fliers (5-3, 1-2), they had more than one chance to get off the field. A dropped sure interception gave Sandusky another chance to keep its final drive going. Had Clyde made one more stop on the Aaron 31-yard pickup, Clyde stays in the SBC Lake title hunt. "You get in scramble mode there and they have some kids that stepped up and made some plays," Clyde coach Ryan Carter said. "I thought we had some opportunities to get off the field there. You have to make a couple plays that we didn't make." The Fliers led 14-13 after three quarters, but Sandusky went ahead 16-14 on a Will Thomas 31-yard field goal with 3:30 left. Clyde responded as Brennan Wilson marched the Fliers down the field, first hitting Kam Shortridge for a 37-yard pass and later, hauling in a nine-yard TD completion from Jonathan Lantz. The extra point by Tyler Soper put Clyde back ahead, 21-16 with 1:31 left. "I knew coming in and I said last week that Clyde always finds a way to play with us," Brown said. "It came down to a last-second play last year. Ryan Carter is a great freaking coach. He always has his guys ready to play." Clyde got a three-yard rushing touchdown by Adam Young in the first quarter and five-yard score from Young early in the second quarter to jump ahead 14-0. Sandusky's offense was slowed to a turtle-like pace early on, but a Keelan Lockhart interception jumpstarted the Blue Streaks. Henlon hit Bonner for 11 yards and on the next play, Makyveon Lately ran around the left side for a 17-yard TD. The extra point by Thomas helped Sandusky cut within 14-7 at halftime. The Blue Streaks forced a turnover on downs to start the second half and took advantage. Despite battling penalty issues, Sandusky went 62 yards in 12 plays, capped on a nine-yard run by Lately. The extra point was no good, but the Blue Streaks were within 14-13 with 2:25 to go in the third quarter. Young ran 20 times for 116 yards for Clyde while Wilson was 11-of-17 passing for 98 yards. "They have very good athletes and kids that run around and make plays in space. It's tough," Carter said. "I thought we did a good job of keeping that stuff in. They made a few more plays than us down the stretch and that was the difference tonight." "That's a tough way to lose, but our kids will bounce back and get after it next week." Henlon finished 24-of-36 for 215 yards. Lately ran 15 times for 74 yards, but sat out the last two series a little banged up, Brown said. "Our kids are something special," Brown said. "I'm hoping the community sees that. I'm hoping other communities see that. We get a bad rap with our kids. It's great to see them put it on stage here and how amazing they can be." Clyde 7 7 0 7 — 21Sandusky 0 7 6 9 — 22 C — Adam Young 3 run (Tyler Soper kick)C — Young 5 run (Soper kick)S — Makyveon Lately 17 run (Will Thomas kick)S — Lately 9 run (kick failed)S — Thomas 31 field goalC — Brennan Wilson 9 pass from Jonathan Lantz (Soper kick)S — Landon Parker 1 pass from Jason Henlon (no kick)