Sailors' impromptu 2-point conversion sinks Edison

MILAN — Davis McDaniel decided to take matters into his own hands.Vermilion had just closed to within one point of Edison's lead with 2:12 left to play when the 5-foot-6 senior took off on the extra-point conversation try, making the end zone flag and lifting the Sailors to a 36-35 victory over Edison on Friday night."I had faith in my kicker, but I saw theIr guy seeping through and thought he was going to block it, so I took off," McDaniel said. "It just snapped in my head and I went for it. You got to do what you got to to do win, right?""Davis said he might have muffed a little, so he decided to pull it and go," Vermilion coach Brett Colahan said. "He's a heady kid, and from what I saw, it looked like they had the corner on kick, so hats off to Davis."The Chargers had just taken a 35-28 lead when Garrett Scott capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run.Vermilion answered by making two of three third-down tries and a fourth-down play after it had been flagged for illegal motion. Addison Painter hooked up with tight end Luke Pena four times for 32 yards during the drive, while McDaniel had a 26-yard gain and Jonah Pfeil added a 10-yard run to set up Painter's game-winning touchdown."This helps a lot, because of all these guys have been through last year and this year," Colahan said. "We came in here tonight and asked them to not focus on anything else we've been through. We wanted them to just stay between the lines and they responded."Some of the challenges the Sailors have faced over the past year includes the passing of head coach Matt Kobal just weeks after the 2017 season, losing three-year senior quarterback Seth Hurd to a season-ending injury in the second week of the season, and losing 17 other players through Week 9."Credit them. They made plays where they had to," said Edison coach Jim Hall. "We had chances and didn't take advantage of them. In any game that is back and forth like this, you've got to take advantage of every opportunity and we just didn't do it."Edison started the scoring on the first play from scrimmage when Jacob Barnett picked up a Vermilion fumble and returned it 38 yards for a score.McDaniel got that score back four minutes later with a 7-yard run off a direct snap to finish off a 10-play, 75-yard drive.The Sailors (3-6, 1-3) took the lead on a 66-yard McDaniel reception, then Painter hit Pfeil for 75 yards and a score to push their lead to 21-7.The Chargers were able to knot the score on touchdown runs of 44 yards by Cas Mastropaolo and 29 yards from Aiden Hayward. The hosts even had one last shot at a score before the intermission after a 9-yard punt set them up at the Vermilion 38 with 46 seconds remaining. Time expired following an 8-yard Larry Kessler reception at the Sailors' 19.Edison broke the 21-21 tie early in the fourth quarter on a 41-yard Carson Ehrhardt touchdown run with 9:36 left in the game, but it only took the Sailors 10 seconds to knot the score as Painter and McDaniel hooked up on a 65-yard scoring pass. Edison answered with an 80-yard scoring drive, capped buy Scott's run.Edison finished with 362 yards on the ground with Ehrhardt picking up a game-high 142. Mastropaolo chipped in 74, Joe Stoll had 54 and Hayward added 52 for the Chargers."We had just too many mistakes," Hall said. "We're just not the type of team that can overcome a lot of mistakes. We just didn't get it done. That's the bottom line."The Sailors countered with Painter hitting 20 of 42 passes for 330 yards. McDaniel finished with seven catches for 157 yards, Pfeil had six for 112 and Luke Pena had six for 52.Vermilion 14 7 0 15 -- 36Edison 7 14 0 14 -- 35E--Jacob Barnett 38 fumble return (Kolt Wikel kick)V--Davis McDaniel 7 run (Cavan Leonardo kick)V--McDaniel 66 pass from Addison Painter (Leonardo kick)V--Jonah Pfeil 75 pass from Painter (Leonardo kick)E--Cas Mastropaolo 44 run (Wikel run)E--Aiden Hayward 29 run (Wikel run)E--Carson Ehrhardt 41 run (Wikel kick)V--McDaniel 65 pass from Painter (Leonardo kick)E--Garrett Scott 20 run (Wikel kick)V--Painter 7 run (McDaniel run)