Tigers spoil Sandwich homecoming

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SANDWICH -- Within striking distance on a pair of occasions in the second half, the Sandwich Indians were denied on their homecoming Friday night. Instead, the Herscher Tigers came up with the big plays and spoiled the festivities with a 20-9 Interstate Eight Conference triumph.

Trailing 14-9 midway through the third quarter, the Indians faced a fourth-and-three from the Tigers 28-yard line. Jordan Beckwith tossed a pass near the goal line intended for Zach Gustafson, but Ron Griffin managed to knock it away. Forcing a punt, the Indians (3-1, 0-1 IEC) were on the move again.

Marching 39 yards on 10 plays, Sandwich was at the Tigers 29 but was looking at a fourth-and-17. Beckwith again went to the end zone, but Griffin snuck over from the middle of the field, intercepted the pass at the two and returned it to the 23.

Three plays later, Jace Koerner and Nick Bond connected for a 45 yard gain. Bryan Lopez went up with Bond and appeared to intercept the pass, but Bond wrestled it away and the Tigers (3-1) had a first and goal from the Indians 10. Koerner found Steve O'Connor two plays later and Herscher seized a 20-9 advantage with 6:55 to play in the game. The Indians' final two possessions ended in interceptions.

"We drove the ball at times, but the offense wasn't very good tonight," Sandwich coach Derek Avery said. "It's my fault. I'll take the blame for that. We'll be better next week.

"But you can't make penalties and not take care of the ball. We had a couple of fumbles and interceptions."

The Indians lost the ball on the first play from scrimmage and Herscher cashed it in immediately. Advancing 40 yards in 2:32, the Tigers gained a 7-0 lead at the 9:15 mark of the opening quarter. Eric Tobey scampered for 33 yards before he was caught at the 7 by Jake Wegener. But Tobey followed a wall of blockers on a sweep on the next play and easily hit paydirt.

Sandwich answered with a 10-play, 37-yard drive after Andrew Dockendorf returned a punt 28 yards. Nick Futrell capped the possession with a 4-yard plunge with 6:49 remaining in the first half. But Tobey was elusive as a rabbit. Following blocks and utilizing his speed, Tobey dashed 39 yards and into Indians territory. Koerner hooked up with Bond for an 18-yard gain, and Tobey scored two plays later reaching the ball to the goal line from three yards out.

"The defense gave up about three or four big plays tonight and that was the difference," Avery said. "Other than that we played pretty well defensively."

"He's much quicker than we thought," Sandwich linebacker Brad Podschweit said of Tobey. "Not a lot of us we're keeping our feet, I was one of them. In the first half we just weren't breaking down, but in the second half we did a good job of stopping the ball."

Tobey was limited to 25 yards on four carries in the final two quarters after rushing for 100 yards on nine attempts in the first two.

Tim Schmitt led the Indians with 53 yards on 13 carries while Futrell added 40 yards on 14 rushes. Herscher 20, Sandwich 9