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Griffith runs past Hobart
Updated: September 3, 2011 6:12PM
GRIFFITH — Griffith held off Hobart 21-13 on a sweltering Friday night.
The start of the second half was delayed some 30 minutes for heat-related reasons.
Griffith senior fullback/linebacker Tyler Yost and a Panthers band member each was taken away by ambulance. A man was led away in handcuffs after apparently getting into a dispute with medical personnel.
“They were saying in the second quarter he (Tyler Yost) was having trouble breathing,” Griffith coach Russ Radtke said. “After that, I hadn’t heard anything.
“I thought he might be back for the third quarter, but they took him to the hospital. Fortunately, we had other guys that came in and played well.”
The teams were instructed to remain in the locker rooms during the delay, and spectators were invited to the air-conditioned fieldhouse; the Panthers actually went to the fieldhouse, Radtke said.
With the Panthers (2-1, 1-0 Northwest Crossroads Conference) leading 21-7, the Brickies (1-2, 0-1) drew to 21-13 with 4:29 left in the fourth quarter on Sam Kosich’s 80-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Burgos.
Ricardo Vargas then recovered a fumble — Griffith’s third lost — at the Hobart 34 with 2:35 left in the game, after Troy Yarnelle had ripped off a 36-yard run to seemingly seal the game for the Panthers. The Brickies got as far as the 45, before a Griffith defense that recorded eight sacks in the game stood firm again.
“Our defense did a good job at times when we needed to hold them,” said Radtke, whose team also gained 301 yards rushing. “But I’m a little upset with our offense. We had the ball on the 1-yard line and the 3-yard line a couple times, and didn’t put the game away. That’s bad. You have to do those things if you want to be a winner. But they’re kids. We’ll continue to coach them and they’ll continue to get better.”
Griffith quarterback Austin Brown rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, while also playing free safety, quite a game especially considering the conditions.
After Hobart punted on its first possession of the game, Griffith scored on its first play from scrimmage, with Brown breaking away for a 66-yard touchdown on a keeper.
The Brickies responded on their next play from scrimmage, with Kosich similarly breaking away for a 67-yard touchdown on a keeper.
The Panthers moved ahead 14-7 with 7:02 left in the first quarter. Brett Brinkley’s 62-yard kickoff return helped set up Brown’s 5-yard touchdown.
Griffith opened up a 21-7 lead with 2:38 left in the first half on Yost’s 1-yard plunge. On the 80-yard drive, Brown completed 2-of-2 passes — his first two attempts of the game, as he finished 3-for-3 for 70 yards — for 46 yards, a 39-yarder to Brinkley and a 7-yarder to Yarnelle on a fourth-and-4 from the Hobart 40.
The Brickies nearly cut their deficit in half in the final minute of the half, after Burgos recovered a fumble at the Panthers 16 on a late pitch. After Kosich completed an 18-yard pass to Pete Otero to the Griffith 1 — with Hobart out of timeouts and the clock running — the Brickies threw an incomplete pass on a fake field goal as time expired.
In the first half, Hobart also wound up punting on two possessions that had started in Griffith territory (30-yard line and 46).
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