SHARONVILLE — The Lakota West High School football team didn’t put itself in the best of positions Friday night.
But the Firebirds’ defense dug them out just enough to keep their chances alive.
Lakota West battled back from a 16-point first-half deficit before falling to St. Xavier 16-13 in a Division I, Region 4 semifinal at Princeton’s Pat Mancuso Field.
St. Xavier (10-3) moves on to face Greater Catholic League South rival Moeller (12-1) — a 28-10 winner over Princeton — in the regional finals next Friday, likely at Mason.
“It takes a special group of kids to be able to weather the storm,” Bombers coach Steve Specht said. “It’s the ups and the downs, and these kids have done that.
“I’m awful proud of this group. But there’s a lot of football left to be played. There’s eight teams left in the state of Ohio, and we’re one of them. It’s, ‘Hey, let’s go. Next.’”
St. Xavier leads the series 6-3 against Lakota West, with the first meeting coming in 2006 when the Bombers won 44-3 in the Division I playoffs.
Friday was the fourth postseason meeting between the two schools. St. Xavier won in 2006 and 2020, and Lakota West won in 2021. Lakota West beat St. Xavier 17-13 in this year’s season opener.
“In the first half, we just played terrible,” said Firebirds coach Tom Bolden, whose squad finished the season 11-2. “First half, they just beat us at the point of attack.”
Lakota West has been knocked out of the playoffs by a GCL South opponent each of the last six years.
St. Xavier quarterback Chase Herbstreit scored on a 1-yard TD run to put the Bombers up 7-0 with 2:09 left in the first.
Then an errant punt snap by Lakota West went through the back of the end zone to up St. Xavier’s lead to 9-0 with a second remaining in the opening quarter.
Bombers junior Daniel Vollmer found the end zone on a 19-yard touchdown run to add to St. Xavier’s lead, 16-0, with 7:38 left in the second.
“You can’t do that against good teams in big games,” Bolden said, “and we did it.
“Here’s the thing, we went in, made some adjustments,” Bolden added. “They didn’t flinch. That’s the part that I’m proud of. I’m not a big moral victory guy, but this is still high school — 15, 16, 17, 18-year-old kids. They’ll take that a long way in life.”
That’s when Lakota West’s defense held its own the final two quarters, and the offense showed some grit.
Lakota West quarterback Sam Wiles threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Luka Gilbert, but the 2-point conversion attempt failed, and the Firebirds trailed the Bombers 16-6 with 10:08 left in the third.
Lakota West junior Braydon Johnson scored on a 4-yard plunge, and Kofi Adubofuor’s extra point brought it to within 16-13 with 29 seconds remaining on the third-quarter clock.
Wiles pulled off a couple of gutsy runs on Lakota West’s final drive, which ended on Adubofuor’s 49-yard field attempt that had the distance but was wide left.
St. Xavier took a knee to end it. Vollmer finished with 110 yards rushing, while Shane Strayhorn wrapped up 10 tackles for the Bombers.
Wiles finished with 144 yards rushing, and Lakota West senior linebacker Grant Beerman had a game-high 11 tackles.
“They were down 16-0 against that team with that defense and came out here and just a wide-left kick that was unfortunate that could have put it to overtime,” Bolden said. “We had all the momentum, but it didn’t happen. But they never quit, and that’s the stuff that in the long run, when times are tough, and they’ve got a 2-year-old and a newborn, and the wife is yelling at them, and all that stuff, they’ll be resilient because of small things like that.
“That’s ultimately what you do it for,” Bolden added. “But so proud of them. Once again, hats off to St. X. What an awesome environment. Great game. Everything that it should be. Like I said, we just came up short.
“I told the kids, ‘It’s all part of the journey. Don’t let it define you. We own the wins. We own the losses, and we grow from them. You’ll all be better kids from it.’ It’s ultimately why I do it.”
