OXFORD — It felt like a win or go home type of situation for the Talawanda High School football team Friday night.
The Brave — not without a fight, though — didn’t help themselves.
Wheeling Park traveled 230 miles — a 3 1/2-hour trip from West Virginia — and got 271 yards and three touchdowns from junior running back Brennan Wack that helped the Patriots beat Talawanda 49-36 in a regular-season finale for the Brave.
The Brave, which finished the regular season 3-7, received the help they needed to clinch a Division III, Region 12 playoff berth. According to JoeEitel.com, Talawanda snuck in as a 16 seed and will head to No. 1 Tippecanoe next Friday.
“Right now, it’s kind of sinking in that we’re probably done,” Talawanda coach Andy Stuckert said Friday night before the seedings were in place early Saturday morning. “So, my takeaway is that I kind of hurt for the seniors because they were right there.
“A couple things go our way during the season, and we’re not even trying to talk about getting in right now. I think if we took care of business earlier in the year, we’re already in the playoffs. Our season would be extended.”
It is. According to The Report’s high school football analyst Joel Sackenheim, nine outside factors from other contests had to go Talawanda’s way — and they did.
Talawanda lost its first four games before going on a three-game winning streak. The Brave lost their final three contests.
Stuckert took over at Talawanda last season when the program finished 2-8 in 2023. The Brave went 1-9 in 2022.
“I told the kids last year that my best friend that passed away, played down at Vanderbilt, and when he was down there, they adopted that anchor symbol,” Stuckert said. “The idea was that someone is going to drop the anchor and stop a runaway ship. But I told the group last year that I think they did. They dropped the anchor, and now it’s up to these guys to take it and run with it. I think they did that. I don’t think that there’s anybody really saying that we were a great team or anything, but I don’t really think anyone wanted to play us towards the end there. We were playing so well offensively, and we were starting to fix things defensively. But I hurt for the seniors because I know that they wanted one more game, and it’s probably setting in for them.
“Other than that, it’s stuff that is correctable,” Stuckert added. “I’ll eat the blame on most of that stuff because I’ve got to do a better job of getting these guys ready every week. There’s going to be a lot of things when we go back and go through the film, self-scout and do all of that stuff for next year that will make me sick to my stomach.”
Wheeling Park (6-3), which finishes its regular season next week against John Marshall, went up 14-0 in the first quarter on a Wack 5-yard TD run and a Jay Bordas 15-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Maynard.
Talawanda senior Cale Leitch hit Demetrius Morris-Williams on a 2-yard touchdown connection to pull it to within 14-7 with 9:53left in the second.
Wheeling Park got its largest lead when Bordas threw a 4-yard TD pass to Maynard to close out the third quarter, making it 42-14.
Talawanda outscored Wheeling Park 22-7 in the fourth quarter to mount a comeback that eventually fell short.
“In West Virginia, we’re used to this a little bit,” Wheeling Park coach Chris Daugherty said of traveling for its games. “We’ve got rivalry games that are an hour and a half, two hours away. So we’re kind of used to being on the bus. It is a little longer than normal, but it’s good for our kids. It’s good for our football team to get out a little bit and see what’s out there.
“I think we’ve had a demanding schedule,” Daugherty added. “We have three losses. All three of them are undefeated. One of them has not been scored on. Those are our three losses. We’ve beat some good teams, and we’re ranked third in West Virginia right now because they give you strength of schedule a little bit.”
Leitch threw for 224 yards and four touchdowns but had four interceptions. Lance Cantrell rushed for 66 yards and a score, while Morris-Williams had seven catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
Talawanda’s Tad Polly wrapped up a game-high 10 tackles.
“I think the program is in a better spot,” Stuckert said, “but I wish our seniors had some more time left.”
They still do, coach.
