Vermilion loses close one on late TD pass

With less than three minutes to play, Huron quarterback Jared Hohler tosses a touchdown pass to beat the Sailors, 32-29.

It all came down to the fourth quarter in the battle for The Oar trophy at Huron High School Sept. 30.

After giving up a onepoint lead late in the first half, Vermilion marched back to a 29-24 lead with just over six minutes to play. But Huron quarterback Jared Hohler had a different idea.

The senior rallied his team to a late game-winning drive, scoring the final touchdown on a 17yard pass to Chris Davis on fourth-and-nine with less than three minutes to play as Huron defeated Vermilion, 32-29.

“That wasn’t the play we were supposed to run, and as soon as I started rolling to the left I saw it wasn’t there, so I was just trying to buy some time, extend the play and see if anything could happen,” Hohler said. “I was freaking out. It felt like the ball was in the air for about 20 seconds . ... It was really tough, but you have to keep fighting.”

Vermilion coach Rob Duray

gave all the credit to Hohler on the final touchdown.

“You know, fourth-and-nine down there, that’s a tough one,” Duray said. “It was a broken play, and hats off to the quarterback on that play. He made a great play. We took out his initial read on the front side and he used his legs to create a play. I don’t think we had strong coverage on the back side, and that’s on me.”

Huron’s special teams made all the difference in the Sandusky Bay Conference matchup, as the Tigers scored on a 94-yard kickoff return in the first quarter and blocked an extra point early in the fourth quarter.

“You gotta win all three phases of the game,” Duray said. “I thought we did some good things on both sides of the ball at times, (but) I told the kids earlier in the week the game is going to be won or lost on special teams and, obviously, we lost the special teams game tonight and that phase of the game.”

First-year Huron coach Sam Hohler said this game was all about confidence for his team, which has had a rocky start to the 2016 season.

“For us, for our kids, it’s been all about confidence,” Hohler said. “We started off with that very tough schedule and we feel like we’ve been getting better every week. But Vermilion played well tonight. Hats off to them. Their kids were flying around out there and making plays the whole game.”

The Sailors finished with 310 yards on the ground. Junior Caine Zannoni had 120 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries, while sophomore Seth Hurd had 190 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.

“Obviously, the big picture right now is that our kids fought, and they battled all night,” Duray said. “We had a lot of injuries happen to us and a lot of the kids battled through the injuries and I’m very proud of them for that. Overall, I’m proud of our kids. They fought, and hats off to Huron. Hopefully our kids will get a little hungrier and we’ll move forward.”

Vermilion (2-4, 0-3) hosts Perkins on Oct. 7.