Comeback bid of Sailors comes up short

Vermilion tried to mount a comeback but, in the end, couldn’t execute the big plays as the Sailors lost, 3622, to visiting Sandusky Bay Conference foe Port Clinton Oct. 6.

The Sailors found themselves in a 29-7 hole at halftime before coming out of the locker room and scoring 15 straight points in the third quarter, holding Port Clinton scoreless for 12 minutes. But after giving up an early touchdown in the fourth quarter, Vermilion (5-2) let one too many plays slip away, dropping balls in open space and not taking advantage of Port Clinton turnovers on the way to its first conference loss of the season.

“We weren’t able to execute,” Vermilion coach Matt Kobal said. “Our mistakes killed us from the get-go.

“We had probably three fumbles and a lot of dropped balls, so we’ve got to execute better in practice. I always tell them it starts in practice and we didn’t have a great week in practice and now it’s a liveand-learn experience from this.”

The Sailors struggled to hold the Port Clinton (43) offense, giving up 428 yards, including 242 rushing yards between five players, and Kobal attributed Port Clinton’s successful run game to his team’s poor tackling.

“(Port Clinton) just ran on us and we have to get our inside linebackers to maybe read a little better and fill up, and just tackling,” Kobal said. “I thought we were doing a lot of diving at legs instead of wrapping up and driving people

back, so doing a better job of being physical tacklers would help that, too.”

Port Clinton quarterback Kyle Fitzpatrick punished the Vermilion all game. The senior was 11-of-16 with 186 yards and three touchdowns and added 13 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Cooper Stine had 90 yards on 14 carries and Tony Nesbitt had 84 yards on 13 carries.

Seth Hurd had another quality showing for the Sailors, going 20-of-38 with 213 yards and three touchdowns, adding 74 yards on 13 carries. Jonah Pfeil had eight catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

“We gave it our all coming into the third quarter,” Kobal said. “The kids fought their butts off. That’s a great team (Port Clinton) over there that was big and physical with us and they gave it their all. Kudos to both teams. We just didn’t make enough plays at the end of the game to come back and win it.”

Despite the loss, Kobal is encouraged by his team’s effort, citing improvement both physically and mentally from Vermilion teams of old.

“I mean, the old Sailors would’ve let this game get out of hand and for them to come back and fight as hard as they can and kids not wanting to come out was indicative of what they’ve done all year,” Kobal said. “Hopefully this is just a small bump in the road and we can come back next week and play a great Huron team, practice better and get a W here.”

Vermilion continues SBC play, hosting Huron (4-3) Oct. 13.