Ryan Stone didn’t even know if he wanted to play varsity 8-man football this season, but Deckerville fans are very happy that he decided to do so.
Stone made a key defensive stop on a Bellaire try for two points to preserve a 14-12 lead, and Deckerville prevailed in the 8-man football state championship game at Greenville’s Legacy Field November 15.
Bellaire had scored with 49 seconds left on a dramatic touchdown pass of 52 yards from Zach Smith to Wes Villafane but failed to convert on the extra point, thanks to Stone, and trailed by two.
“The kids played like this all year,” said Bellaire coach Ron Bindi. “With only 13 of them, always out-numbered, there was no quit in them. We didn’t get it done at the end this time.”
Despite a 417-239 edge in total yards, the Bellaire was hurt by two interceptions and two costly fumbles.
“With great kids, you saw a lot of character out here today,” said Deckerville coach Bill Brown. “Bellaire is pretty physical up front. The way they got off our blocks early in the first half was the difference. We challenged our young men at halftime and they started finishing some blocks. The turnovers helped too.”
Bellaire’s season ended at 9-3. Deckerville won the state title at 12-1.
Trailing 6-0 at halftime, Deckerville scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter for a 14-6 lead.
Arthur Lapp recovered a fumble at the Bellaire 24. Christopher Wolfe scored from 5 yards out and a quarterback keeper by Nick Pagel gave Deckerville an 8-6 lead.
On Bellaire’s next drive, Ryan Stone intercepted a pass for Deckerville which led to runs of 31 yards from Wolfe and 23 from Stone, who scored the touchdown for a 14-6 lead. Pagel’s try for two points failed on the pass.
Bellaire came back and got deep in Deckerville territory on a 39-yard run by Chase Small.
But for the third time that evening, Bellaire was stopped in the red zone. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Small was stopped for a loss at the Deckerville 33, and Deckerville maintained its lead.
Deckerville drove to the Bellaire 36 but ran out of downs, giving Bellaire the ball with 1:14 to play but with no timeouts.
Then Smith and Villlafane connected for a 52-yard touchdown pass with 49 seconds to play. On the key extra point try, Walsh took the pitch and appeared to reach the goal line but was ruled short by inches on a hit from Stone.
Stone was lying on the ground for a few minutes after the hit.
“He popped his shoulder. What a heckuva play by Ryan Stone,” Brown said. “He’s doing a heckuva job. He’s one of those kids who thought he might not want to come up. He came up as a sophomore. What a great addition for our team. He’s a great punt returner too, which you weren’t able to see tonight.”
Richard Winslow recovered the onside kick for Bellaire at its own 49.
Smith passed 32 yards to Villafane to get to the 4-yard line with 20 seconds to go. But Bellaire was out of time outs.
Walsh took the pitch but was stopped by Deckerville’s William Stolicker at the line of scrimmage and time ran out.
“We didn’t spike the ball down there because I live by the philosophy that hey, let’s try to catch them so the other defense can’t get set,” Bindi said. “We just hit a big play earlier with that same running play. It just didn’t work out.”
It was all Bellaire in the first half, but it still only enjoyed a 6-0 lead at halftime.
On the game’s first drive, Bellaire drove to the Deckerville 21 before fumbling the ball and ending the scoring chance. Later in the quarter, another Bellaire drive was stopped on downs deep in Deckerville territory.
In the second quarter, yet another Bellaire drive, which got inside the Deckerville 10-yard-line, stalled on a penalty.
Late in the quarter, Bellaire started driving again and this time scored. Smith passed 15 yards to Chase Small to set up a 1-yard quarterback sneak for a 6-0 lead. The try for extra points failed, but Bellaire had the six-point advantage.
Smith was 6 of 10 in passing for 117 yards. Villafane caught three passes for 93 yards.
Small ran for 149 yards and Smith had 116 to lead the Bellaire ground attack.
Wolfe led Deckerville with 108 rushing yards.
Bellaire had 300 rushing yards and 117 passing compared to 239 rushing yards for Deckerville and none passing.