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Late interception sinks Parker

MADISON — Parker High certainly proved Woody Hayes correct Friday night.

The long-time legendary Ohio State coach famously said, “There are three things that can happen when you pass, and two of them ain’t good.”

The Vikings certainly are believers after their gutwrenching 27-13 Big Eight Conference loss to Madison West at Mansfield Stadium.

With West leading 14-13, Parker had a fourth-quarter interception negated by a pass interference penalty in the end zone, which led to a West touchdown three plays later. Then with time running out, West linebacker Antonio Hoye Jr. picked off Jaren Norrell’s pass at the goal-line and returned the interception 100 yards with nine seconds remaining to seal the Big Eight Conference victory.

“They made the plays when they had to,” Parker coach Eric Skrzypchak said after his squad fell to 2-3 in the league and overall. “We knew it would be a heck of a game and we knew it would be a physical game. Our guys didn’t back down and our guys came to battle. We had a chance.”

West controlled the ball for nearly seven minutes before pulling ahead 21-13 on Gavin Green’s 1-yard blast after the pass interference penalty. Parker responded with a 16-play drive from its 14, as back-up tailback Mat Pakes, who filled in for the injured Dai Von Vance-Jenkins, had eight carries in the drive and finished with 96 yards on 27 carries.

Noah Seichter added a 23-yard reverse from his split end position on the drive as Parker reached the West 8-yard line with 27 seconds left. But the drive stalled there, as Hoye Jr. dropped into coverage and ended the drama with his interception and scamper down the West sideline.

“We tried to sneak our tight end out and he was open, but the linebacker read it,” Skrzypchak said. “He read it and made a play.”

West improves to 4-1 in the Big Eight and overall with the victory.

“They had been trying to slip guys out of the backfield,” West coach Greg Valaskey said of Hoye Jr’s interception. “They had been really successful with it all night. We talked about that a little bit and we were sitting back a little bit more in a pass defense, so we had some coverage for the backs. But, in the end, it was a player making a play.”

Norrell accounted for both Parker touchdowns. The senior rolled out and found Tanner Smith to tie the score at 7-7 in the second quarter and faked a handoff and rolled around the left end to put Parker ahead 13-7 to open the second half.

But West overcame its three first-half turnovers and responded with scoring drives on its next two possessions to overtake the Vikings and set up the wild finish.

“It was a great high school football game,” Skrzypchak said.

WEST 27, PARKER 13

Janesville Parker 0 7 6 0—13

Madison West 7 0 7 13—27

Scoring summary: MW—Terrell McFadden, 12 pass from Alex Brown (Jorge Morales kick); JP—Tanner Smith ,7 pass from Jaren Norrell (Kyle Popovich kick); JP—Norrell, 6 run (kick failed); MW—McFadden, 33 pass from Brown (Morales kick). MW—Gavin Green, 1 run (Morales kick). MW—Antonio Hoye, 100 pass interception return (kick failed).

Statistics: First downs—JP 12, MW 13. Rushing—JP 48-205, MW 36-144. Yards passing—JP 23, MW 107. Passes—JP 8-3-2, MW 17-8-2. Fumbles—JP 1-1, MW 1-1. Penalties—JP 3-20, MW 6-35.