LIMA — Bath’s Kaden Sullivan’s 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver Logan Shafer with five seconds left in the game gave the Wildcats a 43-40 victory over Shawnee in a thrilling Western Buckeye League clash Friday night.
Sullivan’s game-winning strike capped off a 72-yard drive that began with just 1:42 left on the clock to secure the victory for the Wildcats.
Bath improves to 3-5 for the season and 2-5 in the WBL. Shawnee falls to 1-7 overall and 1-6 in league play.
“Amazing,” Sullivan said about his team’s final drive “We felt really confident (on the last drive). We had practiced that all week so we could be ready for situations like that.”
Sullivan was a one-man wrecking crew on offense for the Wildcats as he rushed for 174 yards on 31 carries with three touchdowns and was a scintillating 13 of 21 for 185 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Bath’s Bo Gross had 16 carries for 95 yards with 1 touchdown.
In the game-winning drive, Shawnee had several chances to stop but Bath came up with two key catches to move the sticks and keep the drive alive. The first clutch play came when facing a third and 10 at the Indians 39, Sullivan connected with Gross for a 15 yard strike. Prior to that key catch, Shawnee had two chances to intercept Sullivan but twice the Indian defenders let the pigskin slip through their hands.
With the Wildcats at the Indians 24, the second big catch came when Elijah Mathers made a tremendous grab on a fourth and eight to move the ball to the 5-yard line with 17 seconds left.
“It was back and forth and a shoot out and we are just fortunate to come out on the winning end,” Bath head coach Bill Garland said. “Kaden is a very a good athlete and he is our versatile guy but give credit to our receivers in that last two minutes. Elijah Mathers made a big catch on fourth down. Bo Gross did a nice job. Just proud of my players and proud of my coaches. It was a great win for us.”
In the loss, Shawnee quarterback Ray Manley was 15 of 27 for 251 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Receiver Christian Ford had two catches for 102 yards including a 72 yard touchdown catch.
In the first half, the Indians jumped out to a 19-7 advantage primarily on the passing of Manley and the legs of Wilson. Shawnee enjoyed a 12-point cushion after stopping a fake punt at the 50 and then driving the 50 yards in eight plays with Manley firing a bullet to Jalen Bagley in the end zone to complete the drive.
But the the Indians advantage was short-lived after the Wildcats responded with a 9 play, 80 yard drive that was capped off with a touchdown when Sullivan connected with Tre Terry from two yards out to cut the lead to 19-12 after the successful extra point.
Less than three minutes later the Wildcats were celebrating their third touchdown of the half after recovering an Indian fumble on the ensuing kickoff a the Indians 24 . Eight plays later, Sullivan plunged in from 1 yard out on fourth and goal with a little more than 15 seconds left in the half to give Bath the 21-19 lead following the extra point.
