“Coach told me not to go for it,” Walsh said of the first blocked punt of his life. “He didn’t want me to run into the kicker and get a penalty, but I saw the snap was kind of slow.”
The play galvanized the Badin team. More important, it set up a previously stagnant Rams offense with excellent field position. Walsh scored a game-tying touchdown on the ensuing possession and senior Michael Schweinefuss added the game-winning 22-yard field goal with 4:17 left to complete Badin’s come-from-behind 10-7 win.
Sophomore Braedyn Moore’s third interception of the season sealed Badin’s outright GCL Co-Ed championship. The Rams (6-0) finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 1980.
Badin, ranked third in the Associated Press Division III statewide poll, is off until October 16. The Rams, seeded third Division III, Region 12 of the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s first-ever all-inclusive football tournament, are scheduled to meet the winner of Friday’s game between 15th-seeded Lima Shawnee and 18th-seeded Wapakoneta.
The championship is Badin’s third straight. The Rams won the GCL Central Division title in 2018 and shared the Co-Ed Division championship with Chaminade Julienne last season. Losing to McNicholas would have left the Rams and Rockets tied for this season’s championship. The two teams tied for the 2015 Central title.
“The kids knew it,” Yordy said. “Word gets around and they look at social media. We talked about it a little bit, but if you’re focused on that, you’re focused on the wrong thing.”
The 5-foot-8, 165-pound Walsh set career highs with 23 carries for 118 yards, including his six-yard scoring run on the third play after his blocked punt. He carried the ball all three times for 18 yards on that key possession.
“We came up with a couple of big plays,” Walsh said. “We got the momentum, and we ran with it.”
A staunch McNicholas defense and inefficient Badin offense combined to keep the Rams' offense in neutral for the first three quarters, and it seemed that the Rockets might make the 7-0 lead they grabbed in the second quarter stand up.
After junior Landyn Vidourek’s 50-yard punt rolled into the end zone, McNicholas embarked on a 12-play, 80-yard drive capped by junior backup quarterback Pierce Taylor’s five-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Jack Suttles. Senior Nick Carter’s conversion gave the Rockets a 7-0 lead.
The Rockets put the drive together despite losing senior starting quarterback Clay Badylak to injury early in the possession. He didn’t return.
The Rams didn’t help themselves with two turnovers. Vidourek threw an interception and Jack Walsh lost fumble while Badin was limited to 58 yards of total offense before halftime. The Rams went into the game averaging 326.5 yards of total offense per game and 23.6 offensive points per game.
Yordy traced Badin’s problems primarily to what he called “sloppiness.”
“We had a couple of false starts,” he pointed out. 'We lined up wrong a couple of times. Landyn tried to force it in there a couple of times. McNicholas didn’t do a whole lot different, but there were a couple of times they rolled into different coverages
“We knew it would be a battle,” he added. “McNicholas is a well-coached team. They did a fantastic job. Their kids played hard.”
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