NELSONVILLE — Everything was looking good for
Nelsonville-York as the clock was winding down in the fourth quarter. The
Buckeyes held a 35-13 lead over the Trimble Tomcats and appeared on their way
to a happy night.
But that all changed with 8:10 to go, when fullback Zack Tablert plunged into
the line for a three-yard gain. As the rest of the Tomcats and Buckeyes got up
and walked back to the huddle, Talbert was still on the ground. The senior
dislocated his ankle and needed a stretcher to get off the turf as Boston Field
fell silent.
The Buckeyes won the game, 41-13. But they’re afraid they’ve now lost one of
their most important players in Talbert. Nelsonville-York head coach Dave
Boston Jr. said Talbert was getting x-rays, and the team was holding out hope
that he wasn’t lost for the season.
“At that moment when you
see a young man like Zack in pain, of course at the time we didn’t know exactly
what it was,” a visibly shaken Boston said afterward. “But he’s a tough young
man and he’ll bounce back from it and hopefully we’ll get him back in a couple
of weeks. But the emotions were really low at that point in time. We were
excited to win the football game but we’re still feeling pain for Zack right
now.”
The carry gave Talbert 100 yards rushing on 15 carries, including a touchdown.
He also made all five of his extra points as well as being a key part of a
defensive effort that allowed Trimble just 184 yards of total offense.
“He was just playing hard,” Trimble head coach Phil Faires said. “You hate to
see it happen. Hopefully he’ll be better and get to play. It could happen to
anyone.”
Before the injury, Talbert was a big part of a rushing offense that devasted
Trimble in the second half. Trimble was able to keep a 7-7 tie with the
Buckeyes before an eight-yard Derek Arnold touchdown put Nelsonville-York on
top 14-7 with 54 seconds left in the second quarter.
Trimble was greeted by a rushing onslaught to start the third quarter. Arnold
ripped off a 14-yard run, Talbert barreled through for a 21-yard gain, then
Arnold capped off a three-play, 55-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run.
Arnold provided an exclamation point as he plowed over a Trimble defender on
the one-yard line, putting the Buckeyes up 21-7.
“They found the right play,” Faires said. “And maybe it wouldn’t matter what
they run. They were pretty well starting to dominate us on the line of
scrimmage. Had to stop them to get back in the game and instead they go down
and score. We knew right then things were going to have to be perfect for us to
win the game. Nelsonville’s a good team.”
The Buckeyes continued to pound out the rushing yards. They crafted a 12-play,
62-yard drive that ate 6:15 off the clock. Talbert ended the drive by hurdling
over the Trimble defense on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, giving the
Buckeyes a commanding 28-7 lead.
Arnold added a 28-yard touchdown at the beginning of the fourth for a 35-7
lead. The standout junior finished with 20 carries for 144 yards and four
touchdowns. He had 92 rushing yards in the second half.
“He’s tough,” Faires said. “I’ve said, ‘If you don’t stop Arnold, you’re not
going to beat them.’ We had a gameplan and our kids played as good as they
could. They were defeinitly better than us tonight.”
Nelsonville-York out-rushed the Tomcats, 312-138 for the game and 215-87 in the
second half.
“Offensivley and then defensivley our kids stepped up and got the job done and
that’s what you ask from them,” Boston said. “When they did that, it turned the
game around and then we took total control of the ground game and our kids have
worked hard. They deserve what they get.”
Nelsonville-York drew first blood when Arnold scored from two yards out behind
the right side of his line with 3:49 left in the first quarter. The Tomcats
evened the score up in the second quarter on a eight-yard pass from Kacey Cruse
to Chris Runyon. The Tomcats’ scoring march was 14 plays and covered 61 yards.
But the night could be remembered for the cruel twist of fate delievered to
Talbert, a member of the All-Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division team last
season.
“Zack’s a big play maker,” Boston said. “He breaks tackles and runs through
people. He blocked extremely well tonight. His kicking game was solid. It’s a
tough loss right now but hopefully he’ll be able to get back with us.”
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