On a cold and rainy Saturday evening at the Bullock Health and Wellness Complex, the Muskies (3 – 3) faced down the Yellow Jackets (3 – 3) in what was bound to be a tough game for both teams in front of a crowd of over 1,800 people.
The Yellow Jackets were the first to light up the scoreboard with a 23-yard pass from Bubonics to Tim Conwell followed by an extra point kick by Joseph Evans to give Baldwin Wallace a 7 – 0 lead with 9:16 left in the first quarter.
The Muskies worked hard to get into position as they drove down field and were able to set kicker Hunter Albers up for a 22-yard field goal after 12 plays, driving 57 yards Muskingum was on the board with 3 points.
Baldwin Wallace came back shortly into the second quarter to land push a 3-yard run across the end zone line to pop their lead up to 14 – 3, which would be the deficit that the Muskies took into halftime.
After the half, the Muskies were able to push downfield to grab a short touchdown by Donald Francis but the 2-point conversion failed drawing the gap to a 14 – 9 difference with just 1:12 left in the third quarter.
Just inside the fourth quarter, Doug Crawford took the ball for a 1-yard quarterback keeper but couldn’t quite get the 2-point conversion to take the lead by 1 point at 15 – 14.
With only 5:52 left in the game the Yellow Jackets’ Victor Ford, Jr. made a 31-yard run to the house followed by a 2-point conversion pass by Darius Stokes to take the lead back at 22 – 15.
The Muskies were not ready to give up and Doug Crawford connected with Travanti Keitt for a 41-yard pass to tie the game at 22 with Albers PAT with only 1:26 left on the clock.
Seventeen seconds later, Bubonics found Darius Stokes for a 41-yard pass for the Yellow Jackets and even though they missed the extra point, they took the lead at 28-22.
In the midst of trying to recover and tie the game Baldwin Wallace’s M. Levasseur caught a ball intended for a Muskies receiver to make a huge 68-yard interception return to finish the game up 34 – 22. A heart-wrenching end to such a close game for Muskingum.
The Muskies host Ohio Northern on Saturday, October 21st. The game is set for 2pm and is a Cancer Awareness Pink Out game. All fans are encouraged to wear pink.
