By PAUL STURM, C-T Sports Editor
KANSAS CITY — A week short of 11 years later and at home this time, Jim DeMarea’s Archbishop O’Hara Celtics put a game against the Chillicothe High School football Hornets they trailed by three points late in the fourth quarter in the hands of their quarterback and, in effect, said to him, “Go beat them!”
Just as then-senior Ryan McNamara did in Chillicothe in Phil Willard’s first playoff game as CHS head coach in 1998, current Celtics field general T.J. White followed orders and stuck a dagger in the heart of the Hornets.
Six days after Chillicothe came up big in the clutch on a fourth-and-long play deep in Smithville territory to set up its winning touchdown, White slid off two or three hits as he turned upfield from a rollout to his right on fourth-and-7 in the final half-minute last night to squirm for nine yards and a first-and-goal at the CHS 3.
With his team behind 29-26 and down to its last timeout with 15 seconds remaining, White made a quick read from the “pistol” formation on the next play and slashed through a crease off right guard to the goal line, where his momentum allowed him to power through a desperation hit by a would-be Hornets tackler and score the game-winning touchdown with 10.8 seconds left.
“T.J. did it pretty much the same way McNamara did,” the Celtics coach acknowledged, hearkening back to the prior postseason win over Chillicothe. McNamara scored the last of his four touchdowns on a run with 25 seconds left in the 1998 clash, making the final score 30-27.
"This is a dream come true for these kids," DeMarea stated in, for O’Hara’s senior-paced team and its fans, the excited aftermath of the regional-round playoffs victory.
The 32-29 see-saw win by O’Hara ended Chillicothe’s season with an 8-3 record, while the Celtics, at 10-1, move on to host Savannah in Monday’s sectional round of the Class 3 state playoffs. Ironically, but fittingly, considering the way the ending of last night’s game developed, those respective CHS and OHS won-lost records are identical to those they marched off the field with at Jerry Litton Memorial Stadium 11 years back.
"That was tough,” Chillicothe head coach Phil Willard admitted about again losing late to O’Hara.
“At least they beat us. In the ’98 game, there were a fumble (on the game-winning drive) and an (earlier would-be) interception (by CHS’ Brandon Worthington) that should have been called, but weren’t. …I guess (last night) is a little easier to take."
Last night’s regional-round playoff game developed very much along the lines at which the respective head coaches had hinted in pre-game discussions,
"It ended up being one of those games in which whoever had the ball last had the opportunity to win it," Willard remarked.
It also was no shock that, when the chips were down and O’Hara needed big offensive plays, it turned to White.
After carrying the ball only six times for 19 yards while completing two of three passes for 48 yards and a touchdown as the teams dueled to a 12-12 intermission knot, the Celtics’ speedy QB ran it 11 times for 93 yards and went three of five for 43 more yards and another score in the last half.
Following a four-yard scoring run by Chillicothe senior fullback Brett Stephens and a two-point conversion pass to Stephens’ younger brother, Blake, from Bryce Young with 5:54 left in the fourth quarter, the burden was placed squarely on White’s shoulders. He then showed the Hornets why.
After more fine kickoff coverage execution forced the Celtics to start with the ball at their own 22 in a do-or-die situation, Chillicothe’s defense threatened to throttle O’Hara quickly with a stop for a 1-yard gain on a first-down run and a solid tackle on a short second-down pass to set up third-and-3.
As they’d do again later, the O’Hara coaches put the onus on White to make something good happen, and he did.
Running the option to his right, he froze a  CHS defender with a juke at the line of scrimmage and slipped up inside for not only a first-down conversion, but, with his elusiveness preventing a clean shot at him, a 15-yard pickup which a lesser player might have gotten nothing or a few yards from.
With the clock running too fast for its fans’  comfort, O’Hara stayed patient and kept the ball on the ground, especially since it was both gaining nice yardage with consistency and effectively minimizing any time Chillicothe might have to come back, should the Celtics get the ball in the end zone.
After three runs by teammates netted 16 more yards and left O’Hara at second-and-5 at the Chillicothe 40, White again struck.
Optioning to the left side this time, he turned up inside again off tackle, darting through a seam and into open space. Only the positioning, agility, and fundamental soundness of Young allowed an open-field tackle to be made on the Celtics quarterback after a 25-yard gain.with less than 11⁄2 minutes remaining. The way things played out, it might have been better for Chillicothe if White had scored them, but the stop did give the CHS defense the chance to be the hero.
The unit almost had made a goal-line stand early in the fourth period with two goal-to-go tackles on plays from the 1 before White, on a well-defensed fourth-down sneak, managed to reach out and hold the ball just across the goal line for a touchdown which then made it 26-21.
This time, they held running back Raphael Spencer, who already had 109 rushing yards only 12 carries, to a two-yard pickup on first down and Cody Thompson and Jacob Lewis teamed to corral White for a one-yard gain on second down.
With 35 seconds left and third-and-seven, White rolled to the right several steps to draw most of the defense that way, then stopped, turned, and fired a high pass for the back left corner of the end zone where Aaron Stubblefield – called by DeMarea the Celtics’ other “go-to” player besides White – was single-covered by CHS junior cornerback Josh Rockhold.
The Hornets defender was in great position with tight coverage and managed to prevent an in-bounds catch by a leaping Stubblefield. With 29 ticks left on the clock, CHS was one snap away from advancing to the second round of state, but White would break its heart and end its season.
Following timeouts by both teams, White again rolled to his right, but, seeing no pass target open immediately, he quickly made the decision to do the job with his feet.
With good containment positioning by a Hornet on the outside, White turned the wide play straight up the field where a Chillicothe defender or two seemed to be in good position to get him slowed until help arrived or down. However, the nimble O’Hara senior slid through some arms to get inside the 10, then cut back to his left a bit. That changed the pursuit angle for Hornets defenders hurrying over, preventing them from delivering a clean, on-balance shot that would stop the ballcarrier’s forward progress. Glancing off more Hornets and then spinning to his right as he neared the CHS 5, White finally was wrapped up, but his lunging fall put the ball at the Hornets 3, two yards beyond the yardsticks. It was first-and-goal with only 15 seconds remaining.
"We thought we had him stopped,” Willard lamented, “and he was just able to drag a couple of tacklers for the first down."
"I told my offensive coordinator to make sure we leave it in his hands," DeMarea recalled the sideline conversation during the pre-fourth-down timeout.
At the Chillicothe 3 and with a timeout still in hand, O’Hara had plenty of options for the next play.
With the Hornets’ defense likely vulnerable to a play-action pass – two of which had burned them for 40- and 27-yard touchdowns earlier in the game – and with not only Spencer, but also wingbacks Terrell Johnson and Brett Coatney having been effective ground-gainers in what ended as a 299-yard rushing night for OHS, the hosts could have used any of those plays and, even if Chillicothe stopped it – barring a turnover, the Celtics – who do not have even an average placekicker – again could have made a designated call for White to carry or throw the ball on a potentially-final play.
However, O’Hara didn’t take any chances. It called the quarterback’s number again. Although he wears No. 10, White made his number “six” for this play, as in six points that won the game.
"He's a shy kid, but he's one of our leaders," DeMarea described his standout QB.
For Chillicothe, the outcome was not only gut-wrenching, but bittersweet, as well.
Playing a bit short-handed, the Hornets had responded admirably to both the challenge presented by a talented, diverse O’Hara attack and the distraction/manpower issues related to the off-field incident to battle back from three deficits to be on the brink of victory.
Keyed by Stephens’ 105-yard rushing night (part of a 257-yard team effort for which the gritty CHS offensive line paved the way), Connor Lindley’s three field goals in three tries, and Young’s stunningly-alert theft of an O’Hara trick-play lateral and 28-yard return for a lead-taking, third-quarter touchdown, Chillicothe overcame a 12-3 second-period deficit and 20-15 and 26-21 OHS leads in the final half.
When O’Hara heeded DeMarea’s pre-game advice – "if things happen, don't panic," he recalled afterward – and calmly responded to Young’s shocking TD with an 11-play, 80-yard march to regain the upper hand with eight minutes left, the Hornets’ offense did what its predecessor – 11 years removed – had done. It scored too quickly.
Whereas the 1998 CHS team had punched in a go-ahead touchdown with less than four minutes to go, only to see the Celtics march down the field to win in the last half-minute, Rockhold’s 35-yard bolt around right end behind terrific blocks by tight end Brenden Pagliai and guard Lindley put the ball at the O’Hara 11 and Br. Stephens had blasted in from the 3 off left guard three plays later with 5:54 to go.
O’Hara – which had bolted 75 yards in three plays, 74 in five, and 60 in four for its first three touchdowns – clearly had far more than enough time to counter. It not only did so, but used another time-consuming, 11-play march to cover the 78 yards it needed.
The fourth quarter played out in role-reversal style, with the Celtics using ball control to score and the Hornets striking quickly the only time it had the ball.
The first 36 minutes had seen Chillicothe use up significant time – as it wanted to do – on four scoring drives, even when those possessions didn’t cover a lot of real estate.
Lindley’s three field goals capped 8-, 11-, and 14-play drives – albeit with fewer points than the team eventually would need – and CHS’ only offensive touchdown of the first three periods concluded on the 12th play of a march that moved 76 yards in the second quarter.
While the Hornets’ offense generally was productive, it didn't always take full advantage of its scoring opportunities, especially with good field position from short kickoffs.
"If we'd have had one (more touchdown, instead of having to settle for one of the field goals), it would have made a difference," Willard acknowledged.
The game started quite promisingly for the visitors.
O’Hara took the ball first, but, after one first down, a procedure penalty followed by a fumbled handoff which White covered for an 8-yard loss, and a 5-yard sack of White by Pagliai on third-and-19 forced a punt. Young’s short return let CHS set up shop at midfield.
Four runs later, it was third-and-1 at the OHS 25, but two consecutive runs to the strong side of the unbalanced formation couldn’t move the sticks. Chillicothe had missed a great chance to seize the early upper hand.
Barely 70 seconds later, the Hornets were behind as a nice Spencer pickup and Johnson’s 19-yard gain on a wingback inside counter were followed by Spencer bursting off right tackle on a dive play for a 49-yard score and 6-0 lead.
An attempt at an onside kick by O’Hara traveled only four yards, giving Chillicothe a gift-wrapped opportunity to tie it or take the lead, but the Hornets again bogged down after a promising start.
Two runs earned one first down and, after the Hornets’ only penalty of the game – a holding infraction – erased an approximately 10-yard Young run, Rockhold darted for 13 yards around right end and a pass to the end zone for Young drew a pass interference flag on OHS.
With first-and-10 at the 17, Chillicothe gained only one yard with a pair of Young totes and a McCauslin pass for Rockhold was off. Lindley strapped on his kicking toe and boomed a 33-yarder through the heart of the goalposts to salvage three points with just under a minute left in the opening period.
The kick gave the senior a near-clean sweep of the field goal category in the CHS records book, being his sixth of the year.
Already having set the single-game mark at St. Joseph: Lafayette (a standard he’d equal as last night’s game progressed) and the career mark (also eclipsed in the Lafayette game), Lindley broke Jim Lightner’s 1966 and Ted Hicks’ 1969 records of five field goals in a season. The only CHS field goal mark not now owned by the current senior is longest field goal. That is 49 yards by Austin Sloan in 2004; Lindley’s best were a pair of 40-yarders earlier this season.
Following Wednesday’s first 3-pointer, O’Hara tested the Hornets’ mettle with a rapid response.
After two plays at the end of the first stanza and two at the start of the second took the ball from the OHS 26 to the CHS 40, a “flea-flicker” play in which White handed the ball to Spencer up the middle, received it back as the running back stopped behind the line, and then made a throw deep down the left seam was perfectly executed. Joe Melchior caught the ball in stride at the goal line a few yards behind the closest defender and the Celtics were in front 12-3.
After once more denying the kicking-challenged Celtics’ two-point attempt, Chillicothe’s offense brought the team back from the threat of a potential runaway.
"We knew we had to stay the course and not shoot ourselves in the foot,” Willard stated, saluting his players’ poise when it trailed by a couple of scores. “Try to control the ball and run the clock as much as we could."
A 12-play sojourn from their own 24 – highlighted by a 13-yard Young gain inside and Br. Stephens’ 18-yard veering gallop off right guard – concluded with McCauslin barely getting into the end zone on a second-and-goal sneak from the 1. When Lindley mis-hit his PAT try – only his third miss in 36 attempts this season, Chillicothe trailed 12-9 just past the middle of the second quarter.
The defense then made its first of only two “stops” on the night, sophomore backup linebacker Connor Dixon’s open-field hit halting a scrambling White a yard short of the first-down marker after a 10-yard, third-down pickup.
A relatively-short punt gave the Hornets the ball at their 41 with 3:25 left in the half and they used all of it over the course of 14 plays.
Rockhold’s 14-yard dart helped kick-start the drive and McCauslin’s third-and-8 10-yard gain on a sprintout draw put the ball at the Celtics’ 8.
A pair of incomplete passes and a three-yard loss on a Rockhold sweep led to Lindley’s game-tying 28-yard field goal as time ran out.
Starting the second half with the ball, the Hornets grabbed their first lead, but again couldn’t get seven points. Their 11-play trek from their 33 included 43 yards gained by Br. Stephens on seven carries. However, his eighth run of the drive was stopped cold for no gain, leading to Lindley’s third trey of the evening. With  7:04 on the third quarter clock, the Hornets finally were in front, 15-12.
O’Hara quickly took the lead back, two double-digit runs being followed by a 27-yard pass-and-run from White to tight end Louis Golden. This time successful with its two-point try, the home team was on top again, 20-15.
Chillicothe then had the second of its only two non-scoring possessions, going three and out thanks to a first-down quarterback sack, but Young’s awareness and anticipation soon erased its deficit.
On third-and-9 following the CHS punt to its 19, O’Hara dialed up the “hook-and-ladder” play in which a pass goes to a wide receiver running a “hook” route and the receiver immediately laterals (hence “ladder”) the ball to a trailing back swinging by to the outside.
Knowing, through scouting reports and video study, the Celtics on occasion used the play, cornerback Young quickly sized up the situation as White fired a quick pass to Melchior, who’d stopped in front of Young at the OHS 29. Spying, with peripheral vision, wingback Brett Coatney speeding that direction, Young approached Melchior, but not at full speed. When he saw the receiver’s arms drop to make the underhand toss to Coatney, Young simply darted between the two, snatched the ball from mid-air, and zipped to the end zone 28 yards away for a 21-20 lead. It was the senior’s second fumble return for a score this season.
"We'd seen it a few times and worked on it in practice, but Bryce just made a great play," Willard said of Young’s mid-air filch. "Just a really heads-up play. He recognized right away what was going on."
With 2:03 left in the third quarter, might this be the play to break O’Hara’s will? Again heeding a pre-game admonition from their coach, the Celtics responded, “No.”
"I told our kids, 'Don't get down if they score. They're a great team,” the OHS coach related to the C-T.