Friday, Sep. 05, 2008

Gourley gets "Miracle" win in first game

Jeff Gourley needed a miracle in his first game as Olathe South football coach Friday against Olathe Northwest – and the Falcons delivered it ultimately, off the foot of Tanner Miracle.

Miracle hit the game-winning extra point with 1:26 left to squeak out a 23-22 victory after junior quarterback Tanner Dutton led the Falcons to a late touchdown. A game that was all South in the first half nearly slipped away from the Falcons as the Ravens rose up behind second-string quarterback Mitch Ransburg.

"Northwest played fantastic and I thought our kids answered the bell when they needed to," Gourley said. "I was a little concerned about a few things, but first game, you're going to make mistakes."

With five Northwest turnovers and 13 South penalties, there were plenty of mistakes from both teams Friday.

But there were also plenty of heroes. Ransburg came off the bench to throw for 194 yards and two touchdowns and Miracle had a huge all-around game. He led South in tackles, made an interception, carried the ball twice and converted three kicks.

South appeared on its way to a rout (similar to last year’s 49-6 win over Northwest) when Jake Byrd made one cut and strolled into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown run less than two minutes into the game.

Miracle soon added a field goal and Northwest’s starting quarterback, Josh Lemke, was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Ransburg came in and was intercepted by Miracle on his first pass and Byrd scored his second TD a minute later.

Things couldn’t have looked much bleaker for the Ravens, trailing 16-0 after the extra point banged off the upright. But Ransburg stayed poised and a few minutes later uncorked a gorgeous 67-yard touchdown pass to wide-open tight end Bo Seever. Then he added a two-point conversion toss to Cullen Phillips and it was a one-possession game.

"I can't give the kid enough credit," Northwest coach Todd Dain said of Ransburg. "He did a great job of coming in and being cool in that situation."

The score stayed 16-8 until the fourth quarter when Northwest running back Shawn Smith finally found some room. Smith had been held to four yards on his first seven carries, but burst up the middle on his eighth and used his track star speed to go 69 yards for the score.

The storybook game continued on the next possession for Ransburg as he hit Devon Boyce for a 38-yard touchdown and Northwest’s first lead. Boyce finished with four catches for a game-high 102 yards.

"We had just a few letdowns the whole game and that's what they scored off of," Miracle said. "Other than that I think our defense dominated; did what it needed to do."

Northwest's defense was much-improved, also, though, and held the dangerous Byrd to 77 yards rushing. Gourley said the offensive line needed more time to jell, but also gave credit to the Ravens' aggressive tackling.

Dain said veterans like Hayden Maples, Sean Bova and Pat Doran were the key.

"We're a lot more mature on defense (than last year)," Dain said. "We had nine guys coming back and those guys bring a lot of maturity to the field."

With South's running game held in check, the Falcons turned to Dutton and the junior delivered in a big way. He completed 19 passes for 240 yards in his first game as Mike Keese's successor.

Reggie Harris led South with 99 receiving yards, but Dutton spread the ball around to seven different Falcons.

"I was pleased with him," Gourley said. "He's like everybody else, he made his mistakes and there's not a player out there who didn't make mistakes. But Tanner was playing the hardest position on the field ... and, for a kid to step into the hot seat and play like he did, I was very happy for him."

Dutton saved his best for last, completing four passes in a row to lead the Falcons on a desperation drive that started with 3:28 left. He finished it by finding Byrd in the right flat for a 19-yard score and Miracle added the most important extra point of his career.

"I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous because it was a big point," Miracle said. "I've been struggling a little bit on my field goals lately, so I was a little nervous but I just drove right through it and it went right down the middle."

Still, the game wasn't over until South senior Tevin Taylor pulled in Ransburg's long bomb near the end zone. It was one of four interceptions for South, with Miracle, Donte Bernard and Blake Ballinger also pulling in one apiece.

OLATHE SOUTH 23, OLATHE NORTHWEST 22

OS (1-0) 10 6 0 7 — 23

ONW (0-1) 0 8 0 14 — 22

Scoring summary

First quarter

OS – Jake Byrd 18 run (Tanner Miracle kick), 10:09

OS – Miracle 30 FG, 0:25

Second quarter

OS – Byrd 5 run (kick failed), 7:46

ONW – Bo Seever 67 rec from Mitch Ransburg (Cullen Phillips rec. from Ransburg)

Third quarter

None

Fourth quarter

ONW – Shawn Smith 69 run (Luke Braland rec. from Ransburg), 11:37.

ONW – Devon Boyce 38 rec from Ransburg (pass failed), 9:35.

OS — Byrd 19 rec from Tanner Dutton (Miracle kick), 1:26.

Team statistics

OS ONW

First downs 14 7

Rushes-Yards 42-122 26-118

Passing yards 260 208

Total yards 382 326

C-A-I 20-33-1 12-24-4

Fum-Lost 2-1 1-1

Pen-Yards 13-120 6-65

Individual statistics

Rushing

Olathe South: Jake Byrd 19-77, Reggie Harris 4-21, Marshall Davis 6-9, Tanner Miracle 2-6, Tanner Dutton 9-5, Dylan Hanson 1-3, Ray Graham 1-1. Olathe Northwest: Shawn Smith 11-85, Trevor Stepp 5-24, Mitch Ransburg 6-6, Josh Lemke 4-3.

Passing

Olathe South: Dutton 19-32-0 240, Davis 1-1-0 20. Olathe Northwest: Ransburg 10-16-3 194, Lemke 2-8-1 14.

Receiving

Olathe South: Marquis Addison 4-48, Harris 4-99, Marshall Davis 6-50, Byrd 2-31, Spencer Keil 1-7, Cooper Steinman 3-25. Olathe Northwest: Bo Seever 1-67, Devon Boyce 4-102, Smith 1-13, Cullen Phillips 1-3, Luke Braland 3-24, Seth Krug 2-7.

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