MACHESNEY PARK — Even when things were going right for Harlem, they weren’t really going right.
The Huskies led for most of the game Friday, but they were never their big-play selves.
“Woodstock is very physical,” Harlem quarterback Keenan Kellett said. “It’s hard to get those long cutback runs because they are so disciplined and don’t miss tackles. We had to change up the game plan.”
No. 5 seed Harlem’s change of pace worked for three quarters, but Woodstock scored two touchdowns in the last six minutes to win 29-22 in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs.
“When you win eight in a row and you lose the last two, it’s tough,” coach Jim Morrow said. “The last thing you want to have happen is to go out in the first week of the playoffs, but our play did not merit us winning in the playoffs.”
Harlem (8-2) led early because of its punting game. After he Huskies recovered a fumbled punt at the Woodstock 13, Kellett then threw an 11-yard TD pass to Keith Purifoy.
After No. 12 seed Woodstock (7-3) tied it on Derek Brown’s 34-yard pass to Tom Wilson, Sterling Hecox pinned Woodstock at the 2 with a coffin-corner punt and Cory Koelker blocked the Blue Streaks’ ensuing punt for a safety and a 9-7 lead.
“It was close to a touchdown,” Koelker said. “The ball just kept rolling and it ended up going out of bounds. But I’ll take a safety. A safety could have been the difference in the game.”
It almost was. After a 52-yard pass from Brown, a three-year starter who completed 9 of 16 passes for 185 yards, set up a 2-yard Woodstock TD run, Harlem went back on top 15-14 with Kellett’s 32-yard TD pass to Tyler Cox (six catches for 105 yards). That was two plays after Harlem faced second-and-34.
“That’s just Cox doing what he does best, getting behind the secondary,” said Kellett, who passed for a Harlem single-game record 223 yards.
But what Harlem is supposed to do best is break big runs by Purifoy. Woodstock wouldn’t let that happen.
“They overplayed the perimeter and took Purifoy away,” Morrow said. “Their two best defensive players pretty much dictated that we weren’t going to run outside to the right.
We did some nice things coming back from that, but we didn’t play well enough in other areas. They took one dimension away. That shouldn’t have been able to stymie us.”
Kellett, who had 196 yards rushing all year, became Harlem’s main ball carrier. He ran for 92 of Harlem’s 156 rushing yards.
But without the big play, Harlem had trouble scoring. Woodstock finally went ahead 22-15 on Brown’s 1-yard run with 5:21 left. After stopping Harlem on downs, Wilson made it 29-15 with a 34-yard reverse.
Harlem cut it to 29-22 on a 14-yard pass to 6-foot-7 tight end Casey Beck, but whiffed on an onside kick attempt with 58.7 seconds left.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Kellett said. “A couple of mistakes here and there changed the whole ballgame.”
- Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com
