Published: September 05, 2008 11:41 pm            

Quakers fall short in triple overtime thriller

PLAINFIELD — Behind two great rushing performances from both teams, the Plainfield Quakers came from behind to force overtime with the visiting Whiteland Warriors Friday night. Quaker Zane Fakes carried 41 times for 255 yards and four touchdowns while Warrior Luke Harris had 27 attempts for 266 yards and four scores.

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It took a last-minute drive by the Quakers, on the back of Fakes, to force a 28-28 tie with the Warriors that led to overtime.

“Obviously, he is a guy who gets in and gets us to that point,” Quaker coach Brian Woodard said. “We have to tip our hat to our kids with their ability to focus down the stretch and execute under the gun in that situation. Those guys up front were knocking people off the ball for Zane to have big holes to rush through.”

Trailing for the entire game, the Quakers’ road to a comeback fell short as Whiteland took advantage in the third overtime to win 41-38.

Plainfield Kicker Sean Williams, who was 3-of-5 on the night, had a chance to win the game in the second overtime but pushed the kick wide left by a narrow margin.

Williams did come back after that miss and hit a 26-yard field goal for a 38-35 Plainfield lead in the third overtime. With four downs between them and a victory, Whiteland had Harris rush two times and then Warrior quarterback Bryan Webb ran in the game winner from two yards out for a 41-38 victory.

Conference games do not get any tougher than this match-up at Red Pride Field between these two teams. The Quakers have owned the Warriors since 1988, going 12-0 against them during that span.

“Our goal was to leave 1-0 in the conference,” Warrior coach Darrin Fisher said. “The 14-12 tough loss to Plainfield last year hurt us and we never really rebounded from it. It was an important game for us for several reasons.”

Whiteland (3-0) took the opening kick and marched 67 yards in 11 plays, culminating with Harris going in off the right side leaving 5:59 in the first quarter.

Plainfield (1-2) answered with a long drive of their own, taking the rest of the quarter with Fakes leading the way with eight rushes and 50 yards. It was a 17-play drive that ended with Sean Williams kicking a 32-yard field goal with 10:14 remaining in the second quarter.

Whiteland took advantage of good field position off the ensuing kick and went 60 yards, led by Harris who had 54 of those, and scored on a quarterback sneak by Webb for a 14-3 advantage.

Following another long drive — 13 plays for over six minutes — the Quakers were again denied a touchdown by the Warriors defense, forcing a 42-yard field goal attempt by Williams that fell short with just over a minute remaining in the half.

“The good news in that is we have not had success yet this season driving the ball,” Woodard said. “The upside was we had those drives, the downside is we did not finish.”

With an 11-point deficit, the Quakers scored on the opening possession of the second half in seven plays. The drive was helped greatly by a 48-yard scamper by Fakes who took it in from two yards out, bringing it to 14-10.

Whiteland answered, as Harris broke free for a 59-yard touchdown run on its fist play following the Quaker kickoff extending its lead to 21-10.

“It is always tough when a team immediately answers,” Woodard said. “We talked to them about adversity and as a staff we did not panic.”

Undaunted, Plainfield came right back led by Fakes. Williams then redeemed himself from earlier, this time hitting from 42 yards out with 3:29 remaining in the third quarter.

Fakes would score twice more and Harris would add another touchdown before regulation expired. It took a two-point conversion from Quaker quarterback Johnny Jay to Jared Cox to tie it up with 11.6 remaining.

Plainfield hosts Indianapolis Roncalli 7 p.m. next Friday, in its last non-conference game of the season.

        

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