Local Sports

Wellsville’s miracle is Leetonia’s despair

LEETONIA -- Down by 1 with 15.8 seconds left and with no timeouts Wellsville’s football team needed a miracle.

Sophomore quarterback Zachary Banks ran from Leetonia’s pressure and heaved a pass deep in the air that reached junior Jeron Jackson in the back of the end zone with 11.4 seconds left to lift the Tigers to a 35-28 win in what is sure to be one of the wildest finishes of the season.

The win gave Wellsville its first win in 18 tries. It also was the first head coaching win for longtime assistant coach Shawn “Finney” Carter.

“We didn’t rep those plays all year,” Carter said of the go-ahead score. “That’s the first time we went to an empty set all summer and all season. We just needed something to where we could spread them out and find an opening. We ended up finding one on a scramble play. Probably should have got called for a holding, but hindsight is 20-20. It ended up in our favor.”

Jackson rushed 16 times for 103 yards with three touchdowns. The go-ahead touchdown catch was his only reception of the game.

“We know what we are going to get out of Jeron every week whether he is injured or 100 percent we know he’s going to give it his all,” Carter said.

Jackson said the ball was in the right place at the right time.

“It was a great ball from my quarterback,” Jackson said. “He put it in a perfect place between two defenders. We couldn’t ask much more from him.”

Leetonia quarterback Dylan Johns played Robin Hood in the marching band’s halftime show featuring Maid Marian and Sherwood Forest. He almost was the Bears’ Robin Hood in the fourth quarter.

With Wellsville up 27-21 with 4:18 left in the game, Johns and the Bears took over at the Leetonia 18. Spreading passes over the field and running where needed, Johns tied the game on a 6-yard run with 1:19 left. An unsportsmanlike conduct foul on Leetonia pushed the extra point back but Johns came through with a 35-yard extra point to put the Bears ahead.

“I was hoping (Johns) would have missed the extra point so we could go into overtime so I didn’t have to put that kind of pressure on my young quarterback,” Carter said.

Johns ended the day with 18 carries for 104 yards and two touchdowns while completing 18 of 30 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

Carter said he was he was especially pleased at how his defense kept its composure in a game that had an odd pace with 18 total penalties and plenty of stoppages for cramping or injuries.

“The star of the show was Cam Taylor and Trent Rambo on defense,” Carter said. “Taylor has a bruised all the way from his heel to the back of his calf. He did something to his shoulder also. He got something wrong with his knee. He went and had x-rays yesterday and they came back negative. He said he was playing and wasn’t coming out. He sure as heck didn’t. He gave us everything he had.”

Wellsville’s last win was at Leetonia on Sept. 20, 2024.

Carter who was a quarterback on Wellsville’s 1995 team that went to the state semifinals was emotional thinking about his first win as head coach.

“Being a Wellsville guy, being the quarterback of the Wellsville Tiger program for three years, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Carter said. “It’s a dream come true.”

Leetonia looked sharp early in the game as they scored on the opening drive with a Johns to Dylan Brown 47-yard pass.

Then Wellsville’s larger line was able to give the Tiger backfield some room with Eric Dowling scoring a 10-yard rushing touchdown with 6:03 left in the half and Jackson scoring on a 14-yard run with 3:54 left in the half. Wellsville led 13-7 at the break.

Even though the second half had plenty of offense, an officiating crew who was very free with their flags played their role and made for some fiery sideline moments from both sides.

Jackson expanded Wellsville’s lead to 19-7 with 9:30 left in the third quarter on a 23-yard run. Leetonia’s Johns hit Brown on an 11-yard pass on fourth down to make it 19-14 with six minutes left in the third.

Wellsville expanded its lead to a two-possession game again with a Banks 1-yard QB sneak to make it 27-14 with 7:43 left in the fourth quarter. Johns had a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:04 left in the fourth to bring the game to 27-21 with 6:04 left.

Leetonia, who is now in the Northeastern Athletic Conference, fell to 0-2 against former Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference foes this season.

Wellsville (1-2) will open EOAC play at Southern next Friday.

The Bears (1-2) will host Middlefield Cardinal next Friday.

W:0-13-6-16 -- 35

L:7-0-7-14 -- 28

L -- Dylan Brown 47 pass from Dylan Johns (Dylan Johns kick)

W -- Eric Dowling 10 run (Cameron Taylor kick)

W -- Jeron Jackson 14 run (kick failed)

W -- Jackson 23 run (kick failed)

L -- Brown 11 pass from Johns (Johns kick)

W -- Zachary Banks 1 run (Jackson run)

L --Johns 1 run (Johns kick)

L -- Johns 6 run (Johns kick)

W -- Jackson 26 pass from Banks (Jackson run)

TEAM STATS

LEETONIA

First downs: 17; Total yards: 308; Rushes-yards: 22-101; Passing: 207; Comp-Att-Int. 18-30-1; Punts 3-33; Fumbles-Lost 1-1; Penalties-Yards 12-133

WELLSVILLE

First downs: 14, Total yards 320, Rushes-yards 43-205, Passing 115; Comp-Att-Int. 7-11-1, Punts 2-42, Fumbles-Lost 1-1, Penalties-Yards 6-48

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING -- Wellsville, Jeron Jackson 16-103, Eric Dowling 7-46; Leetonia, Dylan Johns 18-104

PASSING -- Wellsville, Zachary Banks 7-11-115-1; Leetonia, Dylan Johns 18-30-207-1

RECEIVING -- Wellsville, Ethan Morris 4-55, Dominic Rawson 1-17, Andrew Mackey 1-17, Jeron Jackson 1-26; Leetonia, Dylan Brown 6-86, Brayden Gainey 5-83, Jason King 5-36, Grayden Henderson 1-7.

INTERCEPTIONS -- Wellsville, Ethan Morris; Leetonia, Jason King.