South Harrison dominates time of possession to knock off Brookfield

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by Jeremy Benson, Grand River Conference Media LLC

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Last year, South Harrison went to Brookfield and faced a Brookfield team that was senior-dominated. Brookfield came away with a commanding 48-6 win. A year later, South Harrison was hosting on senior night with 12 seniors on the roster. Both teams came into the game with a record of 5-1, losing only to conference leader Putnam County. South Harrison's game plan was to control the time of possession.

South Harrison started the game driving down to the Brookfield 30, but a fumble ended the drive. Brookfield drove into South Harrison territory, but Jett Cornett intercepted Phoenix Jordan in the end zone on a 4th and goal. Although there was no score at the end of the first quarter, South Harrison advanced the ball to the Brookfield 5-yard line as the clock expired.  

Crae Coffey was able to capitalize on a couple of plays later when he scored from 1 yard. Cornett's PAT made it 7-0 South Harrison with 11:16 left in the half. Brookfield was forced to punt on their next drive, and South Harrison took almost 9 minutes off the clock, but they were stopped at the 1-yard line on 4th down with 19.8 seconds left in the half. With Brookfield backed up deep in their own territory, South Harrison was able to tackle Coldon Parrent in the end zone for a safety to end the half up 9-0.

Brookfield struck quickly at the start of the 2nd half. Parrent took a pitch on the first play from scrimmage and ran 66 yards down the right sideline to put Brookfield on the board. The conversion failed, making it 9-6 South Harrison. Brookfield would not touch the ball the rest of the quarter. South Harrison methodically marched the ball down the field using their running game. They huddled after every play and used the entire play clock. South Harrison also converted two fourth downs, and was facing a 4th and inches from the Brookfield 6 when time expired.

South Harrison converted their third fourth down of the drive, and a couple plays later, Mason Galloway scored from 2 yards to put South Harrison up 16-6 after a successful Cornett PAT. Both teams were stopped on 4th down on their next possession. Cornett ran the ball on a fake punt and was inches short of the First Down marker. Brookfield did not take advantage when they had a bad pitch on a hook and ladder. South Harrison recovered the ball. Coffey scored a couple of minutes later on a 3-yard run with 1:08 left in the game. Brookfield drove into South Harrison territory, but the clock ran out to give South Harrison a 23-6 lead.

South Harrison dominated the time of possession with 38:51 on offense, while Brookfield only had the ball for 9:09. South Harrison coach Chris Schoning talked about his team's game plan. "We knew that being up going into halftime, we wanted to control the time as much as we could. Sometimes it comes down to whether you're going to go for it on fourth down. These guys really believe in the run game. It's smashmouth football, and they've really bought into that."

South Harrison only allowed 6 points to a Brookfield team that averaged 37.5 points per game. Coach Schoning talked about the play of his defense, "They're playing fantastic. The last 3-4 weeks, they've been stepping it up a notch. Coach Coffey (defensive coordinator) is a great coach. And my other assistants, Coach McFall, Coach Corbett, and Coach Wendt, they all do a great job getting the guys prepared. The guys go out and execute. Tonight we were flying around making great tackles."

South Harrison is now 6-1 (5-1 in the GRC). They will travel to Polo next week. Brookfield is now 5-2 (4-2 in the GRC). They will host Milan.

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