Football season is finally here – whether Mother Nature is ready or not.

The Bulldogs of Green High School started a new era of their football program – kicking off the 2008 campaign with a new head coach, field and jerseys.

It was a season opener that will be remembered for quite some time as Green took the field for the first time under former Massillon head coach Tom Stacy and on the newly turfed multi-surface field, but Lake was determined to play spoiler, defeating Green 39-30 in a last minute thriller.

However, Green couldn’t have planned a better start.

On the opening kickoff, Lake starting running back Tyler Crowl was stripped by two Bulldog defenders, and Green sophomore Jon Dawson pounced on the live ball.

Lake’s defense was unfazed, and forced a three and out – however senior wide receiver/kicker Garrett Cook made his first field-goal attempt of the season, giving Green an early 3-0 lead.
After a dropped pass that could have given the Blue Streaks a first down, quarterback Kyler King and Tyler Crowl fumbled an attempted handoff and once again turned the ball over, this time inside Green’s 10 yard line.

And this time, Green would capitalize on Lake’s mistake.

On the first play of the drive, senior quarterback Jesse Mason rolled out to his right, cut back towards the middle and weaved his way through traffic, finally finding the end zone while hauling two Lake defenders over the line with him.

With just half a quarter completed, Green had jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead.

Both teams began pounding the ball with the run, trying to establish the running game early on to set up deep passes. The Blue Streaks began knocking on the door offensively as shown by a 22 yard run to cross midfield for the first time, but Green shut the door – hard – with two straight stuffs to force a 3rd and 14.

Green began wearing on Lake’s defense in the 85 degree heat with consecutive runs of eight and nine yards.

After entering the redzone for the third time in the half, Green would put points up on the board – for the third time in the half.

Senior Justin James found a hole to his right, made one defender miss, and had 19 yards of open field (turf) ahead of him to give Green a 16-0 lead after the first quarter.

It was a tale of two quarters – call it first game jitters, call it learning the new field for the Blue Streaks’ first quarter woes, but Lake refused to sit down and hand Green a grand opening banner.

Lake began running a flurry of QB-draws, sweeps, misdirection plays and play actions passes that caught the Bulldog defense off guard on nearly every snap. Crowl, who seemed to be running with some extra aggression after fumbling earlier in the game, and junior QB Ryan Christiansen quickly wore down the defense, and marched the ball into Green territory, then the red zone, then inside the 10 yard line.

Using sweeps and quarter back draws, Lake finally reached the scoreboard.

On Green’s next possession, Lake stuffed a 4th and one attempt at Green’s 30 yard line, and again used Christiansen used his speed to catch the Bulldogs out of position to quickly move the chains.

After a nice pass along the side lines, Christian pounded it in side to move Lake within three points, 16-13.

But the Blue Streaks weren’t done yet.

After a 25 yard run by James resulted in 40 yards after a personal foul facemask that actually ripped James’ helmet off, Lake junior Brad Beachy picked off a Mason pass intended down the sideline.

This time, the Blue Streaks didn’t take as much time moving the ball into scoring range. Christiansen dropped back to pass but immediately saw blitz, found a hole, got to the outside and turned the corner for a 40 yard scramble that put the ball at the Green 12.

The drive was capped with a very nice catch by Lake Sophomore Josh Landis to keep his feet inbounds, giving the Blue Streaks 20-16 lead at halftime.

Green and its capacity crowd had been stunned.

The only score of the third quarter came on a Christiansen 15 yard touchdown run in traffic, giving Lake 27 unanswered points.

Entering the final 12 minutes, fatigue and the steamy August weather began to take its toll.
The Bulldogs finally bit back at Lake’s resurgence, as Mason quickly found running back Nathan Majnaric for eight yards just inside the pylon to move Green within four points.

The Bulldogs would get the ball back with 3:23 left on the clock, but a sack by senior Nick Roberts would force Green into a must-go-for-it 4th and 7 with 2:15 left.

The atmosphere became instantly electric, with more than 6,000 on their feet and the press boxes shaking.

Mason, who had 72 yards passing up to that point, went for it all and threw a picture-perfect pass to senior MarQwe’ Hughes who ran a beautiful route, caught the ball in stride and flew by Lake’s safeties for the 62 yards and the go-ahead score.

“It was just a great play,” commented Green head coach Tom Stacy. “Hughes ran a great route and Jesse Mason showed great patience in letting the play develop.”

Now it was Lake’s turn to make the impossible happen, this time down 30-27.

Sophomore Jim Luther put Lake in great field position, as he cut through Green’s special teams and returned Cook’s kickoff 52 yards to Green’s 40 yard line.

Christiansen would try for the win through the air, but a perfectly timed jump by Green junior Javon Tate broke up the pass play.

However two plays later Crowl found redemption. He bounced outside off tackle, cut through the line, made one man miss and turned the corner for a thunderous 31 yard touchdown run.
Green would have to come back again, this time down 33-30.

Mason orchestrated a beautiful drive, and got Green’s offense to Lake’s 43 yard line, a little over 20 yards from field goal range.

The hopes to a grand opening were officially drowned, when Christiansen grabbed a tipped pass, and saw nothing but wide open field for a 57 yard interception return for a touchdown, and the win. As he crossed the end zone, Christiansen raised the football to the packed-to-the-gills away-team stands. A fitting gesture for a quarterback who led his team to victory, with the support of Blue Streak faithful all the way.

For Lake, week one proved to be a real victory – down 16-0 and then losing the lead, fought to come back and win the opener in the final minute, all the while in a very electric atmosphere. There aren’t many better ways to start a season.

For Green, Stacy sees this as a building block.

“Both teams made great plays, and we just couldn’t hold them at the end,” commented Stacy. “I was really proud of how our kids responded at halftime and fought back. That bodes well for the future. We’ll be a team that gets better and better each week, and we have the potential to make some real noise in this league.”

If this is an indication of the type of football fans will be treated to every Friday at Green – 2008 will be a fun ride.