By Matt M. Stutz

In the opening round of OHSAA Division VII Region 26 football playoffs, the #8 Pandora-Gilboa Rockets hosted #9 Leipsic. P-G got a little revenge as they used a strong second half to pull away from the Vikings 33-24 on Friday, October 27.  

The Putnam County rivals met up earlier in the regular season in a non-conference match-up in which Leipsic slipped away with a 21-14 win. 

This game had a similar start as P-G kicked off and quickly found themselves down 7-0. The Rockets knotted up the score on running back Ben Burkholder’s 3-yard touchdown run and Skyler Richrdson’s PAT kick; with four seconds left in the first quarter. The game-tying score was set up by a huge 35-yard pass and catch from quarterback Cory Gerten to receiver Isaac Stall to get the Rockets to the three-yard line.

The Rockets took their first lead of the game at 5:14 before halftime. Following a Viking fumble and recovery by Stall at the P-G 25-yard line, Burkholder scored his second touchdown with an 8-yard run up the middle, putting P-G up 13-7 with the missed extra point kick. P-G was unable to enjoy the lead for long; the Vikings regained the lead 14-13 going into the halftime intermission.

In the second half P-G scored on their opening possession, as Gerten connected with Stall on a 21-yard slant pass over the middle for a touchdown and a 19-14 lead. The Rockets attempted a two-point conversion that came up short.  

The two teams went back-and-forth the rest of the third quarter. The Rockets defense stopped the Vikings on 4th down deep at the P-G 8-yard line. The Vikings then forced a safety on the next play, trimming the P-G lead to 19-16.  

P-G would run over five minutes off the initial clock to start the fourth quarter. Then on 4th and goal from the 1-yard line, Aidan Morris took the handoff, found an opening, and slipped into the endzone standing up. Richardson’s kick put P-G at a seemingly comfortable 26-16 lead with 6:55 remaining in the contest. Leipsic came back, cutting into the P-G lead, at 26-24. But P-G’s Andrew Miller made quite possibly the play of the game as he received the ensuing kickoff and returned it down the visitor’s sideline for a touchdown. Richardson again nailed the kick, putting the Rockets ahead 33-24 with 3:40 left on the clock.

Next up, the #8 Rockets (8-3) will travel to and take on #1 Hopewell-Loudon (11-0) at 7:00 p.m. on November 3.