The Aplington-Parkersburg football team was plagued by three turnovers as they came up short of earning a playoff bid, falling 28-20 at Columbus Catholic in Class 1A District 4 in their regular season finale on Friday, as aired on 99 The Wave.
Midway through the first quarter, Columbus scored the first points of the game on a punt blocked return for a touchdown to go up 7-0. Early in the second, A-P responded with a seven play drive capped off by a trick play that featured a wingback pass by Mason Pruisner to Wes Shirk for a 40 yard strike to cut the deficit to 7-6. The Falcons took their first lead at 12-7 following a Kolbon Hoppenworth fumble recovery that set up a 26 yard sprint for a touchdown by Devan Eberhart with 5:37 to go before the half. The Sailors took the lead back on the ensuing drive to go up 15-12. The Sailors took advantage of two Falcon turnovers inside the final two minutes of the quarter to build their advantage up to 28-12 at the half. A seven yard touchdown reception by Devan Eberhart with 2:36 to go in the game, pulled the Falcons back within a possession at 28-20. The Sailors were able to run out the remaining time, to hold off a complete comeback. Head Coach Jeff Pikna highlights a turning point in the game and their final postgame huddle.
“I thought that we let something bad happen, we bounced back and we kept fighting. A lot of times this year we did let it get the best of us, but I felt like in that moment we were on to the next play. We preach that all the time. We got up 13-7 and then it happened again so we were back at square one there for a minute so it just happened to happen right before the half. Just terrible timing,” says Pikna. “The conversation was all about the seniors as it always should be. Thanked them for their time with us. Thanked them for the impact they made on me. As you guys all know, this community is really focused on football and they really stress it. I think that’s good. We’re going to get hit pretty hard about this one unfortunately, deservingly so to a degree. We can’t get the community hyped up and not deliver and that’s exactly what we did.”
Benny Waller had 105 passing yards and a touchdown. Wes Shirk had 59 receiving yards and a touchdown. Mason Pruisner had 43 rushing yards and a passing touchdown. Devan Eberhart added two touchdowns to lead the Falcons.
Aplington-Parkersburg concludes the season at 3-5, 2-3 1A-4.
A-P Head Coach Jeff Pikna Postgame Interview:
