Maumee suffers heartbreaking loss in playoff opener
- Jeremy Schneider
- Nov 2, 2024
- 3 min read
By JEREMY SCHNEIDER
IMA SPORTS
Less than one percent of high school football teams in Ohio will end the season with a loss. As Maumee found out on Friday, walking away one final time in a season or career doesn’t hurt any less in Week 10 or afterwards.
The Panthers rallied from an early deficit to take a lead at halftime, but they couldn’t make it stand up as visiting Lexington scored twice in the second half to take a 28-14 win in the Division III playoffs at Kazmaier Stadium.
“We just didn’t make enough plays,” Maumee coach Evan Karchner said. “Give credit to Lexington, they’ve gotten better. They made more plays than we did tonight.”
Maumee (8-3) went down 13-0 in the second quarter off two solid Lexington drives. The Minutemen put together a 6-play, 64-yard drive on the opening series of the game, and they followed that with a monster 26-play, 76-yard drive over the end of the first and beginning of the second quarters.
“We came out a little flat and they were pushing us around, and we had to kick it into gear,” Karchner said. “That backed up with some offensive mistakes, your defense ends up being on the field a long time. I’ve been around football enough, if your defense is out there, something’s going to break at some point.”
Something clicked for Maumee after that second scoring drive, though. The Panthers turned around the game with two scoring drives in the second quarter, one capped off with a Ben Kubicz-to-Donovan Mays 25-yard scoring pass and the second with a Cody Wulf 2-yard rush.
All of the sudden, Maumee went from being down two scores to holding a lead at halftime and getting the ball first out of the break.
“I’ve told our guys, ‘If you were going to quit, you should have quit at 1-38. You’ve come too far,’” Karchner said. “They were ready to battle. We got rolling there and I felt good.
“We just came out in the second half and didn’t score. Like I said, it’s just a matter of time when your defense is on the field.”
The two teams battled to a scoreless third quarter, but Lexington found the end zone twice in the fourth, including a 59-yard burst up the middle for Camden Boozer that totally iced the game with 6 minutes, 39 seconds left in the game.
Karchner said his team played sloppily, and the numbers would back him up. They were penalized four times for 40 yards, converted only 2-of-10 third down conversions, and Lexington had a nearly 6-minute advantage in time of possession.
The defense was also held without a turnover for just the second time this season, along with the loss to Oak Harbor. The Panthers gave up 257 yards on the ground and 6.8 yards per rush.
Wulf ended his Maumee career with another outstanding performance on both sides of the ball. He rushed for 161 yards on 24 carries with the score, and he added one catch for 15 yards.
Carson Graetz had four catches for 44 yards in his final game.
“It just didn’t go our way tonight,” Karchner said. “That’s a tough one because I do think we were a better team than Lexington. Just not tonight.”
It was the final game for Wulf, Graetz and nine other Maumee seniors. They went on an incredible journey as high school football players, going from back-to-back winless seasons that had some questioning if they were going to continue playing football to a home playoff game.
The impact they made on the program and the standards they have set will be felt by the Panthers for years to come.
“To come to the point that Cody Wulf is saying that this is the best part of my day, that trumps any win-loss record,” Karchner said. “Usually when you have happy players, you’re winning or they're finding ways to win.
“I’m just happy the seniors saw some success and felt like this means something to be a Maumee football player.”
Photo courtesy of Pride of the Panthers
Reach IMA at insidemaumeeathletics@gmail.com
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