Mio nips Posen on homecoming night, first road contest in a month will be played at Hale

by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor

From the first offensive play of the night it was apparent that Posen?s fortunes against Mio had not changed. Posen recovered a Mio fumble in the early moments of the contest, but an inadvertent whistle from an official allowed the visitors to keep the ball at about midfield. The Thunderbolts scored on the very next play. Head coach Glenn Budnick said the play was a momentum changer from the opening bell of the homecoming game.

?The ball was on the ground, we recovered it,? said Budnick. ?Mio threw their defense on the field knowing the kid fumbled the ball, and then they (officials) changed the call.? Posen would have its chances, and were within two scores with possession early in the fourth quarter; they just could not stop Mio?s big plays and slipped to 2-4 on the season with the 51-26 loss. Mio improved to 5-1, and improved their winning streak to five against the Vikings.

POSEN NOW must run the table in their three games to have a chance at qualifying for the playoffs. ?I really think if we are 5-4 come the end of the season, we?ll be one of the teams selected, depending on how many automatic qualifiers there are,? said Budnick. ?We still have a lot to play for these next three ball games.? He added that there is no bigger game than the one Friday at Hale, the first road game since August. The Eagles also are a team hungry for a post-season berth. They are 3-3. Like Mio and Au Gres, Hale has some speed in the backfield, which has given the Posen defense fits two of the last three weeks. Game time Friday is at 7 p.m.

AGAINST MIO, it was the biggest scoring output since 2000, but it?s also the third year in a row the Vikings defense has given up 50 points or more to the T-Bolts. After Mio went up 6-0 the Mio defense forced the Viking offense to punt and took the ball in and scored again to make it 13-0 with 9:33 left in the first. Posen countered with an 11-play drive capped by a five-yard touchdown from Tyler Krajniak, the first of three TDs for the junior. One of the key plays was a 16-yard pass completion from Aaron Romel to Nathan Strzelecki on third-and-eight. The T-Bolts marched the ball from their own 31 to put it into the endzone for a 19-8 lead. On the drive, Mio converted on fourth-and-three play on a fake punt. It was one of a handful of fourth-and third down plays Mio would convert.

POSEN WOULD come back with a long 70-yard touchdown run from Krajniak. There was a flag on the play, but it turned out to be defensive holding, so the penalty was declined. With 47 seconds left in the first quarter, Posen was within five points, 19-14. Mio went on another touchdown drive from their own 38 to go up 25-14. The Posen offense put together another impressive drive, starting at their own 35, but stalled at the Mio 25 with a QB sack and a tackle in the backfield. The ball went over one downs. Mio passed the ball inside the Posen red zone with less than 20 seconds to go. They kept taking shots at the endzone, but Posen escaped with no points getting scored, as a number of passes were dropped. Mio?s halftime lead was 25-14. At the onset of the second half, Posen received the ball and moved the ball past midfield when another drive stalled on a fourth-and-five conversion attempt. Mio would score on the next offensive play from 62 yards away to take a 32-14 lead.

THE TEAMS would continue to exchange blows in the third quarter. A 38-yard run by Paul Kroll set up a one-yard TD run by Romel. That was answered by a six-yard TD from the ?Bolts. At the end of the third it was 38-20, but Posen would score with 10:57 remaining in the fourth. Romel found Strzelecki again on a fourth down play to set up a Krajniak score from eight yards out. The conversion failed, leaving the score at 38-26. The Posen defense would make a stand at their own 42. Strzelecki put pressure on the quarterback to force an incomplete pass, while Scott Couture and Corey Hentkowski came up with a key tackle on fourth down-and-six. The Vikings had a chance to catch Mio napping. After a timeout, Posen ran up to the line of scrimmage with the Mio defenders slow to get to their positions. Mio quickly called timeout to avert disaster. It work

ed.

On the next play, Steven Downing got in the backfield and picked off a Romel pass from point-blank range and went the other way for the points. With the final outcome in hand, Mio did not let up and continued to pour it on. Instead of running out the clock, they kept throwing the ball. On fourth-and-six with less than four minutes remaining, Mio completed a 38-yard pass to the Posen one and ran in their final score of the game. ?We had our opportunities, but we had some mistakes,? said Budnick. ?They are a good football team, and you can?t give a good football team extra chances like we did tonight.?

Statistics: 53 plays for 348 yards, 89 yards passing, total 437. Posen: Tyler Krajniak 16/159/3 TDs, Paul Kroll 20/124, Nathan Street 9/48, Aaron Romel 12/17. Passing: Romel 5-for-9, 89 yards, Int. Receiving: Nathan Strzelecki 2/25, Krajniak 3/64. Defense: Jordan Hincka 18 tackles; Corey Hentkowski 8 (two sacks), Street 8 tackles.

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