Nick Henthorn RUNNING HARD — Buckey Local’s Xzavier Eastham rushes with the ball against Shadyside on Friday night.

YORKVILLE — On the day that the Buckeye Local Panthers paid tribute to their winningest football coach, Ron Pobolish, on the field that now bears his name, it was fitting that the Panthers pulled off an exciting overtime victory over Shadyside, 20-14.

Tied 14-14 at the end of regulation, Buckeye Local running back Chase Worwa started his team’s overtime possession with a 17-yard run down inside Shadyside’s 10 yard-line. Two plays later, Worwa had crossed the plane with a five-yard rugged run up the gut. Buckeye, though, would fail on their two-point pass attempt, making for a precarious 20-14 lead as Shadyside took to the field for their turn on offense.

The Tigers offense had shown signs of life in the second half, the stretch where they had scored both of their touchdowns after trailing 14-0 going into halftime, but on their final possession of the game it was the Panthers who found the upper hand. Buckeye Local stonewalled three Shadyside rush attempts before the Panthers’ Daniel Divjak broke up a fourth-down pass to the pylon to seal the victory and give Buckeye Local their first win of the year at 1-2. Shadyside falls to 1-2 after picking up a win vs. Southern Local last week.

Buckeye Local sported a bruising rushing attack throughout Friday’s game, finishing with 238 yards on the ground as a team. Worwa finished with a game-high 122 rushing yards on 17 carries, picking up his play as the game wore on, and culminating with the go-ahead overtime touchdown run.

Xzavier Eastham led the Panthers with 22 carries for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Divjak carried the ball three times for 20 yards in addition to his game-sealing pass breakup.

Shadyside turned in a more balanced offensive day, with 122 rushing yards as a team and 128 aerial yards from quarterback Jayden Johnson.

Johnson’s biggest throw of the game came in crunch time, where he hit Michael Hendershot on a streak down the sideline for a 50-yard score which would tie the game, 14-14 with 4:38 in the fourth quarter. It was the biggest play of the game for either team.

Hendershot finished with three catches for 62 yards receiving.

Johnson also ran 17 times for 42 yards and a score, an eight-yard dash after running three yards for a fourth-down conversion one play previous. That run put Shadyside on the board with 4:44 showing in the fourth quarter.

Before that, the Panthers had made all the plays. Shadyside began the day with the ball, and the first two plays of the game went to Tigers running back Ace Nelson, who ran for 20 and 21 yards on the two carries, but Buckeye Local buckled down with a fourth-down sack ending Shadyside’s drive at the Buckeye Local 19.

Nelson finished at 19 carries for 90 yards.

After a scoreless first quarter, Eastham plunged in a one-yard touchdown to end a long drive which took up all the second quarter to that point, Eastham’s touchdown coming with 5:33 in the quarter.

Eastham came up with a play on defense next, coming up with an interception on a pass over the middle to set his offense up at Shadyside’ 22 yard-line. The junior took a stretch run six yards to put Buckeye up 14-0 with just under five minutes until the half.

Shadyside had two interceptions of their own, with Bryce Sloan and Hendershot each reeling in picks. Sloan’s pick came on a trick play end-around pass which the Tiger DB picked off in the end zone in the first quarter.

Both teams struggled with penalties Friday, the hosts more so. Buckeye Local racked up 70 penalty yards; Shadyside had 40.

Friday’s game had a 7:30 start, as part of the game’s Alumni Night activities involved a field dedication to Ron Pobolish, who compiled a 53-13 record at the school as head football coach and won three OVAC titles.

Buckeye Local revealed back in July that the field at World War II Memorial Stadium would be named after Ron Pobolish, and as of Friday, it is official, with new signage on the scoreboard being unveiled.

Pobolish passed away last year. He also coached at Cadiz, Harrison Central, John Marshall and West Liberty University.

Buckeye Local travels to face Barnesville (3-0) next week. Shadyside will return to Fleming Field to face Frontier (1-2).