Washington football takes down Metamora

What a difference two weeks makes, at least for the Washington Panthers.

After falling to Metamora on the road, 40-0, Oct. 12, the Panthers picked up its first playoff victory over Metamora in school history when quarterback Luke Ludolph took the ball into the end zone with 20 seconds left to seal a 19-14 win Friday at Malone Field.

"It's just a great win," Washington couch Darrell Crouch said. "I just talked to our seniors and it's a great testament to their careers here and, 20 years from now, I told them that when you come back here it's going to be a great thing for you."

Three plays later, the Washington sideline erupted as the Metamora crowd sat in stunned silence watching the Panther celebration.

"That was very indicative of the team we've had," Crouch said of the comeback. "We just tried to pump them all week to have courage and play.

"Last time we got beat 40-0 and no one died, no one got hurt. At the end of the day, if you're bloody and beaten and you lose, you can walk off and walk off with your heads high. Two weeks ago we couldn't walk off with our heads high."

The teams last met in the playoffs during the 2008 season when Metamora took a 38-7 victory.

The last time the teams had a postseason battle at Malone Field was during a 49-13 beating by Metamora in the 2007 postseason.

Following the opening quarter of Friday's game, both defenses had held strong to keep the game at a scoreless tie.

In the second quarter, the Panthers clawed their way to a 7-0 advantage when Ludolph pushed into the end zone from one-yard out.

Ludolph came away with 59 rushing yards and 223 passing yards.

The Metamora offense, behind rushes from running back Dekota Doerr and quarterback Brendan Nachtrieb, could not finish drives off with scores.

In their last meeting, the Panthers surrendered 352 grounds yards but held Metamora to 140 Friday.

The Redbirds could not find the end zone in the first half and Washington clung to a 7-0 lead at halftime.

"We challenged them to step up," Crouch said of his defense. "There wasn't a huge change in gameplan and things we did but we had guys step up and make plays."

Despite giving up the lead, the Metamora defense kept Washington from getting comfortable with plays from Blake Mason and Sam Ryan.

Metamora's offense looked like the well-oiled machine it had for most of the season on their first drive of the second half.

On their first second down, Nachtrieb ran for a yard and then, on third down, threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Doerr to tie the game at seven.

Washington responded by marching down the field 80 yards thanks to a 79-yard pass from Ludolph to senior Brent Brown. One play later, Brown caught a 1-yard touchdown that, after a missed point-after-attempt, put Washington back on top, 13-7.

Early in the fourth quarter, Metamora answered with a touchdown drive that was capped by a 13-yard touchdown run from Doerr.

Metamora's defense looked like it had won the game on the next drive by stopping the Panthers and forcing them to punt but the Panther's D responded with a big series that netted one Metamora first down and gave Ludolph and the offense the ball with 2:29 left on the clock.

Ludolph then marched the team down the field in a drive that culminated in his 1-yard run.

"It came down to the last play and that's the way it's been with them for the past few years. That was why it was kind of sad to come over here two weeks ago…that's the worst public school team beating we've taken in a long time."

Washington (8-2) will host Normal U-High (10-0) with time and date to be announced.

"We're pretty good about trying to bring them back to reality," Crouch said. "We will try to give them that reality check Sunday and do some yoga and stretch. Monday when we watch some film I'm sure we'll find some things out of this today still to put them back in check that way."

Metamora finished the year with a 7-3 record.