Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Wild win: Hornets slip past Auburn; Mamell scores winning TD in 2nd OT

NASHVILLE -- During one of the wildest wins in school history, a budding star emerged for the Nashville Hornets.

Gannon Mamell's 10-yard touchdown run gave Nashville the lead in the second overtime, and the defense made it stand by stonewalling the Auburn Trojans on the ensuing possession in a 48-41 victory Saturday.

The second-round Class 3A playoff game had a little bit of everything, including a breakout performance by junior running back Tyler Meyer. He rushed for a game-high 188 yards on 16 carries and peeled off two long runs, the last a 54-yard TD run with 2:12 left in regulation that gave the Hornets a brief 34-27 lead.

"I've been telling people all year Tyler Meyer is a heckuva running back," said Nashville coach Matt Gajewski said. "He stepped up big and made some huge runs for us."

Chris Storey also topped the 100-yard mark for the Hornets, rushing for 117 yards on 16 carries with a 68-yard TD. They helped Nashville (7-4) advance to the quarterfinals next week, where they will play host to Tolono Unity.

Unity (11-0) advanced with a 47-7 victory over Du Quoin. It's Nashville's first appearance in the quarterfinals since 2004.

"This is tremendous," Meyer said. "This playoff run has really brought the town together. At the beginning of the season, there wasn't a lot of people coming to our games. Now, everybody's excited."

Meyer provided plenty of excitement Saturday. With Mamell, Nashville's leading rusher, hampered by a hamstring injury that kept him out of practice all week, Meyer and Storey got the bulk of the work.

Mamell finished with 86 yards and three TDs, including the game-winner to open the second overtime.

"He probably shouldn't have been playing, but he gutted it up," Gajewski said. "We had to have him out there. Meyer and Storey stepped up and our line handled what they were doing. They were throwing a lot of stuff at us."

The Hornets gained 380 yards on the ground. That trumped the passing yardage of Auburn junior quarterback Michael Bates, who completed 23-of-46 pass attempts for 289 yards and four TDs.

"We felt like we could score against anybody, but they could do the same thing on the other side of the ball and that was the problem," said Auburn coach Dave Bates. "We had a never-give-up attitude, and we felt like if we had the ball, we always had a chance to win.

"But we were having a hard time stopping them and that contributed to it. My hat's off to them. They did a nice job."

Nashville led 19-7 midway through the third quarter after a 35-yard interception return by Bryce Harre before Auburn (8-3) took a 20-19 lead on a 6-yard TD reception by Forest Brake.

That set the stage for a wild fourth quarter that featured four touchdowns, 28 points and ended in a 34-34 tie after Bates connected with Tavelle Hammer on a 15-yard TD pass with 1:04 left.

Still, the Hornets were feeling confident.

"I had a feeling that if we could get to overtime, we'd be able to pull it out," Meyer said. "I just feel we can power the ball 10 yards a lot better than they can throw the ball 10 yards."

An 8-yard TD catch by Brake gave Auburn the lead in the first overtime, but Nashville tied it on an 8-yard TD pass from Brady Harre to tight end Craig Dalman, his first scoring reception of the season.

Mamell, who scored on runs of 10 and 2 yards during regulation, put the Hornets up 48-41 with a 10-yard burst to open the second OT.

Nashville's defense, which recorded five sacks of Bates, then dropped Ryan Gardner for a 1-yard loss and sacked Bates for a 2-yard loss on the first two plays. Two straight incompletions sealed the win for Nashville.

On fourth down, Bates rolled left and tried to find an open receiver, but everything was covered and the ball sailed high.

"It's hard to get 10-12 yards, especially when you have a short end zone," Gajewski said. "You can't run those deep routes, so that kind of puts you in a bind when you're a passing team."

David Bates felt like his receiver was interfered with, but no penalty was called.

"He said something about the ball being over his hands, but to me, it was a no-brainer," Bates said. "It should have been a penalty, but that's the way it goes. This is a tough one to swallow, but we'll get by."