No. 5 Independence is 1 point, 1 yard better than West Delaware, 21-20

MANCHESTER — Tough kid, that Mitchell Johnson.

A three-year starter at quarterback and middle linebacker for Independence, Johnson bounced back from a brief bout of wooziness Friday night.

“Yeah, I was a little dizzy,” he said. “I feel good now. Really good.”

Johnson engineered a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, and fifth-ranked Independence tipped West Delaware in a Class 3A District 3 football thriller, 21-20, at Brown Field.

“It came down to the last play, and we made the last play,” Johnson said.

With Friday’s win — coupled with Center Point-Urbana’s loss to Hampton-Dumont/CAL — the Mustangs (8-1 overall, 4-0 district) clinched the district title. They’ll put a wrap on the regular season next week at home against CPU.

West Delaware (4-4, 3-1) clinched the district’s second automatic playoff bid.

The game was decided by one point, one PAT kick, 1 yard (Indee finished with a 348-347 advantage in that department).

“Great high school football game,” West Delaware Coach Doug Winkowitsch said.

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Photos: Independence vs. West Delaware football

Independence prevailed despite getting stopped inside the West Delaware 5-yard line twice.

On the second empty trip, late in the third quarter, Johnson was a little wobbly.

“I still had to play defense and help my team,” Johnson said. “It all came back to me quick.”

Indee Coach Justin Putz said, “I looked at him, he looked at me and said, ‘I got it.’ And he did.”

The Mustangs got the ball back at their own 24 with 10:45 left. They converted a third-and-8, a fourth-and-5 and a third-and-4 in a 13-play, 76-yard march.

Johnson capped it with a 2-yard TD pass to Josh Beatty. Daniel Bass added the PAT and the Mustangs led, 21-20, with 5:24 left.

Clutch drive.

West Delaware went three-and-out on the next drive, then ran out of time on its final opportunity.

“Our drive after they scored, we couldn’t get anything going, and that’s the drive I was most disappointed in,” Winkowitsch said.

And thus ended a classic in which neither team turned the ball over once.

Offenses ruled the first half. Each team scored in the first 2:01, then added a second-quarter score for a 14-14 halftime deadlock.

Johnson finished with 206 passing yards (16 of 25) and 92 on the ground (on 29 carries).

His counterpart, Brent Yonkovic led a West Delaware rushing attack that netted 285 yards, carrying it 18 times for 142. Will Ward added 79 yards on 15 carries, and Logan Peyton ran for 64 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score on the Hawks’ first drive of the second half.

After losing 24 of 26 games to West Delaware, Independence has won three of four over the Hawks.

“This one means a lot,” Putz said. “We were in the same situation last year, with the district title on the line, and couldn’t get it done. It’s not often you get another shot.”

West Delaware closes the regular season next week at Charles City.

Independence 21, West Delaware 20

AT MANCHESTER

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: IND 19, WD 15

Rushes-yards: IND 44-142, WD 42-285

Passing yards: IND 206, WD 62

Passing: IND 16-25-0, WD 5-9-0

Total yards: IND 348, WD 347

Fumbles-lost: IND 0-0, WD 1-0

Punts-average: IND 2-32.0, WD 4-33.5

Penalties-yards: IND 1-5, WD 4-60

SCORING SUMMARY

Independence 7 7 0 7 — 21

West Delaware 7 7 6 0 — 20

IND — Mitchell Johnson 1 run (Daniel Bass kick)

WD — Brent Yonkovic 55 run (Griffin Lott kick)

IND — Trey Weber 2 run (Bass kick)

WD — Logan Peyton 1 run (Lott kick)

WD — Peyton 4 run (kick failed)

IND — Josh Beatty 2 pass from Johnson (Bass kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Independence — Mitchell Johnson 29-92, Trey Weber 13-36, Keelan Hoover 1-8, E.J. Miller 1-6. West Delaware — Brent Yonkovic 18-142, Will Ward 15-79, Logan Peyton 9-64.

Passing

Independence — Johnson 16-25-0-206. West Delaware — Yonkovic 5-9-0-62.

Receiving

Independence — Hoover 5-88, Weber 4-46, Brady Kurt 3-61, Brady McDonald 3-8, Josh Beatty 1-2. West Delaware — Seth Jackson 3-37, Josh Beswick 1-16, Peyton 1-9.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com