High school football: Lead evaporates as Black River falls to Keystone

LAGRANGE — The Black River football team appeared to be in control in the first half of a Lorain County League game at Keystone Then it quickly became undone. The Pirates saw a two-score halftime lead evaporate Friday, as Keystone scored three unanswered touchdowns to escape with a 22-15 win. Although Black River (2-4, 1-2) took a 15-0 lead into the locker room thanks to Dom Bell touchdown passes to Zane Bungard and Carson Steidl, the Pirates' fortunes turned when Bell was intercepted by Dmitry Hruby on the opening play of the second half. After the interception, Keystone marched 42 yards and got on the board behind the strength of a 4-yard Wyatt McKee touchdown run, while the Pirates punted on their next two possessions. Keystone (4-2, 3-0) finally got its offense in gear late. McKee scored his second touchdown of the night, a 10-yarder, with 6:44 to play to make it a 15-14 game. Black River was hoping to grind out an extended drive and add to one-point lead on the ensuing possession, but iafter Dozier Hendershot ran for one first down, he was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the Black River 39-yard line with just under three minutes remaining. That gave Keystone a short field to drive for the winning score. "We didn't execute in the second half and Keystone did," Black River coach Kyle Clark said. "We gave them really good field position a couple of times in the second half, and that's on me." Six plays after the fourth-down stop, McKee, playing for the first time since suffering a Week 3 injury, scored on a 1-yard run for his third TD of the night. "We have resilient kids. They're going to be OK," Clark said. "We're just going to have to come in and refocus on Monday." Black River had the ball twice in the final two minutes, but both drives ended in interceptions. The Pirates looked like a team on a mission in the opening half, as Bell connected with Bungard on a 59-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game. After forcing Keystone into a punt, an interception and a turnover on downs in its first three possessions, the Pirates defense put up some points midway through the second quarter when Bryce Murray tackled Bobby Gurich in the end zone for a safety that made the score 9-0. On Black River's next possession, Bell found sophomore wider receiver Carson Steidl all alone behind the secondary for a 54-yard touchdown that made the score 15-0 with 4:31 to play in the first half. Bungard led the Pirates receiving unit with three receptions for 104 yards. Hendershot led Black River with nine carrier for 49 yards. Contact Todd Shapiro at sports@medina-gazette.com. Keystone 22, Black River 15 BLACK RIVER&emsp;&emsp;7 8 0 0 — 15 KEYSTONE &emsp;&emsp;0 0 6 16 — 22 First BR — Zane Bungard 59 pass from Dom Bell (Jackson Burkholder kick), 9:42. Second BR — Safety (Bobby Gurich tackled in end zone), 4:47. BR — Carson Steidl 54 pass from Bell (kick failed), 4:31. Third K — Wyatt McKee 4 run (run failed), 8:57. Fourth K — McKee 13 run (Shane Ohl pass from Colt Cowling), 6:44. K — McKee 1 run (Cowling run), 2:25. &emsp;&emsp;BR &emsp;&emsp;K First downs &emsp;&emsp;13 &emsp;&emsp;14 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;32/86 38/152 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;2.7 &emsp;&emsp;4.0 Passing &emsp;&emsp;8/18&emsp;&emsp;12/20 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;203 &emsp;&emsp;184 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;50/289 58/336 Punting &emsp;&emsp;2/32.5 2/31.5 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;1/5 &emsp;&emsp;4/28 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;3/1 &emsp;&emsp;2/1 RUSHING: Black River — Dozier Hendershot 9-49, Hunter Varney 11-30, Dominic Bell 11-11. Bryce Murray 1-(-4). Keystone — Wyatt McKee 16-63, Kaden Colon 12-53, Colt Cowling 9-29, Zach Taylor 1-7. PASSING: Black River — Bell 8-13-203-2, Varney 0-5-0-2. Keystone — Cowling 12-20-184-0-1. RECEIVING: Black River — Zane Bungard 3-104, Carson Stedil 3-69, Murray 2-30. Keystone — Taylor 6-106, Bobby Gurich 1-25, Kaleb Scott 2-19, McKee 1-15, Shane Ohl 1-12, Colon 1-7.