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Bolivar turns back Tigers in big-play game
BOLIVAR -- The Shannon Jolley era at Nevada High School started off with a bang.
When it came to big plays, both Nevada and Bolivar had numerous ones Friday night before an overflowing crowd at Plaster Stadium on the Southwest Baptist University campus.
With the Liberators clinging to a 27-25 lead midway through the fourth quarter, no play loomed larger than Bolivar's Luke Harris intercepting a two-point conversion pass by quarterback Ronnie Herda to turn back Nevada. The host school also tacked on a late score to register a 34-25 victory over a fired-up Tigers squad in the season opener for both teams.
"That's just one of those plays," Jolley said of Ronnie Herda throwing his interception on the conversion. "You try to push the ball into the end zone, but we had some miscommunication.
"That's a big-time play right there, if that play goes, but it didn't go our way this time. We definitely made some mistakes as coaches and we made some mistakes as players. I just think we came out and put together a pretty good game plan. It was a total effort, and that's something we take out of here as a positive."
The Tigers showed that they can make plays on both sides of the football, with Ronnie Herda being their catalyst.
"These kids can go toe-to-toe with anybody," Jolley said.
Consider these highlights:
l With NHS trailing 6-0 early in the second quarter, Ronnie Herda gained 14 yards on an option keeper around right end before pitching the ball back to running back Jake Cherry, who caught the ball at the 35-yard line and rambled down to the 1. Ronnie Herda scored on the next play, and NHS led 7-6 after his extra-point kick.
"Coach Jolley is an offensive specialist and he knows his stuff," Ronnie Herda said. "He called the play. I just went up to the second level (on the option) and led off the linebacker.
"Sometimes, you have to improvise a little bit. Everything doesn't go storybook every time."
l On the ensuing drive after Nevada's first touchdown, Bolivar drove from its own 27 and was knocking at the door at the NHS 17. But Ronnie Herda got the right read on a telegraphed pass by Bolivar quarterback Luther Roweton, picked it off and raced 83 yards for a touchdown and a 13-6 lead with 7:16 left before halftime.
"With the new coaching staff, they've put us in situations to be successful," Herda said. "I was just at the right place at the right time."
But Bolivar tied the game at 13 on Roweton's 45-yard TD strike to Alex Talley at 23.6-second mark, along with Talley's PAT kick.
l A 78-yard kickoff return by Nevada's Colby Shepherd, which came on the heels of a 12-yard TD run by Bolivar running back Derek Lee, helped the Tigers tie the score at 19 with 5:57 left in the third quarter. Cherry scored a 5-yard TD on third-and-3, and Lee blocked the extra point.
"We applaud the big plays," Jolley said, "but there were big plays on our end and big plays on their end, too. Any time that you get into a game filled with big plays, someone's going to come out on the losing end."
The Liberators regained the lead on Roweton's 12-yard scoring pass to Cody Hudson with 10:48 left in the fourth quarter, capping a 16-play, 70-yard drive. Lee ran for the conversion to give Bolivar a decisive 27-19 lead.
Nevada didn't blink, answering right back with a 73-yard scoring march.
Prolonging the drive was Ronnie Herda's 17-yard completion to Cherry on a screen pass on third-and-7 for a first down at the BHS 32.
After Cherry gaind 3 yards on first down, Ronnie Herda hooked up with Logan Harms on a 21-yard pass play down to the 8. Cherry scored three plays later on a 1-yard run before Harris' pick on the conversion left the score at 27-25 Bolivar.
Nevada, battling to the end, had a fumble recovery by Ryan Herda at the NHS 3 with 2:57 left, giving the Tigers a glimmer of hope. But they later turned the ball over on downs, setting up Bolivar's final TD.
"We're for real this year," said Ryan Herda, who was seemingly in on every other tackle as he spearheaded the Tigers' defense. "Heckuva game. We were even teams through-and-through, and it was a toss-up."
Bolivar is coming off a 9-1 season in 2006, winning its first nine games before falling in the Class 3 district championship game. Mount Vernon defeated the Liberators, 48-7.
Nevada is coming off a 2-8 campaign under John Skeans, who resigned after three seasons at the helm. The Tigers lost to Bolivar 48-14 at home in last year's opener.