The comeback was orchestrated by the Spartans’ explosive offense led by senior quarterback Ryan Martin, senior wide receiver Andy Cruse and sophomore running back Wayne Dunham. 

Martin passed for 252 yards and four touchdowns, three of them going to Cruse on scores of 72, 37 and 11 yards.  Cruse caught six passes for 154 yards.  Dunham rushed for 141 yards on 26 carries.  Martin’s biggest pass of the game, however, came with 7:03 left in the game when he connected on a 15-yard touchdown to senior wide receiver Charlie Siebert to give Turpin its first lead of the game at 27-26.  A 2-point PAT pass to John Kelly made the score 29-26.

Indian Hill got the ball back three more times but could not get anything going offensively, the last drive ending with Turpin linebacker Matt Kelly intercepting a Cordell pass at the Spartans’ 41-yard line with 3.4 seconds left in the game.   

“I got a great football team and when you have a quarterback and a tandem of receivers and a back like we got, I feel like we’re in every ball game,” said Turpin head coach Rob Stoll.  “If they would have scored to put it up 28 (lead), then I think the panic button, you may have seen it.  But I felt that as long as we were within three touchdowns I felt like we could stay in the game.”

Indian Hill jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game on a 6-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bo Cordell to running back Leonard Riston and a 3-yard touchdown run by Riston.  They extended their lead to 20-0 on a leaping 11-yard touchdown pass from Cordell to wide receiver Ted Bolser with 9:31 left in the second quarter.

Turpin finally answered with a 72-yard touchdown pass down the middle of the field from Martin to Cruse on the next play from scrimmage.  Fireworks erupted in the final 1:08 of the half, with Indian Hill’s Jon Von Deylen scoring on a 13-yard run – matched moments later by a leaping Cruse touchdown reception of 37 yards with 18.8 left before halftime.

The Braves were on fire in the first half, amassing 281 yards of total offense.  It was a different story in the second half, with them only gaining 131 yards for a game total of 412.  Cordell finished the game with 261 yards passing and two touchdowns but had four interceptions.

Turpin ended up with 401 yards of total offense as both teams combined for over 800 yards of total offense.  The Spartans may have controlled the second half, but they knew they were in a battle all night.

“I don’t think they lose another game,” said Stoll of the Braves.  “That’s a big, big win for us to beat that team.  That’s a team to contend with because they are so talented.”