HUDSON: Fighting for its playoff life and a share of a league championship, Hudson delivered a fourth-round knockout to previously unbeaten Stow on Friday.
Rallying from a 17-point deficit, the Explorers scored 18 unanswered points in the second half to beat the visiting Bulldogs 25-24 in a key Suburban League National Conference game in Memorial Stadium.
The comeback raised Hudson’s record to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the league, while Stow fell to 6-1 and 3-1 with just its second loss in 21 games.
Stow, fourth in the Division I, Region 1 computer standings, seemed out of synch most of the evening despite building a 24-7 lead through the first 23 minutes.
Hudson, eighth in the Division II, Region 5 rankings, scored 15 points in the span of 1:35, behind the play of junior quarterback Colt Pallay, senior quarterback Jackson Parker and junior wide receiver Greg Mailey.
Trailing 24-10, Pallay — one of three quarterbacks used by first-year coach Jeff Gough — threw a 28-yard pass to Mailey with 3:51 to play. The score seemed to rejuvenate the Explorers and excite the home crowd.
Junior lineman Daniel Saxon and senior linebacker Alex Beck then led a defensive charge that forced the normally dangerous Bulldogs into a quick three-and-out. That gave Hudson the ball at the Stow 47 with 2:50 remaining.
Pallay wasted no time in sailing the Explorers’ ship. He completed a 12-yard sideline throw to senior Matt Restifo and a 12-yarder to Mailey in a similar pattern to the other side to move the ball to the Stow 23.
Then came the stunner. Mailey got behind the Stow defense and caught his second TD pass of the game, cutting Stow’s lead to 24-23 with 2:16 left.
Gough did not hesitate in deciding to go for the victory instead of calling upon the normally reliable toe of placekicker Grant Gonya, who had kicked a 30-yard field goal late in the third quarter.
Gough instead went with senior Parker, who had started the game at quarterback and alternated with Pallay and sophomore William Wallace throughout. Parker, who completed 4-of-7 passes for 40 yards, found Mailey near the back line for the 2-point conversion.
Pallay completed 11-of-17 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. Mailey caught nine passes for 120 yards and the two scores.
Not to be overlooked, senior Jonah Wieland averaged 48.8 yards on six punts, repeatedly keeping the Bulldogs bottled up. He had one punt of 87 yards that pinned Stow to within 3 feet of its goal line.
Stow overcame an uncharacteristic slow and sloppy start — four penalties that rendered the offense stagnant and surrendering a 57-yard punt return for a touchdown by junior Colin Paltani — to build a 17-7 halftime lead.
Kyle Vantrease completed a 20-yard strike to Jared Wright, the son of former Hudson coach Ron Wright, then Joe Andrassy split two defenders and scored on an 86-yard catch-and-run that tied the game at 7-all.
Vantrease, a Buffalo recruit, completed just 9-of-21 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns. Andrassy caught six of those passes for 172 yards and also gained 38 yards on four carries.
Senior Austin Burnham kicked a 28-yard field goal with 5:40 left in the half to extend the lead to 10-7, capping a Stow possession that lasted almost four minutes and covered 51 yards.
Hudson had 326 yards of offenses to 378 for the Bulldogs.
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