Whew! Central Hands East First Loss on Meichtry's OT Touchdown

Brookfield Central’s football team had a sour taste in their mouths.

One year ago, the Lancers fell to conference rival Brookfield East, 14-10, the first time in five years the Spartans took the series.

Central quarterback Jason Meichtry made sure his team washed that taste out on Thursday by scoring the game-winning touchdown from two yards out in overtime in a 34-28 thriller broadcast live on My 24.

“When you’re a Lancer, you don’t lose to (Brookfield) East. Ever,” Meichtry said.  “We came out of halftime remembering what happened last year and we weren’t going to settle for what happened last year.

“This was just a great team win.”

Meichtry pounded on East’s (5-1 overall, 3-1 Greater Metro Conference) dominating defense that had only allowed 13 points all season coming into the game. He ran for 63 yards and three scores while throwing for 88 yards and one touchdown.

Although Central’s (4-2 overall, 3-1 GMC) play caller had another impressive game, it was the play on special teams that looked to finally break open this tightly fought game.

After the Spartans tied the game at 21 with just under six minutes remaining, junior kick returner Marcus Crum grabbed the ensuing kick off at the 12, hit a hole near the 25, cut to the left and burst down the sideline for an 88-yard touchdown with 5:41 left in the game.

“That was an unbelievable run (by Crum),” Brookfield Central head coach Jamie Meulemans said. “This is just a great Brookfield East team that battled back and gave us everything they had.”

Everything that Spartans had included a 2-minute and six-second, 14-play drive, capped on a 1-yard run by junior Zach Schober with 30 seconds left in the game. He added the extra point kick to tie the game 28-all.

In overtime, Central’s defense came up big, stopping East’s one-two punch of Schober and quarterback Bryce Pompos on downs.

“We were really confident going into overtime, having been there before (),” Meichtry said. “We knew our defense could handle them and we weren’t too afraid of overtime.”

On second and 10, sophomore tailback DeMario Harris ripped off a 24-yard run down to the 1-yard line to all but seal the win for Central. Two plays later, Meichtry followed his blockers into the end zone and made it official.

If the second half was the dream ending for Meichtry and the Lancers, the first half was a nightmare.

Central started the game by conceding field goals on back-to-back possessions, turning the ball over inside their own 20 on their second series.

In the first 24 minutes, the Lancers amassed just 37 yards of offense and had just one first down.

While the offense sputtered out of the gates, the defense was the key for Central early, holding the Spartans to just a pair of field goals and then creating some turnovers of their own later in the game.

“Our defense was unbelievable,” Meulemans said. “(Defensive coordinator) Sal Logue had a great defensive scheme for these guys. I’m so proud of him and his hard work and that defense just played hard every down.”

In all, the Lancers forced five turnovers on the night, including three interceptions by junior Billy Schim.

Lost in the mix was the play of Pompos and Schober. East’s backfield dynamic duo combined for 242 yards on the ground (208 by Schober) while Pompos added 83 yards through the air.

Thursday’s loss by the Spartans opens the door for a handful of other teams to have a shot at the conference title, as there are now five teams with just one loss in the GMC. On Friday, two other one-loss teams face off as .

Next week, Brookfield Central takes on West Allis Central while Brookfield East travels to West Allis Hale.

See more game photos at JSOnline.com here.