The UIFL Playoffs are next week, and you could tell it by the Northern Kentucky River Monsters starting quarterback.
Jared Lorenzen’s headgear was a head set as he was inactive for the rematch with the Eastern Kentucky Drillers in Pikeville tonight.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
It didn’t seem to faze the River Monsters’ offense though as Ryan Well started his first professional game and threw 3 touchdowns in the 1st half to take a 22-20 lead in the locker room at halftime.
The Drillers defense noticeably missed Marcus McClinton in the first half as several wounded ducks were completed by Wells for touchdowns.
McClinton was suspended for 1 game for his part in an altercation at Northern Kentucky last weekend.
The 2nd half was more on the defensive side as the offenses for both teams slowed to a 31-28 score at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The Drillers took their first lead of the game with 10:24 left in the game on a touchdown run by quarterback Daniel Eidson which made the score 34-31.
Eastern Kentucky did not lead long as Wells led the Monsters on a touchdown drive in a little over 2 minutes and took the lead back 37-34.
Two minutes later Eidson completes a pass to a Justin Lamb who jumped over a defender and then ran 30 yards for a go ahead touchdown and make the score 41-37 with 5:52 left in the game.
The scoring kept going back and forth as Wells threw another td pass to Ricardo Lenhart and Northern Kentucky grabbed the lead again 43-41 with 2:16 remaining.
The Drillers looked to have their drive die, but the referees called an illegal defense on the River Monsters and the home team was alive again with 1 minute play.
Eidson then complete a 30 yard pass to Matthew Barbour and the Drillers set up shop on the 5 yard line.
After an incompletion on 1st and 2nd down, Eidson ran the ball down to the 3 yard line which set up a field goal for guess who?
Quarterback Daniel Eidson drilled the field goal to take a 44-43 lead with 24.7 seconds left on the clock.
The River Monsters had a drive which took them to the Drillers 10 yard line but couldn’t stop the clock late and the Drillers held on for the slim 1 point victory.
The River Monsters will travel to #1 seed Saginaw in the first round of the UIFL playoffs.
It has yet to be determined who Eastern Kentucky will play, but it will be next Saturday in Pikeville, KY.
