Gillespie getting it done

While my recent history may prove otherwise, I’m not that bad at predicting certain things.

Take this little nugget of prognostication from an earlier blog:

Player that can take his team the farthest: I'm real interested to see what Ripon does with its offense. Ripon coach Rick Kelm hinted after his team's 49-28 loss to Waupun that it might rely on the pass a little bit more. After all, quarterback Scott Gillespie threw for 273 yards — albeit against a Waupun defense that wasn't putting much of a rush on. Still, if Lodi decides to put a lot of pressure on Gillespie, he's quick enough to evade a rush and make a play out of the pocket. He has a speedy running back in Justin Baker to throw swing passes to, and has some nice tall receivers in Ryan Hill and Brendan O'Brien that could pose matchup problems against smaller opponents. If Gillespie is able to make a bunch of plays for Ripon, I think they can pull off the upset of Lodi.

See, I do know a thing or two. No man can carry an entire football team throughout the playoffs, but what Gillespie has done in Ripon’s playoff ride so far is remarkable.

Take, for example, Ripon’s last drive in regulation in Saturday’s thrilling 21-20 overtime victory. Ripon took over at its own 15 with 3:29 left and a 14-7 deficit. After the first two plays netted negative 5 yards, Gillespie and his boys went to work. With 1:59 left and facing a third-and-15 from the Ripon 10 and the rush closing in, Gillespie completed a 18-yard pass to David Soda. There were three completions to Brendan O’Brien for 35 yards and a two-yard run for a first down thrown in there somewhere. Quick strike passes to Peter Schroeder and Soda, as well as a 7-yard run gave Ripon the ball at the Chilton 7.

On first-and-goal from the 7 with 30 seconds left, Gillespie dropped back to pass but couldn’t find anyone open and took off. He made it down to the 1, but Ripon was called for clipping back at the 20. So not only did the play take 15 seconds off the clock, but Ripon now faced a first-and-goal at the 35.

Not to matter. Gillespie lofted a pass into the end zone for O’Brien, but the ball caromed off his hands and into the hands of Schroeder. Ripon had tied the game with 7 seconds left.

On the final drive, Gillespie completed 8 of 11 passes for 97 yards and also ran for 8. That’s not bad.

For more on Gillespie's remarkable season, visit www.ripontigerfootball.com.