Hosting North Royalton in a first-round playoff matchup, Amherst knew it was in for a physical battle. The Comets just didnt expect it to last more than four quarters.

The previously winless Bears found a way to pull-out a 48-45 victory in triple overtime, sending the Comets home for the rest of the playoffs.

After surrendering 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, all hope looked to be lost for Amherst. Especially after a 3-yard touchdown score from Zadan Abuhamdeh.

But the Comets pulled out a miracle with just under 40 seconds remaining.

Quarterback Tyler Brezina narrowly avoided a sack inside his own 10 before finding George Gotsis behind the Bears secondary. The 6-foot-2 quarterback put everything he had into the throw, and Gotsis made the catch, outrunning a safety for an 89-yard touchdown, tying the game at 28-28 with 20 seconds left.

It was a combination of skill, luck and observation from the Comets, who had noticed a tendency in the North Royalton secondary that made the play possible.

At halftime, the guys upstairs saw that the backside safety was cheating over, Gotsis said. So we figured if we did a fake to the right side, I could get past him on a backside post.

Amherst opened the first overtime with another touchdown as Alden Steele scored on a 1-yard run, but the Bears responded.

Again in the second overtime, North Royalton opened with a score, but the Comets responded with a 10-yard toss from Brezina to Torre Weatherspoon.

The game-changing play came in the third overtime, when the Comets just missed a touchdown on a pass attempt from Brezina to Ty Weatherspoon. After a no-gain on third down, Amherst settled for a field goal.

Im proud of our guys coming in and making play after play, Amherst coach Mike Passerrello said. In games like this you just wish both teams could come away with a win.

Minutes later Abuhamdeh found the end zone for the second time on the night sending his team onto the next round.

Were a good enough team that we knew we could come back, and thats exactly what we did, he said. 255 yards would have never happened without every single one of those guys, all of my linemen they blocked their butts off.

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Amherst football: Comets fall in triple overtime to North Royalton - The Morning Journal