What most people didn't know, is that the quarterback who won that game for Sparty is a young man named Tyler O'Connor. Tyler hails from Lima, Ohio. The same town as yours truly. Tyler is an Irishman from Lima and was a standout dual-sport athlete in high-school at Lima Central Catholic. Also, this blogger got the chance to guard O'Connor in his high school basketball days, but the results were pretty one-sided.
Anyways, O'Connor had not played a game in "The Shoe" since the summer he graduated high school for the annual Ohio North-South All Star Game. O'Connor played for the South and led his team to victory that day 22-14.
Now O'Connor is 2-0 in the Shoe. Tyler, someone who grew up in Ohio and most of his close friends from high school attend Ohio State, must've felt some serious butterflies when he got into the game, whether he'll admit it or not. For someone like Ty, who is so competitive, they were probably the good butterflies. The ones that give you excitement and anticipation for battle. I can personally say that since I was in Lima on Saturday, almost everyone in Lima was in Columbus Saturday, so O'Connor had a home crowd, even on the road.Ty's final stats were: 7/12 completions for 89 yards and 1 touchdown. The Ohio native delivered a handful of key third down conversions for the Spartans and helped keep the momentum on an even playing field. This is key because OSU lost on its senior day, in front on thousands of fans that might not always go to games, and to keep that stadium quiet is one heck of a mission.
O'Connor said in his post game interview,"They [Ohio State] recruited me to come punt for them, but I obviously made the right decision. Good team win." A little sprinkle on top for the team that fell to its own son, A Lima kid taking down the Goliath of the college football food chain on its own turf.
