Joshua Perry: Before the Highlight

Everybody remembers Joey Bosa abruptly ending the game.

Ohio State was leading Penn State 31-24 in the second overtime on Oct. 25, 2014, when Bosa drove running back Akeel Lynch backward into quarterback Christian Hackenberg for a game-ending sack unlike any other.

It was a hell of a play and became one of the lasting images from Ohio State’s national championship season. But Bosa wasn’t the only Buckeye defender who stood out that night.

Joshua Perry spent four quarters and two overtimes making sure Bosa eventually had a game to end.

Perry finished with 18 tackles, including 12 solo stops and two tackles for loss. Eighteen tackles in one football game means your presence on defense was felt.

Penn State ran 81 offensive plays that night, and Perry was on the halting end of many of them.

The Buckeyes jumped ahead 17-0 and appeared to be in control before Penn State slowly worked its way back into the game. The Nittany Lions eventually tied it with nine seconds remaining, sending a game that once looked comfortable into overtime.

J.T. Barrett scored touchdowns in both overtimes. Bosa made the final play. Those are the plays that show up in highlight reels.

Perry’s contribution wasn’t as dramatic and doesn’t get recognition today, but it helped make the big plays possible.

Ohio State held Penn State to only 16 rushing yards for the entire game. Perry obviously didn’t do that alone, but his 18 tackles tell you how involved he was in keeping Penn State from getting much going on the ground.

Other Buckeyes made important plays that tend to get lost behind Bosa’s push sack. Tyvis Powell intercepted Hackenberg late in the third quarter, stopping a Penn State drive in Ohio State territory. Sean Nuernberger made a 49-yard field goal. Cameron Johnston dropped four punts inside the Penn State 20.

None of those plays created lasting memories. But they helped Ohio State survive long enough for somebody to end it.

There’s a Scarletude lesson in that.

We tend to notice outcomes more than the work that creates them. We notice who gets promoted, who wins the award, who scores the touchdown, or who gets his picture taken after making the game-winning play.

But we don’t always see the dozens of smaller things that happened first.

Perry wasn’t waiting around that night hoping for one signature moment that people would talk about 12 years later. He just kept making tackles and somebody else eventually got the highlight.

That happens in life, too. You can do great work without getting much attention. In fact, most of us spend a lot of our lives doing things nobody applauds. Then somebody else gets the praise or the moment everybody remembers. That doesn’t make what you did any less important!

Joey Bosa made the incredible play that ended the game.

But before Bosa had a chance to do his thing, Joshua Perry spent the entire night making sure it could happen.