Highland 13,North Union 10
RICHWOOD — The wait was worth it for Highland fans who attended the Scots’ game at North Union on Friday, as they turned around a 10-0 deficit in the final five minutes of the game to beat the Wildcats, 13-10.
North Union (2-1, 1-1) had scored in the second quarter on Blake Taylor’s 25-yard field goal, and Travis Laird took back the second-half kickoff 71 yards for a touchdown to give the Wildcats a 10-0 lead.
With the game getting late and neither team getting any traction in the sloppy conditions, Highland (2-1, 2-0) resorted to some razzle dazzle for its first touchdown. Quarterback Lance Stambaugh pitched a lateral to back Ryan Barnett, who launched a 28-yard TD pass to Kyle Davies to put the Scots back in the game, 10-7.
Highland failed to get the ball back on the ensuing onside kick, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved North Union back. The Wildcats fumbled on the second play of the drive, one of six on the night, each of which was recovered by the Scots, this one on the 18 yard line with 54 seconds left. A penalty pushed Highland back, but Stambaugh hit Barnett on a 22-yard pass for a first down. Stambaugh then faked a spike, instead tossing the ball to Barnett for an 18-yard gain down to the Wildcat 4 yard line. Another penalty moved the ball back to the 14, but Stambaugh came through with a 14-yard scoring pass to Greg Deckling with 9.5 seconds to play in the game. A stunned North Union missed a shot at the end zone to finish the game.
Neither team had done much on offense, with the Scots gaining 224 yards and the Wildcats 167. Highland turned the ball over four times to North Union’s six. Justin Staton led the Scots with 23 yards rushing on seven carries, and Deckling caught three passes for 43 yards. Laird led all runners with eight carries for 85 yards for the Wildcats.
Highland will be on the road again on Friday, taking on Northmor at 7 p.m.
Loudonville 19,Hillsdale 14
LOUDONVILLE — Loudonville was behind by one touchdown heading into the fourth quarter against Hillsdale on Friday night, but came through with a pair of unanswered touchdowns to hand the Falcons their first loss of the season, 19-14.
Hillsdale (2-1) won nearly every aspect of the game, from outrushing the Redbirds 297-183 to passing for 149 yards to Loudonville’s 104. The Falcons had 17 more penalty yards than the Redbirds, but lost all four fumbles they committed.
It didn’t take long for Hillsdale to take the lead. After a good kickoff return, Dale Borks ran for a 31-yard touchdown at the 11:17 mark of the period. The teams played a stalemate for the rest of the quarter, and Loudonville finally scored with 8:24 to play in the half. Jordan Lance swept in from 6 yards out to tie the score at 7, which it remained at halftime.
The Falcons took control of the game with a third-quarter touchdown, a 4-yard run by Mike Tyson with 9:40 to play, and they led 14-7. The Redbirds took control of the ball late in the quarter and were inside the red zone with under 11 minutes left. Quarterback Byron Weiss completed an 8-yard TD toss to Lance, but the two-point conversion was missed, leaving Loudonville down 14-12. But the Redbirds’ made good on another fourth-quarter opportunity, set up by a Hillsdale fumble. With the ball on the Falcons’ 10 yard line, Weiss took the ball and scored with 2:48 to play, which gave Loudonville its only lead of the game when it really counted.
Lance gained 73 yards on 12 carries for the Redbirds, and Weiss completed 4-of-7 passes for 104 yards and a score. Jesse Lapointe caught two passes for 79 yards.
Loudonville begins MBC play on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Danville.
Clear Fork 29,Olentangy Orange 13
BELLVILLE — Clear Fork had a pair of 100-yard rushers on Friday, and dominated the line of scrimmage to beat newly-minted Olentangy Orange, 29-13.
Jordan McCune gained 189 yards and scored three touchdowns on 15 carries for the Colts (2-1), and Eric Kline added 13 carries and 128 yards. Their effort helped Clear Fork to 442 total yards. The Pioneers (1-2) finished with 217 rushing yards, but most came in the fourth quarter when they got their two touchdowns. One thing that could have proven costly to the Colts were fumbles. Clear Fork dropped the ball six times, but only lost one of them.
The Colts charged down field on their first drive of the game, and Kline punched in a 1-yard touchdown run with 8:12 to play to give Clear Fork a 7-0 lead. McCuen scored his first touchdown of the game with 17 seconds remaining in the quarter to make it 14-0.
McCuen scored again in the second quarter, runnning in from 5 yards out at the 6:45 mark for a 20-0 lead. Kicker Thad Snell made the score 23-0 for the half with a 37-yard field goal with two minutes to play.
In the third quarter, Clear Fork put a capper on the night with a big play from McCuen. Taking off from his own 41 yard line, he ran 59 yards to the end zone for a 29-0 lead. Orange scored twice in a two-minute period in the fourth quarter, on Corey Joe’s 7-yard run and Daniel Watson’s 10-yard scamper, but that was as close at the Pioneers got.
Travis Hissong completed 3-of-10 passes for 75 yards, and Jason Thomas caught two passes for 56 yards. Joe rushed 13 times for 130 yards for Orange, and completed 2-of-9 passes for 25 yards.
Clear Fork will play at OCC rival Orrville at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Heath 33,Utica 0
HEATH — Utica had difficulty getting any offense going on Friday, and host Heath scored in every quarter for a 33-0 victory.
The Redskins (1-2) gained just 122 yard, 113 of which came on the ground. The Bulldogs (3-0) ran up 241 yards rushing and nine yards passing. Turnovers were nearly even, with Utica coughing the ball up three times to Heath’s two. But without a sustained offense, the Redskins yielded field position throughout the game, resulting in easier Bulldog scoring opportunities.
Heath was inside the Utica red zone when it scored its first touchdown with 6:29 to play in the first quarter. Quarterback Cole Benner took the ball himself for an 11-yard TD and a 7-0 lead. The Bulldogs drove again at the start of the second quarter, and Cameron Ross finished with a 1-yard TD plunge to put Heath up 13-0. Utica was forced to punt on its next drive, and Charles Grisham took the ball at his 43 yard line and went 57 yards for a score with 7:26 left in the half. The Bulldogs went to halftime up 20-0.
Heath could afford to sit on a big lead, but still added two more touchdowns in the second half. Kyle Barrick scored on a 32-yard touchdown run with 1:38 remaining in the third quarter to put the Bulldogs ahead 27-0. Finally, Justyn Eckard punched in from 4 yards out at the 2:43 mark of the fourth quarter to finish the scoring.
Ethan Bremer led the Redskins with 55 yards on 13 carries, and Jason Hoar ran 15 times for 32 yards. Hoar completed 6-of-16 passes for 9 yards and two interceptions. Ross rushed for 63 yards on 13 carries for Heath, and Gresham gained 61 yards on three carries.
Utica will travel to East Knox on Friday to begin MBC play at 7:30 p.m.
