HOWARD — The Loudonville Redbirds (3-5, 1-4 MBC) may have been singing the refrain to that song, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
More precisely, East Knox Bulldogs running back Nick Kidd, who was let lose to score three touchdowns while rushing for 197 on 17 carries, led his team to a 41-13 pounding of the Redbirds in Friday night Mid-Buckeye Conference football action.
“I felt our kids came out and played really hard,” said East Knox coach Tom Holton. “I thought we ran the ball fairly well and then we hit them with our passes. Our kids just executed a little better. I thought that we were very focused tonight.”
The Bulldogs (4-4, 3-2 MBC) took advantage of a few mistakes and a short field to get up on the Redbirds late in the first quarter. East Knox quarterback Tyler Clement (6-for-11, 231 yards, 3 TDs) lofted a perfect 31-yard pass into the middle of the end zone and into the sure hands of wide receiver Zech Shafer (2-80, 2 TDs) near the end of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs got it right back when defensive back Taylor Yancy-Jones intercepted a pass from Loudonville quarterback Jake Krupp (12-for-22, 204 Yds, 2TDs) at the end of the first quarter to take control at the Bulldogs’ 11.
Three plays later, the Bulldogs struck again. Clement hit running back Steve Lilley with a pass around his own 30. Lilley took off running down the left side, turning it into a 89-yard touchdown play.
“We were blocking out and our backs were picking up Loudonville’s linebackers pretty well,” said Holton.
Near the end of the half, Kidd keyed another Bulldogs drive, getting the Bulldogs into Redbirds’ territory with a lunge to cap a 24-yard sweep to the left.
The next play, Clement found Shafer again. This time he out-jumped Redbirds’ defensive back Kyle Glasner, who was going for the interception. Shafer ran it the rest of the way to score on a 49-yard play. That put the Bulldogs up 19-0.
The Redbirds came out firing to open the second half as the strong-armed Krupp found Ryan McFadden (one reception for seven yards, five rushes for 38 yards) on a 37-yard pass play to the right side to get them down to the East Knox seven.
Krupp tossed his next pass to the right side of the end zone and into McFadden’s hands to make it 19-6.
“We just decided that we were better off spreading it out a bit,” said Loudonville coach Don Wilson. “If we had a first half, offensively, like we did in the second half, we would have had a chance to get back in this ball game.”
The Bulldogs answered right back, driving 71 yards on the next series and scoring on a Kidd 3-yard run.
Krupp got it back at the Bulldogs’ 39 on a nice kickoff return by Jordan Hicks. Krupp tossed a short pass to Dylan Walker, then fired a 30-yarder to wide rceiver Byron Weiss for another Redbirds’ touchdown, closing the gap to 27-13.
“In the first half, we got behind and I give my kids credit for coming back in the second half and doing the things that we did,” said Wilson. “In the second half, we moved the ball. We made a couple of mistakes, but we put some points on the board and made it an interesting game.”
After East Knox went three-and-out in the next series, Bulldog lineman Steven Sheppard was injured on the ensuing punt and had to be carried off the field.
“The trainer said it may be an ACL or and MCL,” said Holton. “We won’t really know until the doctor checks it out. His knee is loose.”
The Bulldogs rallied and their intensity level spiked. The first time they touched the ball after Sheppard’s injury, it was Kidd, running 63-yards for a score near the end of the third quarter. That upped the Bulldogs’ lead to 34-13.
“We were running off guard or off tackle, but mostly off guard,” explained Holton.
The Bulldogs got it back early in the fourth quarter. This time it took three plays before Kidd got loose, running 58 yards to score.
“Nick had a great game,” said Holton. “Lilley (12 rushes, 54 yards) had a great game, too. Both of those guys ran real well. I thought that our offensive line did a pretty good job for us and opened up some holes.”
“We are looking at an East Knox team that really played better than a 3-4 team tonight,” said Wilson. “Our kids didn’t play their best, but they certainly didn’t play their worst. We just made too many mistakes and they took advantage of them.”
