500 yards of offense not enough for Waldron to beat Litchfield on Terrier homecoming night
LITCHFIELD — Litchfield and Waldron had the score board operators busy on Friday night as the Spartans and Terriers' rivalry matchup would give both fan bases another classic.
Litchfield stayed ahead of the commanding Spartan offense to win homecoming night 56-50. A crisp fall night featured back and forth scoring on both sides of the ball. Litchfield scored in the first quarter and added a two-point conversion. Spartan athlete Jacobi Gonzalez capped off a Waldron drive with a nine yard touchdown run. Kayden Depew scored from eight yards out in the second quarter, with the Spartans punching in a two-point conversion.
The Litchfield offense, powered by quarterback Tyler Bills, scored 16 points in the second quarter to take a 24-14 lead over the Spartans.
The Spartans scored twice in the third quarter with Jacobi Gonzalez running it in for both scores. Litchfield scored three times in the third quarter but missed out on three two-point conversions. A late Spartan rally saw the Waldron varsity football team outscore Litchfield 22-14.
It was a tale of two different offensive strategies for the Spartans and Terriers. The Spartans put up 500 total yards of offense. Kayden Depew had 35 rushes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Jacobi Gonzalez had 20 rushes for 183 yards and four touchdowns. Gonzalez also had five receptions for 64 yards and quarterback Seth Williams had five completions for 64 yards.
On the Terrier side of the offensive struggle, quarterback Tyler Bills completed 14 of his 20 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns. Miguel Pedroza led the team with four receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Campbell had four receptions for 44 yards. Junior Alvarez had three receptions for 29 yards. Senior Logan Buehrle rushed for a touchdown.
Both teams were able to run their offensive game plans with success. The battle to win the game would come down to defensive and special teams opportunities. Senior Buehrle wasn't able to find room on the ground offensively, but Buehrle would run for a 55 yard touchdown on a kick return. In addition to his touchdown, the senior led the team with 14.5 tackles on defense.
Brandon Campbell continued his streak of finding the end zone in games, returning a fumble recovery 50 yards for a score. Campbell also had 7.5 tackles.
Junior Alvarez recovered a fumble for an 81-yard touchdown and had nine tackles during the game. Andrew Erhardt had 13 tackles and Tyler Bills had 12.5 tackles. Pedroza had nine and Hunter Snyder had 8.5 tackles. Ricky McCafferty had six tackles. Robbie Bradstreet had 2.5 tackles. Jerome Vasquez had 1.5 tackles.
The Waldron defensive effort was led by Collin Williams with eight tackles and one fumble recovery. Logan Spence had six tackles. Cam Kurtz had six tackles. Logan Crist had four tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble.
For Waldron, head coach Anthony Roney said that the team's offensive effort was not enough. Coach Roney said the team gave up too many big plays and had too many mistakes to overcome.
Litchfield head coach Michael Langhann believes his teams played their hearts out and found a way to close the game out even though the defense gave up a lot of points. "Our defense gave up a lot of points but when we needed them most they made the necessary plays," said coach Langhann.
Litchfield is now 4-1 this season and are homecoming champions. It is the best start to a season for the Terriers since 2011. Litchfield does not play a week six game and they will not be returning to the gridiron until Oct. 7. Their week seven game will be a rematch with the North Adams-Jerome Rams, who won their first game of the season against Burr Oak.
Waldron drops to 1-4 on the season, their first 1-4 start since 2019. Waldron will look to correct their turnover mistakes and play solid defense against Camden-Frontier in week six. Camden-Frontier lost their week five matchup to Lenawee Christian, but Camden-Frontier heads into the Waldron matchup with a 2-3 record.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Litchfield football earns homecoming win in a shootout with Waldron
