Clear Fork manhandles Upper Sandusky for playoff win behind explosive plays

BELLVILLE − Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference champion Clear Fork continued its high-scoring ways Friday night.

The fifth-seeded Colts worked around some interesting stretches in the second half to beat Upper Sandusky 56-26 in the first round of the Division IV playoffs. Clear Fork (10-1) advanced to play at No. 4 seeded Elyria Catholic at 7 p.m. next Friday.

Here is what we learned from the Colts' lopsided win:

Upper Sandusky's big offensive plays gave Clear Fork fits

One might look at the score and draw the conclusion that Clear Fork had its way with Upper Sandusky (5-6), but that was far from the truth.

The Rams trailed for the majority of the game but they were dangerous playing from behind. When Clear Fork got up 28-6 near the end of the first half, it looked like the Colts would blow the game out of the water but it didn't happen.

Thank Upper Sandusky quarterback Kaden Holman for that. Before the half ended, Holman found running back Levi Lamb in the end zone to make it 28-13 at halftime.

In the second half, the Rams came out strong with Holman finding wide receiver Ethan Hill for a 70-yard touchdown. Clear Fork lead 28-20. After Clear Fork failed on a fourth-down attempt, Upper Sandusky got the ball back and threw another touchdown bomb, this time 53 yards to wideout Evan Hill for the score. The Colts still led 28-26 after a failed two-point conversion try.

Holman (three TD passes and one rushing TD) gave the Clear Fork defense issues all night, moving outside the pocket to extend plays and finding receivers when the defense broke down. The Rams didn't really threaten on the ground but it was their big plays in the air that troubled the Colts.

"I told a couple of our guys and a couple of defensive coordinators and I just got done telling their staff that's one of the best-coached teams we have played against. We felt offensively the three of No. 23 (Ethan Hill), No. 5 (Gavin Frey) and No. 2 (Evan Hill) was the best trio of wide receivers we've seen all year," said Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll. "Those guys are incredibly well-coached.

"Their players are smaller. Now, they have some speed and some skill but they're not real big. And their quarterback is very good. We couldn't get a pass rush. A little disappointed in that."

"The challenge was that their wide receivers ran great routes. They're really good at that," said Clear Fork wide receiver/defensive back Logan Anderson, who finished with 11 tackles and the game's only interception. "The quarterback, we couldn't get to the quarterback. He would scramble and just hit the wide receivers wide open. We struggled with that."

However, Clear Fork adjusted and 28-26 was as close as Upper Sandusky got as the Rams pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

"We went back to more zone and put more DBs (defensive backs) in the backfield," said Anderson, on the defensive adjustment Clear Fork made midway in the third quarter.

Clear Fork answered back with their own big offensive plays

Clear Fork's offense has been firing on all cylinders of late, and it didn't stop Friday either. Big plays came from all over.

Quarterback Victor Skogg hit wideout Jay Jackson for a 24-yard TD pass in the second quarter, and then connected with tight end Milo Burgholder for a 90-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter. Skoog finished 14-of-22 passing for 290 yards and two TD passes, and also ran 13 times for 88 yards and a 34-yard TD. Wait, there's more.

Speedy running back Pawie Ault had 182 rushing yards and four touchdowns — of 5, 69, 21 and 1 yard — on 12 carries. He was the game-breaker Upper Sandusky just couldn't slow down.

"I gotta go back and look at the film but it looks like they had some passes and made some nice plays," said Carroll.

"Our running game just hit," said Anderson. "Credit to the running backs and offensive line. They did a great job tonight."

Anderson then talked about the big playoff win.

"Feel's great," he said. "We're like the seventh team in Clear Fork history to win their first playoff game. So, it's great."

Carroll saw the total opposite, as he felt his team didn't play up to the same level as it had in the last few weeks.

"The last two weeks we've been on this uphill surge in every area of our game, offense and defense," said Carroll. "We've been getting better and better. There was so much tension, nervousness, excitement, whatever you want to call it. Shelby in Week 9. Highland in Week 10. MOAC championship game. Maybe it was a week to exhale. From what I saw, now I have to watch film, we did not play like we did the last three weeks. We did the job to get the win."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Clear Fork manhandles Upper Sandusky in football playoffs