'Everything just worked': Mapleton offensive line dominates in win over South Central

GREENWICH —  Kollin Cline is loving his offensive linemen these days.

And for good reason. The big guys up front spearheaded the Mapleton High School football team’s ground game Friday night when the Mounties rolled up 363 yard rushing in a 46-27 victory over South Central in Firelands Conference play.

“The line today was phenomenal, they were outstanding,” said Cline, the junior Mounties quarterback who ran for 174 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries and passed for another score. “There’s no words for how good they did. They had their blocks and stayed with it, just doing great.”

It wasn’t just Cline who benefitted from the linemen getting the job done up front for the Mounties (5-3, 2-2). Garret Kern ran for 88 yards on 16 carries, Luke Pryor gobbled up 58 more on 15 runs, and Brycn Cucco tacked on 33 yards on four carries.

“We could run it up the middle then run it outside, and everything just worked for us,” Cline said. “The line really showed up this week.”

“You have to give credit to all of our backs, and I can’t talk about the backs without talking about the offensive linemen — those guys are the bread and butter of any running game,” lauded Mapleton coach Matt Stafford. “I don’t care what offense you run, what level of football it is, the offensive linemen control the running game.

“And we’ve got some backs who can make people miss. They’re not the fastest kids in the world, but they’re hard, they’re gritty, they’re tough, and I love that about them.”

As well as Mapleton was clicking offensively, the Mounties defense came together in the second half. Cline and Cucco both made interceptions, with Cucco’s name being called numerous times for defensive stops.

“Brycn and Kolin are high-character kids, they’re super accountable, they’re leaders in the offseason and they’re leaders in season,” praised Stafford. “I can count on those guys.”

South Central (3-5, 1-3) led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter as Trojans quarterback Brandon Mitchell tossed touchdown passes of 51 yards to Hagen Adams and 42 yards to Isaac Blair.

Blair caught a 47-yard pass from Mitchell for his second TD reception in the second quarter, but Mapleton posted 22 more points before the end of the half. Cucco had a 7-yard TD catch, then Cline followed with TD runs of 2 and 15 yards, the latter coming after Cline intercepted Mitchell and returned it 44 yards.

Adams had to leave the game because of an injury and Mapleton then double-teamed Blair. Eric Sander stepped up big for the Trojans by pulling down seven catches for 150 yards and a 90-yard TD reception that pulled SC to within 38-27 with 7:10 left in the game.

But Kern scored on a 5-yard run with 2:44 to play to give Mapleton its final advantage.

Cucco then picked off Mitchell with 1:21 left to play and the Mounties ran out the clock.

“We lost Hagan Adams — he tweaked a knee there — and there just wasn’t enough stability that we felt comfortable with bringing him back in, and that gave them the opportunity to double Isaac, and that hurt a little bit,” SC coach Corey Fickiesen said. “Defensively, you gotta get stops and we weren’t able to do that, so credit to them.

“They have some really good players and we weren’t able to get stops when we needed to. And it puts a lot of pressure on your offense when they’re just scoring at will — you feel like you have to be perfect. We kind of tried to push some things we don’t normally do, and they took advantage of it.”

Mitchell completed 15 of 30 passes for 336 yards with Blair latching onto four for 109 yards and Adams pulling down a three for 69 yards.

Cline was 6-of-8 passing for 114 yards with senior wide receiver Kern his main target with four receptions for 96 yards.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Kolin Cline powers Mapleton to victory over South Central