Football Roundup: Hillsdale beats Smithville in OT for third straight win
Week 7
Hillsdale 28, Smithville 21 (OT)
Hillsdale and Smithville battled it out for a chance to remain tied atop the Wayne County Athletic League, and in the end, the Falcons were the team to come out on top to move into a first-place tie with Dalton, Norwayne and Northwestern.
"This was definitely one of the more exciting games that I have been a part of," said Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline. "Anytime you can get a win on the road in the WCAL, it is big, but especially when you win against a good Smithville team in overtime.
"Our guys battled for four quarters and made the plays when they needed to. I am proud of them and now we have another tough matchup this week with Waynedale."
Jake Hoverstock connected with Braylen Jarvis for a 17-yard scoring strike in the extra period to lift the Falcons to the thrilling win. Hoverstock finished with 128 yards passing on 10-of-14 throwing and proved his dual-threat capabilities with 134 yards on the ground on 23 carries.
He added a one-yard scoring run in the second quarter to give Hillsdale a 14-7 lead. David Parker (39-yard run) and Jarvis (19-yard run) both added scores for the Falcons on the night as Parker grabbed three passes for 57 yards.
The Smithies were led by quarterback Bryce Butcher, who sent this game to overtime with a one-yard run with 5:42 left in regulation. Gabe Copley added Smithville’s other two scores on runs of one and 43 yards as he finished with 65 yards on the ground on eight carries. Mason Haines led the Smithies with 78 yards on the ground with 19 carries and Butcher threw for 128 yards on 12-of-17 passing.
Loudonville 38, Fredericktown 35
Zach Frankford had a career night as Loudonville broke its losing streak and picked up its first win as a member of the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference.
“This was my best performance in my career,” Frankford said. “This year, I knew that I had to step up big and I knew that I had to have nights like tonight. I set the standard high for myself and this feels pretty good with all that went on.”
It didn’t start out looking good for the Redbirds as Fredericktown leaped on Loudonville 21-0. But that's when Frankford got going.
He grabbed a 33-yard pick-six to put the Redbirds up on the scoreboard and then fired a 63-yard TD strike to Micah Simpson. Then Matt Sprang tied it up at 21-21 on an 18-yard QB keeper with 1:21 left in the second quarter.
“Starting off the game down 21-0 wasn’t what we were planning on,” said Frankford. “But I feel that the coaches always have trust in me, I knew that I had to step my game up and do the best that I could.”
In the second half, Frankford raced the kickoff back to the house from 85 yards out to put Loudonville up 28-21. Fredericktown answered with a pair of scores to take a 35-28 lead into the fourth quarter.
“I knew I had to be myself and step up my game even more,” said Frankford when faced with yet another deficit. “We had to score again.”
Faced with the challenge, he delivered, this time hauling in a 22-yard TD pass from Sprang to even the score at 35-35.
“We talked about a play that we made an adjustment to at halftime to make it better,” said Frankford. “I made a double move, saw my guy slip and all I knew was that I had to catch the ball. I didn’t want to get too excited afterwards, but I was excited and trying to keep my cool.”
He finished with 13 catches for 122 yards and Sprang threw for 155 yards on 17-of-28 passing.
After a defensive stop, the Redbirds drove down the field yet again as Frankford got them to the 17-yard line with a 12-yard reception with 17 seconds left on the clock.
Neibert nailed the ensuing go-ahead 27-yard field goal that caused pandemonium as some of the Redbirds student section charged the field with time still remaining on the clock.
“We’ve had a rough three years,” said Frankford. “Yet the community has been behind us. Our school is always telling us how excited they are for us, and it means a lot. We didn’t want to blow it for them.”
As for the students charging the field too early?
“We just hoped that we wouldn't be penalized and fortunately we weren’t,” he smiled. “We all had high emotions, we watched the ball get flicked around and when it finally hit the ground, it was emotional for us all.”
West Holmes 48, Lexington 14
West Holmes had no problem moving to 7-0, roaring out to a 34-7 halftime lead and never letting Lexington get any momentum outside of an early touchdown.
The Knights run-pass combination once again proved to be impossible to stop.
Sam Williams-Dixon scored two more touchdowns, finding the end zone on runs of two and 74 yards. Logan Zollars' breakout continued with two touchdown catches from Mason Wolfe, who also ran for a touchdown. And Kyle Maltarich scored on another big play, going for a 70-yard score early in the game.
Elisha Baldridge also scored for West Holmes, who has won 25 of its last 27 games.
Wooster 48, Mount Vernon 0
Wooster scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and the rout was on against Mount Vernon.
The Generals bounced back from a couple losses behind a ground game that finished with 275 yards and six TDs on 35 carries.
Seth Chamberlin and AJ Likowski led that attack, with Chamberlin rushing for 117 yards and a score and Likowski adding 64 yards and three TDs on just six carries. Anthony Cantley and Michael Howman-Williams each scored rushing TDs as well.
Julian Franklin added the Generals final TD via blocked punt return.
Norwayne 48, Waynedale 16
Norwayne erased an early 3-0 lead by Waynedale by scoring the next 48 points to take a commanding 48-3 lead into halftime. The Bobcats never looked back in posting the league win and keeping pace with Dalton, Northwestern and Hillsdale atop the WCAL.
Jake Gill led the way for Norwayne with 128 yards on 11 carries, scoring four times. Burke Skolnicki put the ‘Cats on the board first with a 10-yard run and finished with 33 yards on five carries.
Norwayne QB Eli Stanley finished with 119 yards passing and 52 yards rushing. He found Roman Portis for a 46-yard TD and then wrapped up the scoring for the Bobcats with a 20-yard run to paydirt. Portis paced the victors with 86 yards receiving and Brady Lendon had three catches for 14 yards.
The Golden Bears were led by Marquel Troyer, who ran for 63 yards and passed for one, as he connected with Timmy Short for a touchdown. Jayden Schlabach added a 70-yard fumble recovery that went to the house and Anna Pittman gave Waynedale the early 3-0 lead with a 28-yard field goal.
Orrville 45, Tuslaw 20
Orrville outscored Tuslaw 31-13 in the second half to blow open a 14-7 halftime lead to earn the PAC-7 win. Sawyer Hamsher, Asiah Smith and Brant Besancon all played key roles in the win for the Red Riders.
Hamsher fired away for 249 yards on 13-of-27 passing as he connected for three touchdowns in the win. He found Besancon from 11 yards out to take the lead for good in the second quarter and dialed up the connection in the third quarter to make it 24-7, this time on a 40-yard passing play. In the fourth quarter, Hamsher found Greg Smiley on a 48-yard scoring pass and then wrapped up his night on a 21-yard rushing TD. Besancon finished with four catches for 80 yards and Smith added 73 rushing yards and iced the Orrville scoring on a six-yard TD run.
Smiley gave Orrville its first lead of the night with a 25-yard pick-six and Kaleb Wayt nailed a 27-yard field goal.
The Mustangs were led by Troy Harbeitner, who found Landon Shirley from 15 yards out to even the score at 7-7 in the first quarter. He added a four-yard scoring run in the fourth and finished with 138 yards passing and 30 yards on the ground. Devyn Vanest rushed for 97 and scored on a four-yard run.
Triway 31, Manchester 8
There simply wasn’t much that Cale Drown couldn’t do as he filled in again for the injured Zack Miller and led Triway past Manchester. He found success through the air and on the ground.
He opened the night off for the Titans by finding Caleb Colter for a 40-yard TD strike, and after the Panthers evened it at 8-all in the second quarter, he responded. This time he dialed in Cooper Barton from 12 yards out as he finished with 169 yards passing and ran for a team-high 62 yards.
Easton Barnard powered in from 13 yards out and Riley Gumber rolled to the house from two yards out to wrap up the Triway scoring. Colter had three catches for 61 yards, Barton had a team-high six catches for 48 yards, Barnard added five receptions for 18 yards and Owen Walter finished by hauling in three passes for 43 yards.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Football Roundup: Hillsdale beats Smithville for third straight win
