'Tremendous': Kollin Cline powers Mapleton over Plymouth in Firelands Conference football
NANKIN — Mapleton High School’s Kollin Cline had a night he won’t soon forget.
The junior quarterback rushed for 261 yards and five touchdowns on 21 carries behind a solid effort from his teammates up front to lead Mapleton to a 54-43 win over Plymouth in Firelands Conference play Friday at John E. Camp Stadium.
The fact that neither defense seemingly couldn’t stop the other’s offense was all the more reason why Mapleton coach Matt Stafford was happy to have Cline leading the Mounties.
“Kollin’s a tremendous athlete. There’s not enough words for me to describe him,” Stafford said. “He’s a leader, he’s a fun kid to be around and the other kids gravitate to him. He’s really blossomed into an outstanding person and leader.
“He’s a dual-threat guy. I like him as a runner, and we were running the ball pretty well, so we didn’t have to throw too much on him, and I wanted to lean on our offensive line. We ran some unbalanced, got our two big tackles together and really kind of pounded them at the point of attack. With Kollin running behind them, Luke (Pryor) running behind them, Garret (Kern) got the ball and was physical, Brycn Cucco, and even Parker McKissick got in there, so we shared the ball, which is the whole point of our offense.”
Mapleton (4-3, 1-2) ran the ball 47 times for 458 yards with Cline completing both of his passes in the first half, one for 12 yards to Tyson Welch and the other for 10 yards to Cucco. On the ground, Kern added 90 yards on nine runs, Pryor had 60 more on 11 totes, McKissick tacked on 49 yards on four touches, and Cucco added 24 yards on two carries.
Both teams scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter to be tied at 14-14. Mapleton was up 22-21 at the half on the strength of Pryor's 2-yard TD run and his two-point conversion run.
Cline’s 16-yard TD run and ensuing conversion run with 3:30 left in the third quarter gave Mapleton a 38-29 lead.
On Plymouth’s next possession, Big Red quarterback Trace McVey fumbled the ball and Mapleton’s Mark Miller recovered.
The Mounties then scored at the 9:46 mark of the fourth quarter when Cline scampered 59 yards for a TD. Cucco added a conversion run and Mapleton extended the lead to 46-29.
“We knew how tough they were, especially those guys last week having a rough game, so we knew we were going to get their best shot tonight, and we did,” Plymouth coach Mark Genders said. “Our kids played hard. We just couldn’t get (Mapleton) off the field. We thought it was going to be a high-scoring game.
“We had a big turnover and made a couple of mistakes. That’s the difference in the game.”
McVey led Plymouth (3-4, 2-2) on the ground with 90 yards and four touchdowns on 10 carries. He also completed 11 of 18 passes for 149 yards. The Big Red’s Layne Bushey had six receptions for 90 yards, scoring TDs on a 12-yard run and a 18-yard reception.
“I think this gives us some confidence. Last week, I thought we took three steps back and it really concerned me,” Stafford said.”I challenged the kids this week. We need to get off the ball and get back to basics, get simple, and the guys really responded tonight.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Mapleton's Kollin Cline unstoppable in win over Plymouth
