H.S. Football: Buckeye rolls with 42 unanswered points in victory over Ellet

Chad Grant The Gazette YORK TWP. — Just because the beginning of a movie might look bad does not mean the rest of it won't be amazing. The Buckeye football team looked like a bad horror movie at the start of its non-league game with Akron Ellet on Friday, but it quickly turned into a great feature film for the Bucks in a 42-8 drubbing of the Orangemen. Ellet (1-2) struck fast on its opening drive of the game with a 65-yard catch-and-run and two-point conversion to go up 8-0. After forcing a turnover on the Bucks' second offensive play, Ellet moved the ball to the Buckeye 7-yard line and was poised to go ahead two scores early in the first quarter. A holding penalty pushed the Orangemen back to the 17 and four straight incompletions, including a drop by a wide-open receiver in the end zone on fourth down, gave the Bucks life. "That was a fortunate play for us," Buckeye coach Greg Dennison said after moving into a tie with Black River legend Al Young for the most victories in Medina County history with 198. "We came out a little sloppy. As it went on, we got a little more focused and started doing things the way we needed to. After we started doing things right, then it started rolling." The defense didn't give so much as an inch the rest of the game as the offense worked to get on track. The offense started clicking in the second quarter when Casey Murray (5-of-9, 169 yards, 3 TDs) hit Gage Nagy over the middle for 30 yards to the Ellet 14. "Even with the mishap that our defense had, we know that our offense is so dominant that we can strike at any moment," Murray said. "We knew we were good even though they scored to start the game." The drive was set up by a bad punt snap that could have been much worse for the Orangemen, but the Bucks were so focused on setting up a return that punter Dylan Oprin was able to recover and get off a short kick. Troy McCann (17 carries, 105 yards) took two handoffs to go the last 14 yards to get the Bucks on the board. "The offensive line opened up a ton of big holes," McCann said. "And then (Murray) with the passing game helped open things up a bunch, too." The Bucks did not make the same mistake on special teams a second time after forcing a three-and-out on Ellet's ensuing possession. Another bad snap forced Oprin back into his own end zone, where he was walloped by Josh Stahl. The hit from Stahl jarred the ball loose and Derek Snyderburn pounced on it for a Buckeye touchdown. The Bucks scored 28 points in the final 8:51 of the first half, with the final two TDs coming on Murray passes to Austin Hyre (2 catches, 89 yards). Murray hit Hyre for 60-yards on the first one and threw an absolute dime to a blanketed Hyre from 29 yards on fourth-and-25 to make it 28-8. "We knew that because we are so run heavy that they were going to bring more people in," Murray said. "They brought the safety down, so we knew we were going to be able to pass. When they put the safety back, we knew we were going to be able to run it." Nick Balaban picked off a pass and returned it 18 yards to the Ellet 36 to set up the Bucks' final first-half score. With the offense on a tear and leaning heavily on an undersized offensive line that pushed around a much bigger Ellet front and kept pressure off Murray, the defense played as good a game as it has had in years. Behind Nagy (3 sacks, tackle for loss), the Bucks' pressure on Ellet quarterback Jake Flossie (13-of-27 passing, 203 yards, TD, INT) was non-stop. Buckeye had seven sacks on the night and four more tackles for loss. "We just come out with the mindset that we don't ever take our foot off the gas," Nagy said. "We just want to blow every team out. That is our mentality this year. Last year we had one of the worst defenses in the (Great Lakes Conference). This year we want to have the best." Ellet finished with negative-50 yards rushing on 24 attempts, as the seven sacks accounted for 34 yards in losses and three bad snaps on special teams and offense added another 43. "I think we are getting more confident," Dennison said. "We are still playing some young guys, but we are also playing some guys with experience. We started a little slow defensively, but it picked up as the game went on." Trey Widenmeyer's spectacular 41-yard catch-and-run that featured a Madden-esque spin move that left a defender grasping air and a 1-yard run from Roman Krettler (9 carries, 58 yards) kicked the running clock into motion with 3:34 left in the third quarter. Buckeye scored on six straight possessions spanning the second and third quarters, while the defense allowed just 11 total yards on 23 plays during the same time frame. It was another big step in the right direction for a defense that struggled mightily last year and has now allowed just 21 points in its first three games. The Bucks are allowing a county-best 173 yards per game, including 46.7 on the ground. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Buckeye 42, Ellet 8 ELLET 8 0 0 0 — 8 BUCKEYE 0 28 14 0 — 42 First E — Isaiah Brown 65 pass from Jake Flossie (Justin Williams pass from Flossie), 10:05. Second B — Troy McCann 2 run (Brayden Bonnette kick), 8:51. B — Derek Snyderburn fumble recovery in endzone (Bonnett kick), 7:11. B — Austin Hyre 60 pass from Casey Murray (Bonnett kick), 3:34. B — Hyre 29 pass from Murray (Bonnett kick), 0:45. Third B — Treytan Widenmeyer 41 pass from Murray (Bonnett kick), 9:55. B — Roman Kettler 1 run (Bonnett kick), 3:34. E B First downs 9 15 Rushing 24-(-50) 34/179 Rushing average -2.1 5.3 Passing 13/27 5/9 Passing yards 203 169 Total offense 51/153 43/348 Punting 6/32.5 2/38.0 Penalties 5/32 9/70 Fumbles 4/1 2/1 Individual statistics RUSHING: Ellet — Terrance Thomas Jr. 13-36, Isaiah Brown 1-(-9), Flossie 7-(-34), Team 3-(-43). Buckeye — McCann 17-105, Kettler 9-58, Gage Nagy 2-14, Ryan Wilhelm 1-2, Murray 4-1, Turner Dolata 1-(-1). PASSING: Ellet — Flossie 13-27-203-1. Buckeye — Murray 5-9-169-0. RECEIVING: Ellet — Keshawn Stephens 9-117, Brown 2-73, Thomas Jr. 1-12, Will Harmon Jr. 1-1. Buckeye — Hyre 2-89, Widenmeyer 2-50, Nagy 1-30.