High school football: Ryan Wilhelm saves the day for Buckeye against Columbian

YORK TWP. — Ryan Wilhelm's running style isn't fancy, but it's effective: He runs hard, leans forward, delivers the first blow, breaks as many tackles as possible and then carries defenders on his back until they drag him down. The last part of that didn't happen until Wilhelm was in the end zone on his final carry, as the rugged fullback broke two tackles and carried three other defenders on his back for a touchdown that helped the Buckeye football team hold on to beat Tiffin Columbian 35-30 Friday in non-league play. The 5-foot-11, 211-pound Wilhelm, who spent much of the night blocking for tailback Brayden Sopko (23 carries, 86 yards, 2 TDs), carried the ball nine times for 82 yards and caught one pass for 10 yards. On Buckeye's final scoring drive, he had seven carries for 41 yards. The senior's most impressive runs were his last two. With Buckeye (3-0) having seen a 28-3 lead shrink to 28-24 and Sopko shaken up and on the sideline, Wilhelm's No. 35 was called on fourth-and-2 from the Tornadoes 22-yard line. Running right, he plowed ahead for 3 yards and a first down. Then, on second-and-6 from the 15, he again went right, broke a couple tackles and seemingly carried half the Columbian (1-2) team into the end zone with 1:11 to play. "I just had my head down," Wilhelm said. "I knew I had to get the first down, so then I figured, 'Why not go all the way to the end zone?'" The TD was pivotal, because the Tornadoes, who had 221 of their 311 yards passing in a 27-point second half, scored with five seconds to play — the two-point conversion failed — before Cloverleaf transfer Logan Letner recovered an onside kick for the Bucks. "We all love watching Ryan run," Letner said of Wilhelm, who also plays inside linebacker. "Off the field, he's one of the nicest guys in the world, but when he gets the ball in his hands, he's a monster." The Bucks dominated on the ground, finishing with 278 yard rushing and three TDs on 46 attempts (6.0 average) while holding the Tornadoes to 58 yards on 23 attempts (2.5) behind guys like Wilhelm, Letner (2 tackles for loss), Shane Metter (INT), Colton Homchik (forced fumble), Derek Snyderburn (sack), Tony Kobasuk (TFL) and Kyle Landes (TFL). The passing game was a different story. Buckeye's Turner Dolata was highly efficient while completing 9-of-16 for 144 yards, including beautiful 18- and 53-yard TDs to Jacob Snyderburn, but he attempted just six throws over the final 22 minutes because the Bucks were moving the ball on the ground and eating up clock. Columbian quarterback Logan Gooding (21-for-39, 311 yards, 4 TDs), who wasn't pressured often and almost always bought a lot of extra time when he was, played superbly. Sometimes he had a receiver wide open because of poor coverage, other times he ran around until one finally broke free. "It comes down to all of us," Letner said. "It's not any single person's fault. It's got to be all of us doing our job. We'll work on it all week in practice and get it as close to perfect as we can. That's what we do here at Buckeye." Tornadoes wide receiver Daelen Brandeberry finished with six catches for 175 yards, including five for 160 and TDs of 49 and 37 yards in the second half. Fortunately for the Bucks, they played extremely well in building a 28-3 lead with 10:48 left to play in the third period. Jacob Snyderburn opening the scoring by outleaping a defender in the end zone for an 18-yard TD midway through the first quarter. Up 7-3, Buckeye went up 18 at the half on a pair of 4-yard runs by Sopko, then seemed on the verge of getting a running clock when Dolata executed a perfect play-action fake before hitting a wide-open Jacob Snyderburn across the middle. The wide receiver turned and burned to complete a 53-yard TD that made the score 28-3. Then Columbian, aided by a number of defensive holding calls, including two mysterious ones where Buckeye defenders weren't close enough to hold any receiver, mounted a comeback. Brandeberry was somehow wide open over the middle for a 47-yard TD, then Dashawn Russell caught an 11-yard score on the final play of the third quarter to make it 28-18. When Brandeberry badly juked a Buckeye defender and turned a swing pass into a 37-yard score that made it 28-24 with 6:59 to go in the game, the Bucks appeared to be reeling. Enter Wilhelm, with help from Sopko and a standout performance from the offensive line. Following the second 32-yard kickoff return of the night by Liam Phillips (6 rushes, 105 yards; 1 catch, 22 yards), the Bucks went 65 yards in 14 plays — 13 rushes and an incomplete pass — to finally seal the deal. "It's a lot of forward lean," Wilhelm said. "I'm definitely aggressive. If you're not running aggressively, what kind of running back are you?" Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. Buckeye 35, Columbian 30 COLUMBIAN 3 0 15 12 — 30 BUCKEYE 7 14 7 7 — 35 First B — Jacob Snyderburn 18 pass from Turner Dolata (Brayden Bonnett kick), 6:02. C — Conner Reese 34 field goal, 2:16. Second B — Brayden Sopko 4 run (Bonnett kick), 11:13. B — Sopko 4 run (Bonnett kick), 4:21. Third B — Snyderburn 53 pass from Dolata (Bonnett kick), 10:48. C — Daelen Brandeberry 47 pass from Logan Gooding (Reese kick), 8:07. C — Dashawn Russell 11 pass from Gooding (Jayce Arias pass from Gooding), 0:00. Fourth C — Brandeberry 37 pass from Gooding (kick failed), 6:59. B — Ryan Wilhelm 15 run (Bonnett kick), 1:11. C — Russell 7 pass from Gooding (pass failed), :05. C B First downs &emsp;&emsp;19 21 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;23/58 46/278 Rushing average 2.5 6.0 Passing &emsp;&emsp;21/40 9/16 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;311 144 Total offense 63/369 62/422 Punting &emsp;&emsp;4/32,5 3/35.7 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;5/46 12/116 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;2/0 1/1 Individual statistics RUSHING: Columbian — Masen Seitz 13-45, Brock Siesel 2-14, Brandeberry 3-12, Gooding 4-(-3), Reese 1-(-10). Buckeye — Liam Phillips 6-105, Sopko 23-86, Wilhelm 9-82, Denis Shevchenko 3-14, Dolata 1-0, Team 2-(-4), Nick Prouza 2-(-5). PASSING: Columbian — Gooding 21-39-311-0, Braden Egbert 0-1-0-1. Buckeye — Dolata 9-16-144-0. RECEIVING: Columbian — Brandeberry 6-175, Johnny Bremyer 7-51, Russell 5-43, Seitz 3-42. Buckeye — Snyderburn 2-71, Phillips 1-22, Sopko 2-20, Mason Dolata 1-11, Wilhelm 1-10, Eddie Hondroudakis 1-10, Shane Metter 1-0. MISSED FIELD GOALS: Buckeye — Bonnett 42 (BLK).