High school football: Buckeye pours it on to beat Valley Forge

The Buckeye football team scored four straight touchdowns over the last three quarters Friday to gain firm control of a 41-20 Cleveland West Conference victory over Valley Forge. By the time the Patriots (2-4, 1-2) recovered from the onslaught to score their last two touchdowns, the Bucks (6-0, 3-0) had jumped to a 41-7 lead. Buckeye's offense was led by Liam Phillips' 85 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and an efficient 5-for-6 for 116 yards and two scores from quarterback Turner Dolata, whose only incompletion was an interception by Valley Forge's Archie Fullah. Derek Snyderburn was the main beneficiary of Dolata's work, catching three passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Snyderburn also picked off Patriots quarterback Sean Frank. Kyle Landes started fast for the Buckeye defense, combining with Colton Hornchik to sack Frank (5-for-13, 81 yards, TD, INT) to force the first of three turnovers on downs. On the next possession, he recovered a fumble by Frank that was forced by Jacob Snyderburn. Those two turnovers started a trend for the Bucks, whose average starting position was the Valley Forge 45-yard line for their first seven possessions before backups took over. That field position allowed the Patriots to outgain Buckeye 377-266, though Valley Forge's wing-T offense only had 106 of its 296 rushing yards at halftime. Phillips punched in a 1-yard dive after the defense forced the first turnover on downs and Dolata hit a wide-open Derek Snyderburn for a 21-yard score. Frank rallied Valley Forge with an 11-yard touchdown to Evan Tappe on fourth-and-6 that cut the deficit to 14-7 before the Bucks got red hot. Ryan Wilhelm plunged into the end zone from 1 yard to give Buckeye a 21-7 lead at halftime and Phillips scored on a 12-yard run behind the left side of his line for a 28-7 advantage. The last turnover on downs caused by the Bucks defense led to Dolata finding Derek Snyderburn for a 49-yard catch-and-run TD and a 34-7 lead. After Snyderburn's interception, Nick Prouza scored on a 25-yard sweep to cap the run to 41-7. Prouza finished with 43 yards on two carries and caught two passes for 33 yards. Valley Forge finished the game with two cosmetic touchdowns. Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Buckeye 41, Valley Forge 20 BUCKEYE &emsp;&emsp;14 7 13 7 — 41 VALLEY FORGE &emsp;&emsp;0 7 0 13 — 20 First B — Liam Phillips 1 run (Brayden Bonnett kick). B — Derek Snyderburn 21 pass from Turner Dolata (Bonnett kick). Second V — Evan Tappe 11 pass from Sean Frank (kick good). B — Ryan Wilhelm 1 run (Bonnett kick). Third B — Phillips 12 run (Bonnett kick). B — Snyderburn 49 pass from Dolata (kick failed). Fourth B — Nick Prouza 25 run (Bonnett kick). V — Mason Furukawa 23 run (kick good). V — John Purcel 2 run (kick blocked). &emsp;&emsp;B &emsp;&emsp;V First downs &emsp;&emsp;12 &emsp;&emsp;17 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;20/150 64/296 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;7.5 &emsp;&emsp;4.6 Passing &emsp;&emsp;5/6 &emsp;&emsp;5/14 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;116 &emsp;&emsp;81 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;26/266 78/377 Punting &emsp;&emsp;0/0 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;2/10 &emsp;&emsp;2/15 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;1/1 &emsp;&emsp;2/1 RUSHING: Buckeye — Phillips 9-85, Prouza 2-43, Wilhelm 3-12, Brayden Sopko 1-8, Shane Metter 1-1, Joe Stahl 1-1, Milo Cox 3-0. Valley Forge — Daymon Watts 24-69, Frank 8-63, Archie Fullah 8-46, Furukawa 2-35, Logan Melinsky 3-28, Darius Winbush 1-15, Jeromy Keger 5-13, Caleb Scarbrough 1-10, Zamani Matsuo-Jamieson 2-9, Tappe 2-8, Noah Wadowick 3-5, Lucas Schillinger 3-0, Purcel 2-(-5). PASSING: Buckeye — Dolata 5-6-116-1. Valley Forge — Frank 6-13-81-1, Purcel 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING: Buckeye — Snyderburn 3-83, Prouza 2-33. Valley Forge — Aiden Soto 2-28, Jaden Gill 2-26, Spencer Stephan 1-16, Tappe 1-11.