Football: Five turnovers doom Buckeye

AMHERST — Big plays powered Amherst. Big mistakes doomed Buckeye. The Comets took advantage of five turnovers — four interceptions — and a significant contribution from all-purpose junior Jack Coleman to dismantle the Bucks 38-21 Friday night for their second straight non-league win to begin the season. "The thing that you've really got to understand is that that those DBs were locked in. They weren't lulled to sleep," Comets coach Tom Thome said. "Our message all week was 'Guys, they're gonna run, they're gonna run. You can't seep in,' and we took advantage of that. They read their keys, and they did a good job. I was really pleased with that." Coleman was all over the field, scoring three touchdowns — two on the ground and one through the air — and adding a 25-yeard field goal and five extra points. His biggest play came in a fourth-down situation just before halftime, when he outleapt a defender in the end-zone for a 27-yard reception that put Amherst in front 28-13. "That was pretty big. That touchdown helped us stay composed," Coleman said. "Pretty much the game plan was just to get me the ball a lot. Get me the ball on the outside, because we thought it was a mismatch with me and the DBs. That was the game plan coming into this week, and it pretty much worked." "I know Jack was a little discouraged last week (during a 42-16 win over Sandusky) because we really didn't go his way," Thome said. "I'll be really honest, our focus point on offense is to get him the ball, but what Sandusky was giving, we took it." Buckeye (0-2) was able to run the ball effectively behind featured backs Liam Phillips (touchdown) and Denis Shevchenko (2 TDs). It's when the Bucks tried to throw that disaster struck, with the Comets picking off four of five attempts. After a muffed punt set up Amherst's first TD, the Bucks drove to the Comets' 20 before Anthony Litz picked off their first pass attempt and returned it 80 yards to make it 14-0 after the extra point. Undeterred, Buckeye responded on a 15-yard TD run from Shevchenko and, after Amherst turned the ball over on downs, drove to the 9, where it faced fourth-and-6. A jump pass was picked off by Sam Tollett and, on the Comets' ensuing play, Christian Vorhees took a reverse 90 yards to Buckeye's 3 to set up Coleman's second rushing TD. Coleman's field goal followed by Ethan Layne's 10-yard TD run put Amherst in front 38-13 in the third quarter before Shevchenko's second rushing score provided the final count. "I love that our defense, while we've got miscues like everybody else, I love how they just battle," Thome said. "If Buckeye scored tonight, and they did three times, they earned it. And that's what you tell your defense to do, 'bend don't break.'" The Comets have won their first two games behind a balanced offensive attack. "I like how we're executing things with different packages," Thome said. "I like that we can be versatile. I like that we aren't just lining up and saying, 'hey, we're just going to call quarterback this.' I like how we can space it out." "I think our defense has been doing really good. Our running game is really, really good, and then the passing game opened up in this game as well," Coleman said. "We can run and pass. That's one of our strengths is that we can do a lot of things." It's been a satisfying start for a team that felt a little overlooked prior to the season. "No one really believed in us coming into this year, but starting off 2-0, especially that we were the underdog this game, that's great," Coleman said. "We've heard all offseason. We heard it last year. I hear it the most," Thome said. "Our kids, we're a very tightknit group. We love each other. We battle together. There are no egos. These guys play hard, they play together and they play for Amherst. So, yeah, we do got a chip on our shoulders. You know what I mean?" Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X. Amherst 38, Buckeye 21 BUCKEYE&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 7 6 0 8 — 21 AMHERST&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;14 14 10 0 — 38 First A — Jack Coleman 7 run (Coleman kick). A — Anthony Litz 80 interception return (Coleman kick). B — Denis Shevchenko 15 run (Gavin Waltos kick). Second A — Coleman 3 run (Coleman kick). B — Liam Phillips 1 run (kick failed). A — Coleman 27 pass from Anthony Passarrello (Coleman kick). Third A — Coleman 25 field goal. A — Ethan Layne 10 run (Coleman kick). Fourth B — Shevchenko 2 (Phillips run). &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;B&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;A First downs &emsp;&emsp;21 &emsp;&emsp;9 Rushing &emsp;&emsp;64/338 23/185 Rushing average &emsp;&emsp;5.3 &emsp;&emsp;8.0 Passing &emsp;&emsp;1/5&emsp;&emsp;10/15 Passing yards &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;110 Total offense &emsp;&emsp;69/340 38/295 Punting &emsp;&emsp;1/43.0 1/54.0 Penalties &emsp;&emsp;7/46 &emsp;&emsp;7/71 Fumbles &emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;2/0 &emsp;&emsp;1/0 RUSHING: Buckeye — Phillips 32-151, Shevchenko 14-115, Brayden Sopko 10-33, Brenden Murphy 4-26, Tony Kobasuk 2-17, Chase Geyer 2-(-4). Amherst — Christian Vorhees 1-90, Layne 11-78, Passerrello 5-10, Coleman 3-10, Team 3-(-3). PASSING: Buckeye — Phillips 1-2-2-1, Geyer 0-3-0-2. Amherst — Passerrello 10-15-110-0. RECEIVING: Buckeye — Sopko 1-2. Amherst — Coleman 4-39, n/a 1-38, Parker Bohannon 2-18, Vorhees 2-12, Bryce Colvin 1-3.