Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
In a matchup featuring two Press-area teams, Travis Bouyer rushed for 126 yards and four touchdowns to lead the No. 9 Oak Harbor football team past No. 8 Eastwood, 32-26, on Oct. 31 in a Division V first round matchup on Freedom Field at Jerry Rutherford Stadium.
Meanwhile, No. 5 Gibsonburg clobbered No. 12 Morral Ridgedale 61-8 at Robert E. Krotzer Field on the same night in a Division VII opening round matchup. They’ll face No. 4 Columbus Grove in the regional quarterfinals.
Those two teams will be joined by Genoa, who had a first round bye, to give The Press three area teams still fighting for a state football title. Oak Harbor will face No. 1 Liberty Center in their quarterfinal matchup, while No. 4 Genoa will host No. 11 Port Clinton, which upset No. 6 Edison 35-0 in the first round.
Oak Harbor and Genoa could potentially meet in the regional final.
Oak Harbor advances
With the win over Eastwood, Oak Harbor (9-2) avenged a regular season loss to Eastwood behind Bouyer’s Al Bundy-esque performance.
“Our offensive line blocks their tails off every play, and we believe in them,” Bouyer said. “If they’re not stopping the run, we’re just going to keep running it down their throats. We believe in ourselves and our execution. All we have to do is execute.”
Meanwhile, Eastwood finished its season at 8-3.
“It’s on me,” Eastwood head coach Sam Cotterman said. “We preached that they were going to be angry after the last time out here, and I didn’t have us ready. Unfortunately, we waited too long to start playing. We got off script early offensively, which couldn’t keep our defense off the field. We just didn’t capitalize. Unfortunately, I didn’t have our guys ready, and I’ll have to live with that.”
Oak Harbor quarterback Breydan Porath found Cooper Schultz for a two-yard touchdown pass with 9:58 left in the fourth quarter, which gave the Rockets a 32-7 lead.
Despite that, Eastwood nearly pulled off a stunning comeback. Trace Johnson got things started with a four-yard touchdown run after a key pass interference call with 8:02 left. Eastwood then forced a punt 90 seconds later, and Johnson punched it in from one yard out with 4:58 left.
With Oak Harbor looking to run out the clock, Edmund Opfer stripped Wyatt Augsburger. Jack Sensenig recovered it and rumbled all the way to Oak Harbor’s 15-yard line, which set up an 11-yard touchdown pass from Drew Luidhardt to Opfer.
“They kept fighting. And honestly, I expect that out of them,” Cotterman said. “They’ve shown that since they were young. I didn’t expect any less out of them. We still fell short at the end of the day, but I’m proud that they kept fighting. Like I said, it’s going to sting a little bit. I just have to learn from it as well and make sure next time that we’re a little better prepared.”
Luidhardt finished 19-of-36 passing for 215 yards and two touchdowns. Opfer had eight receptions for 94 yards and a score, while Cam Schumaker and Brayden Luidhardt each totaled 66 yards receiving.
Oak Harbor held Eastwood to just 19 yards rushing and produced a pair of interceptions.
“I thought our defense played really well,” Oak Harbor head coach Mike May said. “Cooper Schultz, our leader on the back end, he had an interception tonight and makes all of our calls. Our defensive line was able to get just enough pressure to keep their quarterback a little bit off balance.”
Late in the first half, Eastwood thought they had forced a punt on 4th and 8, which would have given them the ball with around four minutes to potentially tie the game, but an offside call enticed Oak Harbor to go for it. They converted, and then added another fourth down conversion moments later before Bouyer scored from three yards out for a 20-7 lead at the half.
“That was huge, and honestly, I was trying to decide if we were going to punt or not, and all the kids wanted to go for it,” May said. “I said, let’s go for it. It was the kids that made that call.”
In fact, Oak Harbor converted all six of their fourth down attempts in the game. Three of their touchdown drives required at least one conversion, including a 4th and 2 inside the five on their first score.
“It was big, and we knew coming in we had to try to keep their offense off the field as much as possible, so that played into that,” May said. “We knew we had to sustain drives, so that’s what went into those fourth downs.”
Aside from Bouyer, Oak Harbor also got 100 yards on 26 carries from Blake Nickel, while outrushing Eastwood 251-19 as a team.
Gibsonburg bounces Ridgedale
Similar to Bouyer, Grant Smith also had a big rushing performance for his team, rumbling for 176 yards on 15 carries with four touchdowns to lead the Golden Bears over Ridgedale.
Aiden Nims added 120 yards on five carries as Gibsonburg held a 355-68 advantage in rushing yards. Defensively, they held Ridgedale to 136 total yards.
Smith scored all four of his touchdowns in the first half, and Jimmie Sidell added a 19-yard field goal as Gibsonburg led 33-0 at the break.
Aiden Morant, who had 23 yards rushing, then scored on a 45-yard touchdown reception from Reece Walby to open the second half before the Golden Bears recorded back-to-back interception returns for touchdowns from Luke Foster (44 yards) and Tristan Pacak (80 yards), which gave them a 61-0 lead.
Walby and Foster combined for 13 tackles to lead Gibsonburg. Nims had one sack, while Hunter Wasserman had 1.5 tackles for loss.
Clay, Woodmore fall in first round
Clay (Division II) and Woodmore (Division VI) both lost their respective first round matchups.
No. 9 Clay (6-5), which took on No. 8 Brecksville-Broadview on the road, trailed 13-0 at the half as the hosts ultimately scored the game’s first 20 points. Landon Echelberry then found Carter Walendzak for a 60-yard touchdown pass. However, an interception stifled Clay’s momentum a couple possessions later, and the hosts put the game away with another score before the end of the quarter.
Echelberry finished 12-of-25 passing for 178 yards and a pair of touchdowns while adding 37 yards rushing.
Woodmore, meanwhile, lost a 15-13 heartbreaker to Seneca East despite outgaining the hosts 188-182.
In a game that was a story of two halves, Seneca East jumped out to a 15-0 lead in the first half, out-producing Woodmore 122-46 in total yardage. On the flip side, Woodmore held a 13-0 advantage in the second half with a 142-60 advantage in yards.
The first half saw Woodmore (7-4) record just three possessions, one of which ended in a safety after only two plays. They also had a 12-play drive that stalled with a turnover on downs inside Seneca East’s 10-yard line.
Down 15-0, senior running back Landon Rich capped an eight-play drive on Woodmore’s second possession of the second half with a 13-yard touchdown, and Auden Hemminger added the extra point. The momentum continued as the Wildcats forced a defensive stop before Rich rumbled in from five yards out on a six-play drive.
The two-point conversion attempt failed, though, and Seneca East remained ahead by two.
Woodmore’s offense punted with a few minutes left in the game and several timeouts left, but Seneca East tallied a pair of first downs, which burned the timeouts and ran out the clock.
Rich finished his historic career with 96 yards on 27 carries. Quarterback Calvin Lipstraw was 6-of-7 passing for 101 yards, which all came in the second half.
