Columbus Grove’s Trenton Baraza pushes through a line of defenders to score a touchdown in Friday’s game against Lima Central Catholic.
Jessica Trinko | The Lima News
COLUMBUS GROVE — It was a win against a quality opponent, but it wasn’t satisfying Friday night for Columbus Grove’s Trenton Barraza.
Lima Central Catholic scored with 26 seconds left in the game but couldn’t recover the onside kick, and Columbus Grove held on for a 28-20 win.
And while a win is a win, Barraza didn’t feel like celebrating, with his team giving up 9 more points and scoring 16 fewer points its average this season.
“I mean, obviously we got the ‘W.’ It’s just not how we wanted it,” said Barraza, who had 31 carries for 183 yards and two second-quarter touchdowns. He did most of the heavy lifting in a time-eating fourth-quarter TD drive. “… All in all, we just have to take this under our belt as a humbling moment. We have the conference championship next week, and we’re fortunate enough to be fighting for that.”
The Bulldogs (9-0, 6-0 Northwest Conference), ranked No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press Division VII poll, travel to Bluffton on Friday for a showdown with the undefeated Pirates, with the winner taking the conference championship.
The Thunderbirds (6-3, 4-2 NWC), who rejoined the conference this year after a stint in it from 2006-12, showed they’re game to compete in the NWC. After battling evenly for the first 17 minutes of the first half, they found themselves down 21-7 at the half.
Barraza delivered an electrifying run, bursting through the left side of the line of scrimmage and heading for the numbers along the sideline. He plowed over one LCC defender and spun around another before finally getting taken down for a 55-yard gain. Five plays later on fourth-and-goal at the 1, he scored on a counter play with some hard running.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Bulldogs’ Trevon Baxter pounced on a fumble at the 20. Four plays later, Barraza drug a handful of LCC tacklers into the end zone with him for the score. In two minutes’ time, the game shifted from a nailbiting tie to a 14-point Bulldog advantage, and Barraza already had 141 yards rushing.
LCC battled back within eight points with 8 minutes left in the third quarter, on an 8-yard touchdown run by Matthew Quatman, who finished with 13 carriers for 52 yards. The Thunderbirds took advantage of a Columbus Grove fumble at the 20.
“You know, we’ve won a lot of games in the last eight years, but we knew how challenging it was going to be,” said LCC coach Scott Palte, a Columbus Grove graduate who also coached the Bulldogs from 2005 to 2011 and kept teaching there until he started at LCC in 2015. “Our kids, I thought, played hard. We still made enough plays, but they’ve got a guy over there (Barraza) who’s an absolute stud. He’s really good, and he made a lot of plays.”
On the ensuing kickoff, LCC surprised Grove with an onside kick. The ball didn’t hit the ground before LCC recovered it, though, so Grove got the ball back. After exchanging a couple of possessions, Columbus Grove had a five-and-a-half minute drive that turned to Barraza a lot, including as a decoy on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Hopkins to Trevon Baxter.
“The only reason that’s open is because they were overplaying Trent Barraza,” CG coach Andy Schafer said. “We got into a formation that we’ve been in a lot. We expected them to kind of jump on that certain play, so it opened up a touchdown that was greatly needed. We’d never really run that play, ever. It was something that we put in on the sidelines.”
It was the second touchdown connection between Hopkins and Baxter, who also connected on a first-quarter swing pass that Baxter brought on a 65-yard sprint up the right sideline for a score. Hopkins, who hit 5 of 7 passes for 90 yards, made his fourth start at quarterback after moving from wide receiver following two QB injuries this season.
“He’s a great QB,” Baxter said. “He makes a great play and gets it to you when he finds you open.”
LCC quarterback Brady Parker had a strong game, completing 12 of 17 passes for 161 yards, while also running 16 times for 61 yards, including two rushing TDs, a 3-yarder in the second quarter and a 4-yarder that set up that final onside kick.
Schafer said the Bulldogs will enjoy the win against a good opponent. Both teams are destined to make the playoffs, with Columbus Grove already clinching the No. 1 seed, according to JoeEitel.com’s unofficial rankings.
“We’re going to celebrate this one,” Schafer said. “I don’t really have to say much. Our kids love to play Bluffton, so we’re excited to go over to Harmon Field. It’s going to be a big crowd. … Yeah, our kids are ready for that. There’s no question that it’s our favorite game of the year.”
Still, the players all knew Bluffton’s next.
“It’s Bluffton week, so that always gives us motivation behind that one,” Baxter said.
LCC Columbus Grove
12 First downs 15
298 Total yards 304
137 Rushing yards 214
161 Passing yardage 90
12-17-0 Passing 4-7-0
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
3-28.7 Punts 2-28.5
7-65 Penalties 4-30
Score by quarters:
LCC 0 7 7 6 — 20
Columbus Grove 7 14 0 7 — 28
First quarter
CG-Trevon Baxter 65 pass from Kyle Hopkins (Evan Verhoff kick), 1:02
Second quarter
LCC-Brady Parker 3 run (Brevan Stolly kick), 5:28
CG-Trenton Barraza 1 run (Evan Verhoff kick), 2:35
CG-Trenton Barraza 7 run (Evan Verhoff kick), 0:51
Third quarter
LCC-Matthew Quatman 8 run (kick blocked), 8:00
Fourth quarter
CG-Trevon Baxter 12 pass from Kyle Hopkins (Evan Verhoff kick), 3:32
LCC-Brady Parker 4 run (Brevan Stolly kick), 0:26
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
