USV’s Maddox Underwood intercepts a pass intended for Hardin Northern’s Alexander Wilson on Friday night at Hardin Northern.
Jackelyn Johnson | The Lima News
DOLA – Upper Scioto Valley came into Friday’s key Northwest Central Conference football matchup against Hardin Northern riding a seven-game winning streak and eyeing an outright conference title.
On Friday, USV’s high-powered running offense proved to be too much to handle as the Rams pulled away from Hardin Northern for a convincing 38-10 win at Pete Brunow Field.
Two athletes fueled USV’s running attack.
Senior quarterback Maddox Underwood was a force, rushing for 285 yards on 16 carries with touchdown runs of 75, 52 and 81 yards. Teammate Ryan Roberts rushed for 103 yards on 13 carries and had a TD. Mason Thompson scored the other TD for the Rams.
As a team, USV rushed for 407 yards.
With the win, USV improved to 8-1 overall, 7-0 in the NWCC and are now the outright NWCC champions. Hardin Northern slipped to 6-3 in all games played and 5-2 in the conference.
“I’ve told our guys all year that we’re gritty,” USV coach Dustin Price said. “We may not have the biggest, fastest or strongest guys, but (we) just have that ‘it factor’. … Our guys just play to the best of their ability. We do have a couple guys with some speed. … I’ll take that back,” he said with a grin.
Price praised Underwood on his ability to make defenders miss.
“The play coming out of halftime was supposed to be a sweep to the right. He (Underwood) reverses field and ends up having a huge touchdown. … He just made a play. He makes me look good sometimes,” Price said with a smile.
The play that Price referred to was the very first play of the second half when Underwood broke loose for a 52-yard TD run to extend USV’s lead 22-10.
On the night, Underwood was 1 of 3 passing for 39 yards. On defense, Underwood intercepted a pass.
Hardin Northern finished the night with 353 total yards.
Senior running back Nolan Hopson rushed for 118 yards on 26 carries. He also kicked a 22-yard field goal late in the second quarter.
Grove holds off LCC
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.
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.”
Wapak clinches outright WBL crown
WAPAKONETA — Winning championships isn’t an easy thing to do by any means, but when it comes to winning at least a share of the Western Buckeye League, the Wapakoneta Redskins sure make it look easy.
And on Friday night with a 48-20 win over Bath, Wapak (9-0, 8-0 WBL) went from clinching a share of the title to winning it outright.
According to the WBL’s website, it’s the 16th time the Redksins have won the conference and the eighth time they’ve stood alone at the top. Excluding the 2020 season when a WBL title wasn’t awarded, Wapakoneta has won at least a share of the crown for six straight seasons.
“Winning an outright championship means a ton to our program,” Wapakoneta head coach Travis Moyer said. “I’ve always said there’s two times our kids are allowed to be selfish, number one is in the weight room and number two is with championships. To be able to get our sixth consecutive championship and to win it outright, I just can’t say enough about our program.”
“It means a lot,” said Caleb Moyer, who finished the night with seven total touchdowns. “Just being around the program for all these years and watching everyone else win, it was always something I wanted to do. It was a team win tonight. We were able to do our job and credit to the guys up front for being able to block and help us out.”
To put it simply, Caleb Moyer was special on Friday night, and saying that might be an understatement.
Wapakoneta’s 6-2, 190-pound signal-caller went 14 of 16 through the air for 193 yards with touchdown passes to Kaden Page (15 yards) and Noah Bishop (43 yards). He was also the team’s leading rusher with 138 yards and five touchdowns on 11 carries.
With 6:44 left in the third quarter, Moyer busted off a 91-yard touchdown run to make 34-12.
“We knew we were going to have a light box and once we put Kaden (Page) in motion, that opened the play up a little more,” Travis Moyer said. “Once Caleb got by that first guy he was able to burst through there. You have to give credit to guys up front and guys blocking upfield but that was a big play in the game from a momentum standpoint.”
Page, the decoy on the play, had plenty of praise for his dual-threat quarterback following the win.
“Every Friday night he’s just making crazy plays,” Page said of Moyer. “I have to give all the credit to him. I’ve played football with him since elementary school at recess and he’s always been like that. Just making plays and being a leader, it’s really impressive.”
P-G takes over second place in BVC
PANDORA – To use some baseball terminology, Pandora-Gilboa touched all the bases in a 34-14 football win over Ada on Friday night.
Offensively, defensively and emotionally the Rockets were in control. And all that happened with their starting quarterback being held out of action because of illness.
“We just had guys all over the place stepping up, making plays,” P-G coach Matt Hershey said.
Andrew Miller rushed for 172 yards on 25 carries and scored three touchdowns and Ben Burkholder, subbing for starting quarterback Cory Gerten, rushed for 128 yards on 16 carries. Together with the offensive line, they led a relentless running game which gained 317 yards on the night.
P-G (6-3, 6-1 Blanchard Valley Conference) also locked down Ada’s offense, which came into Friday night’s game as the highest-scoring team in the BVC (36.9 points a game) and the conference leader in total yardage (381 yards a game).
But the Bulldogs (7-2, 5-2 BVC) were held to less than half of their scoring average and had only 210 yards total offense.
“The defense played lights out. We held their offense in check for the most part,” Hershey said.
“Tonight was a team effort. I couldn’t be prouder of the way the offensive line did their job. The O-line got off the ball, the running backs ran hard and both my quarterbacks who played tonight made big plays,” he said.
It’s possible playing without their starting quarterback inspired the Rockets and drew them closer together.
“When we heard he was out we knew we had to step it up. The linemen, we knew we had to step it up,” senior offensive lineman Eli Luginbill said.
Miller said, “On Monday we realized we wouldn’t have our quarterback and we’d have to find a way to build and succeed without him. It did, I guess, bring us all together and we were able to step up and overcome.”
Top performers
• In St. Marys’ 52-31 win over Elida, Dominik Osborne had 16 carries for 174 yards and five touchdowns, Colton Mabry ran the ball 18 times for 125 yards and a touchdown and Caleb Schmidt had 7 rushes for 100 yards.
• In Van Wert’s 45-44 win over Kenton, Briston Wise went 20 of 35 for 249 yards and two touchdowns with 26 carries for 133 yards and three touchdowns. Xavier Kelly added 143 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns and Nate Gearhart made seven catches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
• In Celina’s 28-6 win over Defiance, Jon Lutz carried the ball 15 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns.
• In Coldwater’s 52-14 win over Versailles, Baylen Blockberger accounted for three total touchdowns. Miles Potkotter added two touchdowns and had a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown on defense.
• In Marion Local’s win over Minster, Justin Knouff ran the ball 14 times for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Parker Hess added 116 rushing yards on 17 carries.
• In Leipsic’s 20-14 win over Arlington, Aaron Hazelton had 11 carries for 80 yards and a touchdown.
• In Anna’s 49-6 win over Fort Recovery, Alex Shappie went 10 of 11 for 174 yards and four touchdowns.
• In Crestview’s 42-13 win over Spencerville, Braxton Leeth rushed for 238 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries.
• In Kenton’s 45-44 win over Van Wert, Korbin Johnston went 22 of 41 for 356 yards and four touchdowns.
• In Elida’s 52-31 loss to St. Marys, Ryan McGue went 23 of 38 for 311 yards and three touchdowns with 37 rushing yards and a touchdown. Connor Konopka made eight catches for 128 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
FOOTBALL STANDINGS
Western Buckeye League
`WBL`All
Wapakoneta`8-0`9-0
St. Marys`6-2`7-2
Defiance`5-3`5-4
Bath`5-3`5-4
Celina`5-3`6-3
Ottawa-Glandorf`5-3`5-4
Van Wert`3-5`4-5
Shawnee`1-7`2-7
Elida`1-7`2-7
Kenton`1-7`1-8
Midwest Athletic Conference
`MAC`All
Marion Local`7-0`9-0
Coldwater`7-0`9-0
Minster`5-2`7-2
Anna`4-3`6-3
St. Henry`4-3`5-4
Versailles`3-4`5-4
Delphos St. John’s`2-5`3-6
New Bremen`2-5`4-5
Fort Recovery`1-6`2-7
Parkway`0-7`1-8
Northwest Conference
`NWC`All
Columbus Grove`6-0`9-0
Bluffton`6-0`9-0
Lima Central Catholic`4-2`6-3
Fort Loramie`3-3`4-5
Allen East`2-4`4-5
Crestview`2-4`4-5
Spencerville`1-5`4-5
Delphos Jefferson`0-6`1-8
Northwest Central Conference
`NWCC`All
Upper Scioto Valley`7-0`8-1
Ridgemont`6-1`7-2
Hardin Northern`5-2`5-3
Waynesfield-Goshen`5-2`7-2
Elgin`4-3`4-5
Perry`2-5`4-5
North Baltimore`2-5`4-5
Ridgedale`1-6`2-7
Cory-Rawson`0-8`1-8
Blanchard Valley Conference
`BVC`All
Liberty-Benton`7-0`8-1
Pandora-Gilboa`6-1`6-3
Ada`5-2`7-2
Leipsic`5-2`6-3
McComb`4-3`6-3
Van Buren`4-3`5-4
Arlington`2-5`4-5
Riverdale`2-5`3-6
Arcadia`0-7`0-9
Elmwood`0-7`0-9
Toledo City Athletic League
`TCAL`All
Lima Senior`9-0`5-0
Start`5-0`6-3
Rogers`4-2`4-5
Bowsher`2-3`2-7
Scott`2-3`2-7
Waite`0-5`0-9
Woodward`0-5`0-9
RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Friday, Oct. 18
Anna 49, Fort Recovery 6
Antwerp 33, Ayersville 28
Bluffton 43, Allen East 7
Celina 28, Defiance 6
Coldwater 52, Versailles 14
Columbus Grove 28, Lima Central Catholic 20
Crestview 42, Spencerville 13
Tinora 21, Paulding 18
Edgerton 27, Hicksville 20
Fairview 34, Wayne Trace 20
Fort Loramie 61, Delphos Jefferson 6
Lima Senior 49, Toledo Scott 0
Marion Local 21, Minster 0
McComb 49, Riverdale 6
Ottawa-Glandorf 21, Lima Shawnee 14
Pandora-Gilboa 34, Ada 14
Ridgemont 6, Cory-Rawson 3
St Marys 52, Elida 31
St. Henry 21, New Bremen 14
Van Wert 45, Kenton 44
Wapakoneta 48, Bath 20
Upper Scioto Valley 38, Hardin Northern 10
Thursday, Oct. 24
Spencerville at Delphos Jefferson, 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 25
Fort Loramie at Allen East, 7 p.m.
Columbus Grove at Bluffton, 7 p.m.
Crestview at LCC, 7 p.m.
St. Marys at Bath, 7 p.m.
Wapakoneta at Celina, 7 p.m.
Ottawa-Glandorf at Defiance, 7 p.m.
Elida at Van Wert, 7 p.m.
Kenton at Shawnee, 7 p.m.
Marion Local at Coldwater, 7 p.m.
New Bremen at Delphos St. John’s, 7 p.m.
Fort Recovery at Minster, 7 p.m.
Parkway at Anna, 7 p.m.
Versailles at St. Henry, 7 p.m.
Leipsic at Ada, 7 p.m.
McComb at Elmwood, 7 p.m.
Van Buren at Liberty-Benton, 7 p.m.
Riverdale at Pandora-Gilboa, 7 p.m.
Hardin Northern at Elgin, 7 p.m.
North Baltimore at Upper Scioto Valley, 7 p.m.
Perry at Ridgedale, 7 p.m.
Waynesfield-Goshen at Ridgemont, 7 p.m.
Lima Senior at Start, 7 p.m.
