Columbus Grove’s Kylan Mayes, bottom left, recovers a fumble near the end of the first quarter Friday. Patrick Henry’s Lincoln Creager (2) reacted after losing the ball.
Jessica Trinko | The Lima News
COLUMBUS GROVE — The “Pack of ‘Dogs” were hungry Friday.
The Columbus Grove public address announcer repeatedly used the moniker Friday to describe a defense that came up big early and often in a 27-13 win against area football powerhouse Patrick Henry in a non-league matchup.
Columbus Grove forced three first-quarter turnovers and converted them into touchdowns to jump out to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. They finished with five takeaways in the game.
“We came with emotion, and the crowd was into it. The kids were into it,” Columbus Grove coach Andy Schafer said. “… This night, man, we were there right from the start.”
The fun started barely four minutes into the game for the Bulldogs (3-0), who begin Northwestern Conference play next week at Spencerville.
Columbus Grove’s Sam Groch, who also had a third-quarter touchdown when he dove on a blocked punt, tipped Patrick Henry quarterback Lincoln Creager’s pass straight up into the air. The 6-foot, 270-pound Mayes waited for it to come down before rumbling nearly 20 yards. Four plays later, Columbus Grove running back Trenton Barraza tallied a 10-yard touchdown after trying to go straight ahead before bouncing outside to the right for the early 7-0 lead.
After the ensuing kickoff, Patrick Henry (2-1) fumbled on its first play, with Grove’s Aiden Patrick picking up the ball and returning it to the 3. Two players later, Bulldog quarterback Landon Best ran it in from 1 yard and the early 14-0 lead.
Mayes wasn’t done, as he dove on a fumble near the end of the first quarter, giving Columbus Grove the ball at the 40 and his second takeaway of the quarter. A few plays later, Barraza — who said “Mayes went off today” — had his second TD of the day on a 27-yard sweep on the left side for a 21-0 lead with barely half a minute gone by in the second quarter.
“We were really going at it on all cylinders today,” said Mayes, whose team suffered a demoralizing 40-28 loss in last year’s game at Patrick Henry. “I think we really had something on our mind today and really focused on it today.”
Barraza finished with 147 yards on 28 carries. He had to step in as quarterback in the second half after Best suffered an injury just before halftime. That didn’t slow down his running, as he still had 59 yards in the second half.
“I said a little prayer for (Best) on the sideline,” Barraza said. “We came out at halftime, and coach put me in at quarterback. Before I went out on offense, I was just talking to him a little bit, like, ‘What do I do on this play? What do I do on that play?’ He helped me out a bit with that.”
Schafer was pleased with how his team handled the adversity. He said he didn’t think Best would be out “long term” with his injury.
“I gave the guys a speech at halftime, and I talked about this huge sign in our locker room that has all these all-Ohio guys on it. I said, ‘Look at that board. None of those guys are on the field. Guys that graduated the last couple of years, they’re not on the field. Sometimes you just have to move on.’”
The message resonated for the Bulldogs.
“These guys really listen. You can just see it in their eyes,” Schafer said. “We honestly didn’t flinch.”
Best completed 5 of 8 passes for 63 yards in the first half. Barraza hit 2 of 5 passes for 28 yards, including an impressive 23-yard completion to Grant Eversole where he acted like he was running before taking a step back to deliver a bullet pass across the middle.
Patrick Henry’s Creager finished with 51 yards rushing. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 108 yards but with three interceptions as the Patriots tried to turn to the passing game in the second half.
The defense was special on Friday night, Barraza said.
“We got a couple big picks and some goal-line stops tonight,” he said. “We’ve got some athletes on defense. It might be a little undersized, is what some other teams might think, but you know, we can hit. We’ve got guys that can lock up on defense, and we’ve got good technique.”
Columbus Grove 27, Patrick Henry 13
Patrick Henry Columbus Grove
10 First downs 15
182 Total yards 251
74 Rushing yards 160
108 Passing yardage 91
10-17-3 Passing 7-13-0
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
1-42.0 Punts 3-29.7
4-20 Penalties 5-55
Score by quarters:
Patrick Henry 0 7 0 6 — 13
Columbus Grove 14 7 6 0 — 27
First quarter
CG-Trenton Barraza 10 run (Evan Verhoff kick), 6:26
CG-Landon Best 1 run (Verhoff kick), 5:43
Second quarter
CG-Barraza 27 run (Verhoff kick), 11:37
PH-Lane Jackson 22 pass from Lincoln Creager (Lincoln Creager kick), 0:51
Third quarter
CG-Sam Groch fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed), 1:12
Fourth quarter
PH-Trent Johnson 8 pass from Lincoln Creager (Kick blocked), 9:15
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
