Sun Nov 08 2009
By TIM McDONOUGH
And a child shall lead them.
Kenton freshman quarterback Maty Mauk threw six touchdown passes to lead the Wildcats to a surprisingly easy 42-21 victory over Defiance in Western Buckeye League action on Friday night at Defiance's Fred J. Brown Stadium.
The Wildcats (4-3, 4-2 WBL) set the tempo from the get-go, scoring 28 first-half points, and never trailed in the win over the host Bulldogs (5-2, 4-2 WBL).
"I don't know if I've ever had a team so ill-prepared for a game as this one. We knew what they were going to do, we just weren't prepared to play at their tempo," commented a disappointed Defiance mentor Jerry Buti. "It's very hard to replicate that offense in practice, they're very fast and they're good at what they do. Bottom line, we just don't match-up well with that offense."
Kenton head coach Mike Mauk liked the way his team came out and executed from the very beginning.
Said Mauk: "We knew that Defiance had a big win last week so I felt it was important that we come out and not make mistakes early. Fortunately we were able to move the ball, make big plays and get great blocking up front."
It took Kenton just three plays, all passes, to reach paydirt on the first series of the ballgame. A screen from Mauk to Max Morrison went for 18 yards, a bubble screen to Bobby Handell went for 15 yards and a slip screen to Chase Barnes covered the final 29 yards, and less than one minute into the game the visitors led, 7-0.
Defiance answered with 6:56 to go in the first quarter when Jordan Gonzales finished off an 80-yard drive with a 36-yard TD pass to Alex Nofziger. The 2-point conversion run was no good and Kenton led, 7-6.
The Wildcats, employing their five-wide attack, struck again with 5:23 to play in the opening quarter when Mauk, who finished 28-of-43 for 345 yards and those six TDs, hit Barnes in stride for a 54-yard scoring strike and 14-6 lead.
Early in the second quarter, the visitors stuck again to take a 21-6 lead.
Mauk hooked up with, you guessed it, Barnes on an 11-yard TD toss to finish a 9-play drive. Barnes finished the game with 10 catches for 176 yards and three TDs. As with most of Kenton's scoring drives, it started near midfield as the Wildcats won the battle of field position all night long.
"Did Kenton ever start a drive from inside their 40?" asked Buti. "They played on a short field all night and they took advantage of it."
Late in the first quarter, it seemed Defiance had climbed back into the game after Craig Gutman picked off a Mauk pass at the DHS 36 and returned it to the Kenton 48. One play later, Travis Spitnale raced into the end for a 48-yard TD scamper with 1:47 to play in the half. The 2-point conversion pass from Gonzales to Nofziger cut the deficit to, 21-14.
As it turned out, 1:47 was too much time for Kenton.
Mauk calmly led his team down the field, firing a strike to Handell from 31-yards out to give Kenton a 28-14 lead at halftime.
Said the elder Mauk: "It was going back-and-forth there in the first half, but our offense showed great resolve to get the ball into the end zone with less than two minutes to play. Again, our guys did a great job of blocking up front and it was a real key score.
Buti agreed.
"The score right before half was a killer, no question. But our kids thought we could still win the game, we've been down before. There was no give ... but when your defense can't get a stop it just makes for a long night."
Kenton stuffed Defiance's first drive of the second half, stopping Gonzales short on a keeper on fourth-and-one at the Kenton 45. The Wildcats took advantage, going 55 yards in nine plays to score on a Mauk pass to Morrison covering nine yards. The Wildcats led 35-14 and were never threatened again.
"It was poor coaching on my part, I did an awful job," concluded Buti. "Very seldom have I done as poor a job as I did this week and tonight. I give credit to Kenton too, they played a great game. They're improving every week and they're a good football team."
Handell finished with 11 catches for 93 yards and a pair scores for Kenton, while Spitnale led Defiance with 123 yards on 22 carries. Nofziger finished with seven catches for 113 yards for the Bulldogs.
Defiance is back in action Friday at home against Elida.
KENTON DEFIANCE
First Downs 17 7
Rushing Yards 19-26 36-135
Passing Yards 368 129
Total Yards 394 264
Passing 31-48-2 10-16-1
Fumbles 0 1
Fumbles Lost 0 1
Penalties 5-46 6-35
Kenton 14 14 7 7 - 42
Defiance 6 8 7 0 - 21
Kenton - Barnes 29-yard pass from Mauk (Johnson kick).
Defiance - Nofziger 36-yard pass from Gonzales (run failed).
Kenton - Barnes 54-yard pass from Mauk (Johnson kick).
Kenton - Barnes 11-yard pass from Mauk (Johnson kick).
Defiance - Spitnale 48-yard run (Nofziger pass from Gonzales).
Kenton - Handell 31-yard pass from Mauk (Johnson kick).
Kenton - Morrison 9-yard pass from Mauk (Johnson kick).
Defiance - Gonzales 14-yard run (Sebring kick).
Kenton - Handell 7-yard pass from Mauk (Johnson kick).
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Kenton - Mauk 12-23; Kissling 7-3. Defiance - Spitnale 22-123; Gonzales 8-6; Sebring 4-4; Nofziger 2-2.
PASSING: Kenton - Mauk 28-43-2-345; Kissling 3-5-0-23. Defiance - Gonzales 10-16-1-129.
RECEIVING: Kenton - Barnes 10-176; Handell 11-93; Morrison 8-82; Tillman 2-17. Defiance - Nofziger 7-113; Spitnale 2-11; Mayeku 1-5.
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