Crescent-News.com - PH captures share of seventh straight title

By JASON STEIN
cnsports@crescent-news.com

HAMLER - "Deer in headlights."

That's how Archbold head coach John Downey summed up his team's early performance in their Northwest Ohio Athletic League showdown. With Archbold supplying the deer, it was the NWOAL's Patriot express supplying the headlights as Patrick Henry (8-0, 7-0 NWOAL) secured a guaranteed share of its seventh-straight league crown with a 35-7 victory over the Blue Streaks (7-1, 5-1 NWOAL) in a battle of state-ranked unbeatens on Friday night.

"It's tremendous," exclaimed Patrick Henry's long-time mentor Bill Inselmann. "Six other classes have graduated, I told (our team) a lot of these kids are out working in their profession right now, they've graduated from college, they have degrees and we're still carrying that torch in the Olympics for them and we're going to ride this as long as we can, it gives us momentum and confidence."

Patrick Henry used a pair of touchdowns within the first six minutes of the game and rode a tenacious defense all night long, which held Archbold to under 70 yards off total offense in the first half, to lock up the victory.

Bill Miller opened the game with a Patriot 50-yard run on the first play from scrimmage, followed up by a Justin Buenger 17-yard scamper to set up Luke George's touchdown run a couple plays later. With the big score early, the defense needed only a couple of plays to flex its muscle.

"You get jacked up," said senior offensive lineman and defensive stopper Cody Pettit on the quick score. "You come into this game, you're pumped up already, then you score off the bat like that and your momentum just jumps up."

Archbold's first offensive possession began at their own 33 but quickly went in the wrong direction as Pettit tackled Archbold quarterback David Rupp in the backfield for a loss of a yard. On the next play, Rupp got a pass off, but it was tipped by his own receiver into the arms of Patrick Henry's Bill Miller, who returned it to the Streaks' 19 yardline.

"Rupp's a good quarterback so we really got pressure on him which is a big deal, that's what we needed to do," remarked Pettit on what was key for the defense, not just on the opening plays, but all night long. "We contained him pretty good and just got some pressure on him and made him throw some bad passes. We capitalized on those mistakes."

Taking advantage of the short field, the Patriots needed just over two minutes to cap off the short, six-play drive as George connected with Mitch Leonard for a 3-yard touchdown pass.
While Archbold's defense settled down, the Streaks' offense struggled to hang on to passes or move the ball on the ground.

Jacob Fidler broke off Archbold's only play of 10-yards or more in the first half when he ran for 25 of his 71 total rushing yards early in the second quarter. Rupp, who was held to 60 yards rushing on the night, completed just one pass in the first half while throwing two picks.

"We just didn't come out and play, we had deer in headlights the first couple of minutes and we settled down but we just never got in sync offensively and that's a credit to their defense," remarked Downey. "We made plays and we had opportunities to get back in the ball game but we just couldn't finish it and you have to give them credit, they just kept us from getting in sync all night long."

Patrick Henry kept Archbold from entering the red zone throughout the first half, ending three of the Streaks' seven first-half possessions with punts, two with turnovers on downs, and two picks.

The second interception coming when the snap sailed over Rupp's head and, after running to pick the ball up well behind the line of scrimmage, Rupp threw an ill-advised pass that was caught by Patriot Austin Bower.

Bower's interception came a minute and a half after George found Leonard wide open for a 47-yard touchdown bomb. Following the interception, the Patriots needed almost as much time to make the game 28-0 after Buenger, who ran for 98 yards, bounced a run to the outside for an 13-yard touchdown run.

Archbold looked much more composed coming out of halftime, completing an eight-play, 72-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run by Fidler, but that would be the only time Archbold found paydirt.

"This possibly could be one of the best Ds we've had for a long time," concluded Pettit after his defense gave up only six plays for more than 10 yards. "We work hard in practice and we really take pride in our effort during the game. Everyone flies to the ball. You see red and white jerseys all over the place on every play."

Archbold still has a shot at the title if they beat Wauseon next week and Liberty Center in week 10, but they will need help from an Indian's team that is no stranger to playing in the big games as they defeated Patrick Henry to end last year's regular season ... a fact that the Patriots haven't forgotten about.

"Believe it or not, I'm getting soft in my old age, I'm giving my coaches off Sunday and I'm giving everybody off Monday, we're not even coming in," concluded Inselmann when asked where his team will go from here. "I want them to get physically and mentally rested a little bit. Then we're going to come back in Tuesday, get back down to business, and I'm telling you right now, one of the most improved teams from the beginning of the season to the end of the season is Wauseon. And we know we have them week 10 and they got us last year, so two weeks from now we're going to have to get up and play another good football game."

The Patriots are at home next Friday, against Edon.

ARCHBOLD PAT. HENRY
First Downs 11 12
Rushing Yards 38-144 34-217
Passing Yards 114 178
Total Yards 258 395
Passing 6-19-3 11-16-1
Fumbles 0 1
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Penalties 5-30 2-10

Archbold 0 0 7 0 - 7
Patrick Henry 14 14 0 7 - 35
Patrick Henry - L. George 2-yard run (Creager kick).
Patrick Henry - Leonard 3-yard pass from L. George (Creager kick).
Patrick Henry - Leonard 47-yard pass from L. George (Creager kick).
Patrick Henry - Buenger 13-yard run (Creager kick).
Archbold - Fidler 3-yard run (Bontrager kick).
Patrick Henry - L. George 18-yard run (Creager kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Archbold - Fidler 13-71; Rupp 20-60; Morton 2-10; Keefer 2-5; Price 1-(-2). Patrick Henry - Buenger 15-98; L. George 11-49; Miller 5-60; Almanza 3-10.

PASSING: Archbold - Rupp 3-16-2-59; Morton 3-3-0-55. Patrick Henry - L. George 11-16-1-178.

RECEIVING: Archbold - Keefer 2-31; Smith 1-44; Sierra 1-24; Goering 1-10; Fidler 1-5. Patrick Henry - Leonard 3-89; Kline 2-34; Buenger 2-26; Miller 2-(-2); Bower 1-23; Almanza 1-8.