Crescent-News.com - Archbold spread offense too much for Indians

By KEVIN EIS
cnsports@crescent-news.com
ARCHBOLD " Archbold deferred from its rushing game in favor of a spread offense with outstanding results while rolling to a 49-10 win over Fulton County and NWOAL rival Wauseon in front of an appreciative home crowd on "Senior Night."

While churning out 152 team yards on the ground, the Blue Streaks (8-1, 6-1 NWOAL) threw for an incredible 415 yards for 567 total yards.

"I knew that they would have a hard time with our five wide (offense) so we came out with five wide," commented Archbold mentor John Downey. "Actually, (Wauseon) came in with a different defense than what we thought and I think partly it's because they didn't plan on it. If you don't try to stop five wide it's real hard. We attacked their defense extremely well."

The loss drops Wauseon to 5-4 overall while slipping to 5-2 in the NWOAL.

Wauseon head coach Mark Emans admitted that the Blue Streaks' passing game did indeed pose problems for his defense, as Archbold scored on four of its five first-half possessions.

"They did a little bit of that this year, but they went to that exclusively," he said of the Blue Streaks spread formation. "They just had some better athletes than we had and we couldn't guard against them."

Setting the pace for the Archbold offense was the lethal combination of senior quarterback David Rupp and fellow senior running back Jacob Fidler. Besides throwing one interception, Rupp was extremely accurate.

Through three-and-a-half quarters, the senior signal-caller completed 17-of-21 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns. By halftime, Rupp had already thrown for 249 yards and a trio of touchdowns as the offensive line bought him all the time he needed.

"We saw coming into the game that we had the advantage to spread the ball out this week," stated Rupp, who also rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. "Our o-line gave us great protection and we were able to keep (Wauseon) on their toes. We were able to find the holes in their coverage and the receivers had a great night."

Meanwhile, Fidler, who is usually known for his rushing talents, proved to be a receiving threat with 7 catches for 239 yards while hitting paydirt three times as Rupp's target with two scores of 50 yards and another for 68 yards.

"We executed everything very well," said Fidler. "We knew from the get-go that they weren't strong in their pass defense. And I can't give enough credit to all the guys up front that allowed us to get open and our quarterback did a great job completing the passes."

Wauseon appeared ready to battle after an interception by Tyler Deeds on the Streaks' first play of their opening possession. The turnover led to a 35-yard field goal by junior Clay Simpkins that put the Indians on the board with a 3-0 lead midway through the opening quarter.

However, it was all Archbold from that point forward.

Rupp connected with Fidler for two consecutive 50-yard touchdown passes in as many possessions as the Blue Streaks were already showing their dominance with a 14-3 lead after one. Despite catching both passes for nearly ten yards each, Fidler displayed his speed by outrunning the Wauseon defensive backs and picking up key blocks along the way.

Downey also had good things to say about the protection provided by his offensive line while giving Rupp ample time to find the open receivers.

"I thought our offensive line protected really well," lauded Downey. "He pulled it down and ran it, but I don't think (Rupp) had a sack. We just executed the offense and the defense the way we wanted to all night long."

Things only got worse for the Indians in the second quarter as Archbold scored twice more on a 10-yard run by senior Breon Price followed by a 30-yard strike from Rupp to Noah Keefer with 25 ticks left in the half. As the whistle drew the first half to a close, the Streaks had a 28-3 lead and had allowed Wauseon just 84 yards of total offense.

A crippling Archbold defense never allowed Wauseon to get back in the game in the second half, as the Indians finished with 122 yards rushing and just 27 yards passing from backup quarterback Brandon Volkman for a total of 149 yards.

"Defensively, I thought we came out and set the tempo early," said Downey, whose Blue Streaks will travel to Liberty Center Friday for the regular-season finale. "We gave up a few yards but defensively I though we played extremely solid the whole night. Defensively and offensively, we played pretty sound tonight."

Rupp and Fidler connected for paydirt again with 5:32 remaining in the third quarter, this time for 68 yards to put the game out of reach at 42-3, Archbold.

"Some of the stuff was just a little bubble screen that went for 68 yards with Fidler, you know Jake's such a nice athlete," admitted Emans, whose Indians will wrap up their regular season Friday at home against undefeated Patrick Henry. "Another was just a little hitch and the other one went for about 50 yards for a score. That offensive scheme has given us fits over the years and we're going to still have to battle that."

The Wauseon fans were finally given something to cheer about as Deeds received a kickoff near the Indians' five yard line and raced down the right sideline for 95 yards and a score with 5:02 left in the game to make it 49-10.

But it was much too little, far too late as the Streaks, using their substitutions by this point, were very effective in killing the clock behind backup quarterback Garrett Morton to walk away with the league victory.

WAUSEON ARCHBOLD
First Downs 11 26
Rushing Yards 38-122 22-152
Passing Yards 27 415
Total Yards 149 567
Passing 4-9-0 23-30-1
Fumbles 1 0
Fumbles Lost 1 0
Penalties 6-43 8-95

Wauseon 3 0 0 7 - 10
Archbold 14 14 14 7 - 49

Wauseon - Simpkins 35-yard field goal.
Archbold - Fidler 50-yard pass from Rupp (Bontrager kick).
Archbold - Fidler 50-yard pass from Rupp (Bontrager kick).
Archbold - Price 10-yard run (Bontrager kick).
Archbold - Keefer 30-yard pass from Rupp (Bontrager kick).
Archbold - Rupp 6-yard run (Bontrager kick).
Archbold - Fidler 68-yard pass from Rupp (Bontrager kick).
Archbold - Morton 3-yard run (Bontrager kick).
Wauseon - Deeds 95-yard kick return (Simpkins kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Wauseon - Hughes 16-49; Reynolds 17-49; Jasso 6-19; Christy 1-1; Volkman 1-(-1); Warncke 1-1. Archbold - Rupp 8-83; Morton 11-32; Fidler 3-16; Reyes 2-11; Price 1-10.
PASSING: Wauseon - Volkman 4-9-0-27. Archbold - Rupp 17-21-1-371; Morton 6-9-0-44.
RECEIVING: Wauseon - Douglass 2-15; Rupp 1-6; Thompson 1-6. Archbold - Fidler 7-239; Smith 5-58; Goering 4-34; Keefer 2-34; Price 3-27; Sierra 1-17; Westrick 1-6.