Barons hold off late Knight charge for victory

[clecinosu]

Delaware Buckeye Valley 20, Galion Northmor 19

WEST POINT -- The Buckeye Valley Barons rallied from a 19-7 halftime deficit and stopped a late Northmor drive to defeat the Golden Knights 20-19 in the final Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference game for both teams Friday at Northmor High School.

The Buckeye Valley (4-6, 4-5) offense awoke in the second half, gaining 177 of their 288 total yards in the final two quarters. The defense also held down what was a powerful Northmor (2-8, 1-8) attack in the first half, allowing the host Knights just 16 yards of offense in the final 24 minutes.

But Northmor, who dressed just 26 players for the game, played much bigger in the first half. The Knights caught their first break of the game on the opening kickoff, when Colt Brownstead mishandled Chris Gaubatz' short kick toward the near sideline and the Knights' Brad Mayes recovered at the Baron 20-yard line.

Northmor's Dallas Moody missed a 35-yard field goal by inches at the end of the drive, but the Knights took the ball deep in BV territory again after a Buckeye Valley punt. On the first play of the drive, Chris Stoney ran through the Baron defense for a 21-yard touchdown.

Another Buckeye Valley punt gave the ball back to Northmor at their own 35, but four plays into the possession, quarterback Brian Baldridge found a wide-open Michael Hershberger along the far side for a 54-yard touchdown pass, giving the home team a 13-0 lead.

Buckeye Valley caught a break on its final drive of the first quarter as Ethan Baker forced Stoney to fumble and Rehner recovered at the Knight 35. Six plays later, Rehner scored from two yards out with six seconds left in the period, cutting the Baron deficit to six points.

Buckeye Valley's next possession moved from its own 18 to the Northmor 17, but the play stalled on fourth down when Brownstead was caught in the backfield by Zac Nichols for a six-yard loss on fourth-and-four.

The Barons stopped the Knights on their next drive, but gave the ball back to Northmor in their own territory again on the following possession as Stoney intercepted BV quarterback Nathan Roberts at the Baron 38. Stoney rushes of 33 and two yards put the ball on the Baron three, and Stoney carried over on the next play to give the Knights a 19-7 lead with 1:40 to play in the first half.

But momentum began to swing the way of the Barons in the second half. On the Knights' second play of the new half, Baldridge fumbled the ball and BV's Chris Hughes recovered at the Knight 34. Rehner darted through the Knight defense five plays later for a 24-yard touchdown run, pulling the Barons within five points at 19-14.

The Barons had a golden opportunity to score on their next drive, but following a Brownstead run to the Northmor eight, the Barons were flagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that gave them first-and-goal at the Knights' 23. Rehner carried for six yards to the 17, but the Barons were again whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, and the ball moved back to 32 for second down, and the drive eventually stalled at the Knight 20.

But illegal motion and intentional grounding calls helped stop the Knight drive two yards back from the original line of scrimmage, and Buckeye Valley took the ball at midfield with 29 seconds left in the third quarter.

Roberts quickly gave Baron fans some hope for the future, hitting Steve Morden on a 30-yard pass play to the Knight 20-yard line, but an illegal procedure penalty pushed the ball back to the 25 as the quarter ended. The next three running plays netted Buckeye Valley no yards, but Roberts hit Adam Hall on fourth down for a 21-yard gain and a first down at the Northmor four. Rehner then ran through the right side and in for this third touchdown of the night, one that gave the Barons their first lead.

With just under five minutes to play, Buckeye Valley had the ball and began to run time off the clock, but on a second-and-eight call at the Baron 35, Northmor defensive end James Baker hit Brownstead and forced a fumble, and Stoney recovered at the BV 36.

Northmor went for some razzle-dazzle on the first play of the following drive, but Brian Bishop's halfback pass was intercepted by BV's Roberts. But the Knights got a reprieve as the Barons were called for pass interference, negating the pick and giving the Knights the ball at the Baron 21. The Barons were then hit with a five-yard face mask penalty that pushed the ball to just outside the 15, and Steven Mull rushed for five yards to give the Knights a first-and-10 just outside the 10-yard line.

But after that, things unraveled for the Knights. Northmor was hit with an illegal procedure penalty that moved the ball back to the 15, and Baldridge was sacked by Rehner and Chris Jenkins to the 23 on first down. Baldridge threw incomplete to Travis Lilly on second down and was sacked again at the Baron 30 on third down, this time by the Baron duo of Morden and Mason Malcolm.

A delay of game call against the Knights pushed the ball out of field goal range at the 35, and on fourth-and-34, Baldridge mishandled the snap and was forced to fall on the football. Roberts took a knee on the next play and the Barons escaped with the victory.

Rehner, Brownstead and Hughes accounted for almost 92 percent of the Barons' 223 rushing yards. Rehner led all rushers with 92 yards on 14 carries, Brownstead had 83 yards on 19 carries in his Buckeye Valley finale, and Hughes had 30 yards on 10 carries. Roberts, just a sophomore, had one of his better games at quarterback, completing 4-of-8 passes for 65 yards. Brownstead had two receptions for 14 yards to lead Buckeye Valley

Stoney stood out on both sides of the ball for the Knights. The junior fullback led the Knights with 80 yards rushing on 17 carries and caught one pass for seven yards on offense, but had an even better night on defense, where he made a game-high 22 tackles, including 16 solos, picked off a pass and recovered one fumble. Baldridge was 4-of-9 through the air for 72 yards with one touchdown. Hershberger, Bishop and Lilly also had one reception each for Northmor.

Buckeye Valley.......7.....0.....7.....6..........20
Northmor.............13.....6.....0.....0......... .19

SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
NM - Chris Stoney 21 run (kick failed), 7:40. (1 play, 21 yards, TOP 0:07)
NM - Michael Hershberger 54 pass from Brian Baldridge (Greg Eichorn kick), 4:46. (4 plays, 65 yards, TOP 1:54)
BV - Kyle Rehner 2 run (Jeremy Tiller kick), :06. (6 plays, 35 yards, TOP 2:26)
SECOND QUARTER
NM - Chris Stoney 3 run (run failed), 1:40. (3 plays, 38 yards, TOP 0:56)
THIRD QUARTER
BV - Kyle Rehner 24 run (Jeremy Tiller kick), 9:06. (5 plays, 34 yards, TOP 1:54)
FOURTH QUARTER
BV - Kyle Rehner 4 run (run failed), 9:41. (6 plays, 50 yards, TOP 2:48)

STATISTICS......................BV...........NM
First Downs........................14.............6
Rushes-Yards...............57-223.......28-79
Passing Yards.....................65............72
Comp-Att-Int..................4-8-1........4-9-0
Total Offense....................288..........151
Punts-Avg.....................4-28.8......5-31.0
Fumbles-Lost.....................3-2..........4-2
Penalties-Yards.............13-137........9-50
Possession Time.............29:56......18:04

RUSHING: Buckeye Valley - Kyle Rehner 14-92, Colt Brownstead 19-83, Chris Hughes 10-30, Ryan Smart 5-12, Nathan Roberts 8-7, Team 1-(minus-1); Northmor - Chris Stoney 17-80, Steven Mull 4-7, Brian Bishop 1-5, Brian Baldridge 6-(minus-13).

PASSING: Buckeye Valley - Nathan Roberts 4-8-1-65; Northmor - Brian Baldridge 4-9-0-72.

RECEIVING: Buckeye Valley - Colt Brownstead 2-14, Steve Morden 1-30, Adam Hall 1-21; Northmor - Michael Hershberger 1-54, Brian Bishop 1-7, Chris Stoney 1-7, Travis Lilly 1-4.

INTERCEPTIONS: Buckeye Valley - None; Northmor - Chris Stoney 1-0.