Monroe Central’s Logan Powell (25) catches a pass Friday night against Buckeye Local but he can’t shake the tackle of the Panthers’ Alex McDiffitt (2). The Seminoles rolled to a 39-6 victory at Monroe Park.
WOODSFIELD – Jonathan Calder liked what he saw from his Monroe Central team Friday night, even if it was from the press box.
The first-year Seminoles head coach decided to change things up this week and left assistant Curtis Nixon to call the plays from the sidelines. It worked as Monroe Central (2-3) dominated in the trenches for a convincing, 39-6, rout of visiting Buckeye Local at Monroe Park.
“That was the best game we’ve played on both sides of the football this season,” Calder said. “The first half was so-so but the second half we wanted to come out and pound it. We did and pretty much ran it down their throat.”
Buckeye Local (1-4) fumbled on its opening possession and had a punt blocked on its second. However, after the punt was blocked, the Panthers’ Noah Kourim scooped the ball up and ran 36 yards with it deep into Monroe Central territory. Six plays later, Cooper Howell made a leaping interception in front of a Buckeye Local receiver a yard deep in the end zone.
The Seminoles gave the ball right back on a fumble that was recovered by the Panthers’ Shane Griffith.
Monroe Central’s defense held as freshman Ashton Lumbatis recorded a huge sack on 2nd-and-goal from the Seminoles’ 7. Tucker Howell thwarted any damage when he picked off a fourth-down pass near the goal line.
“We were inside the 10 three times and turned the ball over and didn’t score,” Buckeye Local head coach Jim Hoover said. “That’s the bottom line. The first quarter-and-a-half, everything was going our way, but not so after that.”
“Great effort by our defense,” Calder noted. “They bent a couple of times early but in the second half we pretty much shut them down.
That would lead to the first score of the game as the hosts drove 92 yards on eight plays as A.J. Rutter burst up the middle of the field and outran everyone for a 47-yard scoring jaunt. Tucker Howell found Landon Lydick for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.
The Seminoles got the ball back with a little more than a minute left in the first half. Starting at their 21, a defensive pass interference penalty on Buckeye Local moved the ball to the 36. Tucker Howell rifled a bullet to Carter Knowlton in the left flat and Knowlton broke a tackle before going 53 yards to the Panthers’ 11. On the next snap, Tucker Howell rolled right before throwing back across the field to Lydick in the left corner of the end zone. Evan Knowlton’s PAT made it 15-0 with 34 seconds showing.
“That late touchdown might have taken some wind out of Buckeye Local’s sails,” Calder recalled. “We knew if we could get up three scores on them early in the second half, we’d be fine.”
Hoover agreed.
“We’ve got to overcome adversity. When something goes bad, we hang our heads,” he said. “We can’t do that. We’ve got to fight through it and not get down.”
Tucker Howell took over in the third quarter. He jumped an out route on the near sidelines, picked the ball off and raced 62 yards to paydirt on the first series of the third quarter. The kick was no good and the Seminoles were ahead 21-0.
Following a Buckeye Local punt, Howell capped a 6-play march with a 7-yard run around his right end. After a play-fake to Rutter who took out a defender, Howell rolled right and lunged into the end zone with McDiffitt hanging all over him. The PAT was blocked, but the margin had grown to 27-0.
Howell capped his fine 12-minute outburst with a 19-yard scamper around his left end on the final play of the quarter, making it 33-0 and start the running clock due to the OHSAA 30-point mercy rule.
“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Calder said of Tucker Howell, his senior leader. “He’s an all-around great player and does anything we asked of him.”
The running clock didn’t last long as Buckeye Local went 55 yards on nine plays as McDiffitt speared Andrew Jones with a 2-yard TD pass. The kick was no good.
Dalton Phillips got the clock moving once again when he took a pitch left, used a key block from Carter Knowlton to get the corner and sprinted 59 yards for the score.
All told, the Seminoles racked up 283 yards on the ground as Rutter picked up 108 and Phiilips finished with 107. Tucker Howell added 56 and two TDs while passing for 96 yards on 6-of-8 and a TD.
Many of those yards resulted from the hard work of the offensive line of left tackle Lumbatis; left guard Taylor Whitacre; center Parker Sefert; right guard Billy Kroll and right tackle Andrew Pickenpaugh.
Buckeye Local managed 146 yards rushing as Kourim collected 124 on 12 trips. McDiffitt was just 6-of-14 for 41 yards, the touchdown but three interceptions.
