Elida’s David Etzkorn is ruled down before Shawnee’s Drew Eisele can retrieve the ball during Friday night’s game at Shawnee.
Don Speck | The Lima News
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP – Elida’s offensive unit was kept in check by Shawnee in Friday night’s Western Buckeye League football opener at Shawnee.
However, Elida’s defensive unit and special teams made the plays when it needed them, en route to a hard-fought 13-9 victory over Shawnee.
After Elida exploded for a 42-6 win over Toledo Rogers in last week’s season-opener, the Bulldogs struggled to move the football against a very stingy Shawnee defense on Friday.
Against Shawnee, Elida recorded just 68 total yards.
However, down the stretch, the Bulldogs made some key plays on the other side of the football to pave the way for the thrilling win.
With the victory, Elida improves to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the WBL. Shawnee slips to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in league play.
“At halftime, we talked about responding to adversity with our backs against the wall. And our big man, Kevin McGuire (6-2, 325, defensive lineman) went out in the second quarter (with an injury),” Elida head coach Kyle Harmon said. “We talked to those guys about stepping up. Defensively, we did a little bit of a bend (but not break). … Ultimately, we didn’t break. I thought we played extremely hard. Credit to our kids. They battled for four quarters.”
The biggest play of game for Elida came with less than four minutes to play, and the Bulldogs trailing 9-7.
On a punt attempt by Shawnee at its own 36-yard-line, Elida freshman linebacker Kohen Sullivan broke through the Shawnee line and blocked the punt.
The Bulldogs got the football on Shawnee’s 15-yard line, down by two points.
Four plays later, A’Mari Wash (5 carries, 14 yards) scored the go-ahead touchdown for Elida with a 4-yard run with 3:48 left to play. The 2-point conversion pass play failed for Elida.
“I saw the gap open between Parker (Crim, defensive lineman) and I think it was Tytus (Dally, defensive lineman) on the other side of him,” Sullivan said. “I saw the hole. … I knew I had to get through there and get it (the block). After that, I jumped, and it (the block) happened.”
However, Shawnee would get one more opportunity with the football.
The Indians’ offensive unit managed to march deep into Elida territory.
That’s when Elida senior linebacker David Etzkorn intercepted a pass from Shawnee junior quarterback Caleb Bacome.
Etzkorn ran the interception back 95 yards for an apparent TD. However, there was a penalty flag thrown for an Elida block in the back, which nullified the TD.
At that point, Elida’s offensive unit got the football back, and simply took a couple knees to run out the clock.
However, early in the game, it appeared that Elida’s offense was going to take control.
On the opening drive of the night, Elida marched 59 yards on 13 plays to find paydirt. Junior quarterback Ryan McGue connected with Wash for a 7-yard touchdown pass. With the point-after, Elida led 7-0 with 5:11 left in the first quarter.
For the game, McGue was 8 of 12 passing for 37 yards and had an interception.
However, Shawnee answered Elida’s opening scoring drive.
On Shawnee’s first possession of the contest, the Indians traveled 61 yards on 12 plays to get on the scoreboard.
Quarterback Caleb Bacome capped off the scoring drive with a 1-yard TD run. The extra point was missed, and Elida led 7-6 with 10:43 left in the half.
In the first half, Elida’s offensive unit recorded 41 total yards (15 rushing, 26 passing). Shawnee ended the first half with 89 total offensive yards (88 rushing, 1 passing).
Bacome led Shawnee and all rushers in the first half with 48 yards on 8 carries and had the lone first-half TD. Bacome ended the night with 43 yards on 10 carries. Senior running back Derek Lyons had 37 yards rushing on 13 carries in the first half for the Indians. Lyons ended the game with 84 yards on 27 touches.
Shawnee got the football to start the second half.
The Indians’ offensive unit burned more than seven minutes off the play clock, and eventually came away with three points. Tyler Kimmet booted a 34-yard field goal to give Shawnee a 9-7 lead with 4:35 left in the third stanza.
That 2-point lead held up for Shawnee to the end of the third quarter.
It was a defensive battle in the fourth quarter.
Then, with less than four minutes to play, Sullivan had the huge block for Elida.
“He (Sullivan) has been doing some great things,” Harmon said about Sullivan. “He’s an athlete, who just seems to make plays; and he’s worked extremely hard. He’s earned time on the field with his effort and his intensity.”
For the game, Shawnee recorded a total of 14 first downs, compared to Elida’s seven.
Harmon praised Etzkorn for the big interception that sealed the fate for Shawnee.
“We were dropping into a nickel (defense). We wanted David to kind of spy in the middle of the field – spy the quarterback’s eyes. And right before David went out on the field, he said, ‘I got you guys’,” Harmon said with a grin.
On offense, Etzkorn rushed for 22 yards on nine carries. He also had three receptions for 10 yards.
For the game, Shawnee’s offense recorded 195 total yards (140 rushing, 55 passing). Bacome was 7 of 17 passing with one interception.
Game summary
Score by quarters:
Elida 07 00 00 06 – 13
Shawnee 00 06 03 00 – 9
Scoring:
Elida –A’mari Wash 7 pass from Ryan McGue (Ethan Ramsdail kick)
Shawnee –Caleb Bacome 1 run (kick failed)
Shawnee – Tyler Kimmet 34-yard field goal
Elida – A’Mari Wash 4 run (pass failed)
Elida Shawnee
7 First downs 14
68 Total yardage 195
31 Rushing yardage 140
37 Passing yardage 55
8-12-1 Passing (Com-Att-Int) 7-17-1
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
4-40.7 Punts-Average 1-43.0
4-55 Penalties-Yards 5-45
Individual leaders:
Passing: Elida-Ryan McGue 8-12-37; Shawnee – Caleb Bacome 7-17-55.
Rushing: Elida -David Etzkorn 9-22; Shawnee- Derek Lyons 27-84.
Receiving: Elida -A’mari Wash 2-16; Shawnee -Dominic Lynch 3-32.
Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
