Leonardo
By TIM McDONOUGH
- DEFIANCE CRESCENT-NEWS
Elida and junior quarterback Reggie McAdams came out firing on all cylinders on Friday night at Defiance’s Fred J. Brown Stadium, racing out to a 28-7 advantage at the half in a 35-13 victory over Defiance on Senior Night.
McAdams, the 6-5 basketball standout, wasn’t too shabby at quarterback on Friday, completing 16-of-21 passes for 255 yards and three touchdowns for Elida (7-2, 6-2 WBL). Colin Blymyer added a pair of rushing touchdowns for the visitors, sending the home Bulldogs to 1-8 overall and 1-7 in the WBL.
Getting out to an early lead was just what Elida mentor Jason Carpenter was looking for out of his team.
“It’s kind of funny, but we talked about getting on top early and creating that self doubt (for Defiance), which is for years what teams did to us,” said Carpenter, who has Elida on the brink of the playoffs for the first time since 1982. “That’s our focus, we try to get on top early to make our opponent change their game plan and lose their focus.
"The dangerous part about our offense is who do you cover?” added Carpenter. “You take away (Austin) Etzler, we’ve got (Kevin) Kraft and (Rikki) Le. Take away the pass and we’re going to run it with (Colin) Blymyer. That makes us tough to stop ... I just have a lot of trust in our guys out on the field.”
Defiance coach Jerry Buti admitted to being “embarrassed,” following the loss. “I don’t think our defense showed up tonight, we didn’t hit anybody,” Buti said. “Our offense had a spark of life, but our defense was flat-lined. I didn’t see any enthusiasm to play the game the way we should. It was an embarrassing night as far as I was concerned. I thought that was the worst performance by our defense all year.”
After a promising opening drive by Defiance was snuffed out by a holding penalty and a sack, Elida went to work.
McAdams completed 3-of-4 passes in Elida’s first drive, including a swing pass to Kevin Kraft that he took 28 yards to paydirt to give the visitors a quick 7-0 lead with 7:25 to play in the first quarter.
After holding Defiance to just three plays on its next possession, McAdams and Elida went to back to the air with much the same result. McAdams capped 5-play drive with an 8-yard TD pass to his brother Alex McAdams, and with 3:46 to go in the first quarter, Elida was in front 14-0.
“Defensively, especially early on, coach (Al) Clum made some good calls to keep them off-balance and get pressure on them,” said Carpenter. “Sometimes when a sophomore is back there at quarterback, they look a the blitz instead of downfield and getting pressure on them early was big.”
Blymyer added to Elida’s lead early in the second quarter, scoring on a 2-yard plunge with 11:28 to go before half, putting the visitors in front 21-0. Blymyer finished with 140 yards on 23 carries with the two scores.
Defiance, which still has not scored a point in the first or third quarter all season, cut the deficit to 21-7 with 2:01 to play in the second stanza. Sophomore quarterback Joe Keween completed 5-of-8 passes in the drive to move the ball down the field, before Nick Lopez scored on a 1-yard run.
Unfortunately for the home team, Elida needed just one play, a Reggie McAdams swing pass to Austin Etzler, to go in front 28-7 just 11 seconds later. Etzler caught the pass near the line of scrimmage and outraced the DHS defense down the middle of the field for the score. Etzler had five catches for 142 yards in the win.
“When you’re 1-8, things go wrong and you expect them to go wrong. It’s just like when you win, you expect things to go right,” Buti said. “Losing is a habit, it’s a bad habit, and unfortunately we’re in a bad losing habit.”
Elida added one more score in the third quarter before Defiance scored late to make it a 35-13 final.
“I’m totally disappointed in our play tonight, I really am,” concluded Buti. “We didn’t block anybody and we didn’t tackle anybody. Those are the two main things in football ... I don’t know how many more ways to say it. I was just totally disappointed, especially from a hitting standpoint. There was none.”
Defiance finishes the 2010 campaign on the road at Bath, while Elida returns home to host Wapakoneta, looking to clinch a playoff berth.
Good Win for Elida!! 7-2 now ... HUGE season