Leonardo
By JOE DOWNS
- THE REVIEW TIMES
It was far from a merciful ending to the season for the Fostoria High School football team, as Tiffin Columbian rolled into the Division III playoffs with a 47-7 victory at Memorial Stadium Friday night in Northern Ohio League action.
Redmen coach Beau Carmon pulled out all the stops early in trying to avoid a winless season, but his team ended up at 0-10 overall and 0-7 in its last NOL campaign. Columbian will head into the postseason with a league title and marks of 9-1 and 8-0.
Fostoria opened the game with an onside kick, which was recovered by junior Anthony Ferguson on the Tornadoes 45 yard line. Carmon went to his bag of tricks again on the very first play from scrimmage, and David Cook’s reverse pass was picked off by Columbian junior defensive back Shane Hossler at the Tornadoes 23.
Columbian then proceeded to go on an eight-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a Derrick Goliday three-yard touchdown run to open the scoring. A missed Caden Chapman extra point kept it 6-0, Tornadoes.
Fostoria’s woes on offense continued on the next series, as sophomore quarterback Adonis Cousin fumbled on a keeper and Columbian junior linebacker Vince Kurtz recovered the ball at the Redmen 27.
Four plays later, junior quarterback Ryan Tittle hit Austin Bentz for a seven-yard touchdown connection, and the Tornadoes’ lead expanded to 13-0.
Forced to punt on their next possession, the Redmen’s Cousin had his kick blocked and Columbian’s Shane Hossler recovered the ball at the Fostoria 19. Then Tittle. the NOL’s leading passer, hooked up with Bentz again on the very next play for another touchdown, making it 20-0 Tornadoes after one quarter.
“Ryan’s been solid all year long. He makes plays for us and he’s really progressed in learning our offense,” Columbian coach Brian Colatruglio said. “He throws the ball with great timing and we’ve got some pretty good receivers, too.”
On the next Redmen series, Fostoria turned to the wildcat formation, with disasterous results, as Trevon Tucker was tackled twice for negative yardage. The second time, on fourth and seven at the FHS 35, turned the ball over on downs.
Columbian needed just three plays to get in the end zone on a Golliday one-yard dive, making it 27-0, Tornadoes, early in the second quarter.
Fostoria finally started to get untracked on offense, going on an eight-play, 65-yard drive, getting down to the Tornadoes’ 6. However, on second and goal, Cousin was intercepted in the end zone by Columbian junior free safety Jonah Boyer, ending the drive. It would be the Redmen offense’s deepest drive of the game, as inexperience once again proved to be their undoing.
“We started two sophomores on the offensive line,” Carmon said. “Our right tackle (Billy Couch) was a sophomore, our center (Darran Lambright) was a sophomore, both those kids have very bright futures. But we had a lot of inexperience up there tonight and that’s been our story all year.”
After the interception, the Tornadoes drove 80 yards on eight plays, ending the drive on a 10-yard quarterback keeper by Tittle, extending the Columbian lead to 34-0. The Tornadoes ended the first half in spectacular fashion, as senior running back Mike Lee raced 64 yards on a reverse to send Columbian into halftime up 41-0.
Fostoria finally got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter, as senior defensive back Tyrell Tucker picked off Tornadoes junior backup quarterback Ben Davis and returned the interception 25 yards for a touchdown.
The Tornadoes ended the scoring in the fourth quarter on a Ryan Lynch 11-yard touchdown run. Colatruglio, a former Hopewell-Loudon head coach, savored the NOL title his team clinched with the victory.
“We said that from the beginning, our number one objective was to win the NOL.” Colatruglio said, “When you do that the playoffs and all those things take of themselves. So we captured our first goal, and that’s pretty special, coming in and doing it in my first year.”