Hopewell scores 23 in a row in win over Carey

By LONNIE McMILLAN

Sports editor

BASCOM — Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio knew he had athletes to match Carey, but the challenge was going to be in the trenches. After a slow start, the Chieftains stepped up.

Hopewell-Loudon scored 16 points in the final three minutes of the first half and then quickly again in the second half and took a 30-15 victory against the Blue Devils to open the football season Friday night in Bascom.

“That (Carey) is a great offensive, defensive line,” Colatruglio said. “They’re one of the best around — one of the best in northwest Ohio. They’ve got all their guys back, and we absolutely dominated them. That’s the story. That’s the story of the game. I loved our skill. I thought we had a great matchup with our skill guys. I know my quarterback is an all-around player, but the question was going to be can we match them up physically up front, and we did. It was a special night.”

Quarterback Ashton Bour ran for 130 yards and a touchdown and threw for 114 yards and another score, while running back Hayden Welly totaled 110 yards and two touchdowns on the ground behind the Chieftain’s impressive line play.

But it took Hopewell-Loudon a while to get going after Carey struck right away on the game’s first possession. An offsides penalty on a third down gave the Blue Devils a first down, and they took advantage with a 60-yard strike from Derek Lonsway to Bryce Conti down to the 1-yard line. From there, Landen Kemerley took it in to make it 7-0.

“We did some good things,” Carey coach Jonathon Mershman said. “We had a couple drives there that we just stalled out. Some of it was our own fault, shooting ourselves in the foot a couple times. We’ve got to clean up some things.”

Hopewell-Loudon punted on its first two possessions and nearly came up empty on its third. A pass interference call converted a fourth down and led to a Welly 3-yard touchdown to tie the game at 7 with just 2:47 to go before halftime.

Carey fumbled on its second play after that, and it took the Chieftains just one play to take the lead. Bour found Sherron Jones down the middle of the field for a 25-yard touchdown. The extra point failed, but Hopewell-Loudon led 13-7.

After forcing a three-and-out, the Chieftains had one more possession before halftime and moved inside the 20-yard line, setting up a Bour 35-yard field goal on the last play, extending the advantage to 16-7.

Then, with possession to start the second half, the Chieftains found the end zone again on a Welly 30-yard run.

“Once we get a first down or two, our whole line can wear people down, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Colatruglio said. “That’s our recipe. If we can get a lead in the second half, we’re going to be able to wear people down.”

Jordan Vallejo scored on a 1-yard run and ran in a two-point conversion to make it a one-score 

game again at 23-15 with 4:56 left in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils got a fourth-down stop, holding Welly to 3 yards on fourth-and-4, early in the fourth quarter, giving them an opportunity to possibly tie the game. On a fourth-and-3, though, Lonsway was tackled after gaining just 1 yard on a fake punt.

“I probably shouldn’t have faked the punt down there, but we tried to catch a cheap one,” Mershman said. “That one’s on me. I should have punted it.”

Two plays later, Bour broke free for a 15-yard touchdown run with 7:09 remaining. Another quick defensive stop by the Chieftains was all they needed to clinch the win.

“Carey is going to win a lot of football games,” Colatruglio said. “For us to put on that kind of performance in the second half is awesome.”

Lonsway led the Blue Devils on offense with 74 yards on 14 carries, but he was only 3 of 11 passing for 83 yards. Carey was held to 189 yards total, while Hopewell-Loudon finished the night with 369.

“I don’t want to lose ever,” Mershman said. “… We’ve got to embrace the expectations and the pressure because that’s going to be there. To do that, we’ve got to come to practice tomorrow and we’ve got to learn from our mistakes. This game is only a mistake if we don’t learn from it. We’ve got to build off of what we did good and build off and fix the things we did badly.”

The Blue Devils face Galion at 7 p.m. Friday at Unckrich Stadium in Galion.

Score by quarters

Carey    7                0                8                0                — 15

Hopewell-Loudon    0                16              7                7                — 30

First quarter

C — Kemerley 1-yard run (Rickle kick) 9:40.

Second quarter

HL — Welly 3-yard run (Bour kick) 2:47.

HL — Bour 25-yard pass to Jones (Bour kick) 2:22.

HL — Bour 35-yard field goal 0:00.

Third quarter

HL — Welly 30-yard run (Bour kick) 10:21.

C — Vallejo 1-yard run (Vallejo run) 4:56.

Fourth quarter

HL — Bour 15-yard run (Bour kick) 7:09.

Individual statistics

Passing

Carey: Lonsway 3-11, 83 yards.

Hopewell-Loudon: Bour 11-14, 114 yards, 1 TD; Team 0-1.

Rushing

Carey: Lonsway 14-74; Vallejo 7-27, 1 TD; Kemerley 6-7, 1 TD; Bell 1-4; Summit 1-1; Team 1-(minus 7).

Hopewell-Loudon: Bour 17-130, 1 TD; Welly 18-110, 2 TDs; Jones 1-15; Beucler 4-0.

Receiving

Carey: Conti 1-60; Kemerley 1-21; Bell 1-2.

Hopewell-Loudon: Jones 6-71, 1 TD; Garcia 2-20; Jury 1-9; Falter 1-8; Welly 1-6.

Team statistics

              C                HL

First downs             10              20

Rushing-yards        30-106       40-255

Passing yards        83              114

Passes 3-11           11-15

Passes intercepted                  0                0

Fumbles-lost           2-1             0-0

Punts    4-38.5        2-41.0

Penalties                3-17           6-51

 

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game again at 23-15 with 4:56 left in the third quarter.

The Blue Devils got a fourth-down stop, holding Welly to 3 yards on fourth-and-4, early in the fourth quarter, giving them an opportunity to possibly tie the game. On a fourth-and-3, though, Lonsway was tackled after gaining just 1 yard on a fake punt.

“I probably shouldn’t have faked the punt down there, but we tried to catch a cheap one,” Mershman said. “That one’s on me. I should have punted it.”

Two plays later, Bour broke free for a 15-yard touchdown run with 7:09 remaining. Another quick defensive stop by the Chieftains was all they needed to clinch the win.

“Carey is going to win a lot of football games,” Colatruglio said. “For us to put on that kind of performance in the second half is awesome.”

Lonsway led the Blue Devils on offense with 74 yards on 14 carries, but he was only 3 of 11 passing for 83 yards. Carey was held to 189 yards total, while Hopewell-Loudon finished the night with 369.

“I don’t want to lose ever,” Mershman said. “… We’ve got to embrace the expectations and the pressure because that’s going to be there. To do that, we’ve got to come to practice tomorrow and we’ve got to learn from our mistakes. This game is only a mistake if we don’t learn from it. We’ve got to build off of what we did good and build off and fix the things we did badly.”

The Blue Devils face Galion at 7 p.m. Friday at Unckrich Stadium in Galion.

 

Score by quarters

Carey                          7                                  0                                  8                                  0                                  — 15

Hopewell-Loudon       0                                  16                                7                                  7                                  — 30

First quarter

C — Kemerley 1-yard run (Rickle kick) 9:40.

Second quarter

HL — Welly 3-yard run (Bour kick) 2:47.

HL — Bour 25-yard pass to Jones (Bour kick) 2:22.

HL — Bour 35-yard field goal 0:00.

Third quarter

HL — Welly 30-yard run (Bour kick) 10:21.

C — Vallejo 1-yard run (Vallejo run) 4:56.

Fourth quarter

HL — Bour 15-yard run (Bour kick) 7:09.

Individual statistics

Passing

Carey: Lonsway 3-11, 83 yards.

Hopewell-Loudon: Bour 11-14, 114 yards, 1 TD; Team 0-1.

Rushing

Carey: Lonsway 14-74; Vallejo 7-27, 1 TD; Kemerley 6-7, 1 TD; Bell 1-4; Summit 1-1; Team 1-(minus 7).

Hopewell-Loudon: Bour 17-130, 1 TD; Welly 18-110, 2 TDs; Jones 1-15; Beucler 4-0.

Receiving

Carey: Conti 1-60; Kemerley 1-21; Bell 1-2.

Hopewell-Loudon: Jones 6-71, 1 TD; Garcia 2-20; Jury 1-9; Falter 1-8; Welly 1-6.

Team statistics

                               C                                 HL

First downs            10                                20

Rushing-yards       30-106                         40-255

Passing yards       83                                114

Passes                  3-11                             11-15

Passes intercepted                                   0                                  0

Fumbles-lost          2-1                               0-0

Punts                     4-38.5                          2-41.0

Penalties               3-17                             6-51