By Bryan Kress
A common clich'e in football is that if you run the ball and stop the run, you win.
That's exactly what Bluffton did as the defense played their best game of the season, shutting out Paulding and limiting them to 26 yards on the ground, and freshman quarterback Robbie Stratton ran for 3 touchdowns as Bluffton won 21-0.
Paulding started the game with a 77-yard drive but quickly ended with a R.J. Stratton interception. R.J. Stratton also added 4 catches for 58 yards.
The scoring did not start until the 2nd quarter when the Bluffton offense took a 9-play drive into the endzone with a Robbie Stratton 3-yard touchdown run. Stratton had a very productive day with 10 completions on 15 attempts and 103 yards, he also added 48 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns.
Matt Gillett added an interception of his own in the 2nd quarter, but Bluffton's offense failed to capitalize on the turnover and could gain only 23 yards after the 1st touchdown. Gillett also had 5 catches for 45 yards.
Bluffton defensively allowed 2 long drives in the 1st half, but after that clamped down and only allowed 5 yards the rest of the half.
Bluffton would get the offense rolling on their 1st drive of the 2nd half on a 10-play drive aided by 21 Paulding penalty yards that was topped off with a Robbie Stratton 2-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-0.
The defense would stop Paulding on 4th down and the offense would take advantage with a methodical 11-play 82 yard drive capped by Robbie Stratton's 3rd touchdown run. Jonah Bourassa led the running game with 73 yards.
That would be all for the Bluffton offense but the defense would hold strong and finished the game giving up only 214 yards, 26 on the ground.
Bluffton now sits at 5-4 going into the regular season finale on the road against Columbus Grove (6-3).
Paulding game stats are in the attachment at the bottom of this story.
