By Sam Brauen
If you wanted to draw up a great start to a football game, Bluffton met all expectations Friday night. Just five minutes into the game, BHS led 14-0 in their first trip to the beautiful Redskin Stadium in Shelby County. The great start didn’t last however and by halftime, Fort Loramie had clawed back to tie the game at 14-14. The Pirates showed some grit in the second half and won the game 23-14 to advance to 3-0 for the first time since 2011.
The Pirate defense stood tall, especially in the second half. Fort Loramie was shut out and limited to just 51 yards after halftime and completed just one pass. Additionally, Mitch Ault intercepted a pass from Redskin quarterback Austin Spiegel. Fort Loramie possessed the ball five times in the second half. The drives ended by interception, punt and turnover on downs for the last three. Coach Kyle Cutnaw complimented the defense saying, “They played really well. We are a more well rounded team this year. Last year, we had difficulty holding onto leads but tonight they focused and played smarter.”
To be blunt, the Pirates owned the first quarter. The first time BHS touched the ball, they drove 55 yards for a touchdown in six plays. Big plays on the drive included a 17 yard run by Dakota Bricker and a bruising 24 yard dash by Kaleb Jefferson. On the touchdown, quarterback Mitch Ault ade two Redskins miss at the twenty yard line and then found Joel Siefker wide open in the end zone. On Fort Loramie's next possesion, the Redskins were forced to punt from their own 18. The snap was high and the punter bobbled the ball, allowing Dustin Falk to fly in and make the tackle at the one yard line. Bricker plowed in from there to put Bluffton up 14-0 with five minutes left in the opening stanza. However, from there, the Pirate offense sputtered. Bluffton gained no more first downs the rest of the first half.
Fort Loramie climbed back into the game throughout the first half. Early in the second quarter, the Redskins returned a Jason Bracy punt to the Bluffton 15. Four plays later, Siegel threw a lofty prayer to the back corner of the end zone where it glanced off a Pirate defender’s hands into the waiting arms of Redskin receiver Drew Wehrman. The crafty home squad proceeded to execute a successful onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and recovered the ball at the Bluffton 28. Loramie converted a fourth down play before scoring from three yards out. The two point conversion made it 14-14 which stood at halftime.
Facing their first test of the 2015 season, Bluffton needed to step up. “We took the challenge in the second half. We needed to fight through some adversity and we did,” Cutnaw relayed. The Pirates took the second half kickoff and eleven plays later faced a fourth and eight from the Redskin nine yard line. Kicker Carrick Lancaster nailed a 26 yard field goal to give Bluffton a 17-14 lead. Cutnaw added, “It is awesome to have a kicker. Last year, we struggled in the kicking game. This year we have an army of kickers. Carrick’s kick tonight was big for us.” The teams traded punts a few possessions before Bluffton put the game away with a fourteen play drive culminating in a touchdown pass from Ault to Sam Crisp. Big plays on the drive included a twelve yard run by Bricker, a ten yard catch by Bret Rumer, a thirteen yard run by Dustin Falk and a fourteen yard catch by Crisp. The touchdown came on a bootleg for Ault who threw to Crisp streaking to the back corner of the end zone.
The Pirates put their defensive stamp on the final three Fort Loramie drives to end the game. A terrific punt return by FL’s Brad Pleiman set the Redskins up at Bluffton’s 35 yard line with nine minutes left. After picking up one first down, the Skins were faced with a fourth and six. Blake Sampson got to Siegel and forced an intentional grounding call as he threw the ball away wildly. The next Fort Loramie drive, the hosts faced a fourth and seventeen and threw long but Bret Rumer defiantly batted the ball away to end the drive. Finally, with just over a minute left, Zach Little sacked Siegel on second and fourth downs to end any comeback threat. In all, the Pirates had eight tackles for loss and limited Loramie to just 141 yards of total offense.
Bluffton’s offensive numbers were not staggering but were sufficient for the win. A balanced rushing attack led the way as BHS gained 144 yards on the ground. Kaleb Jefferson rushed 10 times for 51 yards, Dakota Bricker 8 for 42 yards and a score and Dustin Falk 6 times for 21 yards. Additionally, Ault completed 10 of 19 passes for 83 yards and two scores. Sam Crisp caught four passes and a touchdown to lead the receiving corps. Ault was huge on the defensive side with 6.5 tackles and an interception. Brady Basinger had five tackles as well including one for loss. Kaleb Jefferson and Owen Bischoff had 4.5 and 3.5 tackles and played well throughout the game on defense.
Next up for Bluffton is a home game with Paulding. The Panthers enter the contest with an 0-3 record. Bluffton has won six straight contests with Paulding dating back to 2008 when PHS won 28-14.
