A Saturday night NWC showdown

By Cort Reynolds

LIMA – The Bluffton High School football team lost a Northwest Conference showdown of unbeaten powers 31-21 to Lima Central Catholic in Spartan Stadium on Saturday night, September 27.

Both state-ranked rivals came into the game 5-0 overall and 2-0 in NWC play. After the big win, LCC (6-0) is now tied for first place in the league at 3-0 with Crestview and Columbus Grove. 

Bluffton (5-1) falls to fourth in the NWC at 2-1 after suffering their first loss, but they still have pivotal games remaining with the Knights this Friday and at Grove in week 10. 

LCC is in the driver’s seat for the league title but they still host Grove in week nine, and play at Crestview (5-1) in the regular season finale.

Bluffton junior quarterback Tayte Gesige threw three touchdown aerials vs. LCC. His counterpart, Brady Parker, ran for three scores and tossed one TD pass.

LCC possessed the ball for two-thirds of the game with a punishing ground attack that racked up 260 yards rushing. The Thunderbirds ran 57 plays compared to just 33 by Bluffton.

Parker started the scoring when he found the end zone on an 11-yard touchdown run with 6:31 left in the first quarter. The extra point kick gave the hosts a 7-0 lead.

Giesige answered by finding freshman Dylan Cherry for an eight-yard TD pass on the first play of the second quarter. Ethan Blount’s PAT kick tied it 7-7 with 11:53 left in the half.

LCC responded as Parker tossed a 15-yard TD pass to Mike Quatman with 8:14 remaining in the second period. The extra point put the Thunderbirds back on top,14-7.

Giesige connected with Kain Wright on a 43-yard scoring pass with 5:16 left in the first half. But the extra point try was blocked to keep LCC ahead by one point, 14-13.

The Pirates scored 13 second period points, yet the Thunderbirds clung to a slim lead as the seesaw first half ended.

In the third quarter, Bluffton was about to gamble for it near midfield on fourth and two, but a false start brought up fourth and seven to force a punt.

The Thunderbirds then drove downfield to score.

LCC drove and had a chance to extend their one-point lead. But a dropped pass in the end zone necessitated a field goal try, which Brevan Stolly made from 22 yards out to extend the T-Bird lead to 17-13.

After a T-Bird stop, LCC drove the length of the field to seize temporary control of the game. Giesige came up with a big tackle for loss on third down to force fourth and two. 

LCC went for it as Parker broke a tackle and willed his way to a first down run.

A few plays later, Parker burst his way to paydirt on an eight-yard run. LCC led 24-13 with 10:23 remaining after the extra point, their biggest lead of the game.

Bluffton fumbled on its next drive, but Giesige fell on the loose pigskin to keep the Pirates alive. He then launched a seam pass to the speedy Wright who ran by two defenders to haul in the aerial and score on a 64-yard TD reception.

The ensuing two-point rollout pass from Giesige to Cherry cut the deficit to 24-21 with 8:58 remaining to play.

LCC then responded with a time-consuming clutch drive to score a clinching touchdown.

On third and three, Parker kept it and ran 14 yards to the Pirate 47. Blayne Hill shoved him out of bounds to temporarily save a TD.

Another hard-nosed Parker run penetrated inside the Pirate 10. He then ran the ball six yards to the Bluffton two. On second and goal, Parker bulled into the end zone from two yards out for his third rushing TD to cap the drive that ate 6:12 of clock time.

After the Stolly PAT kick, LCC led 31-21 with 2:46 remaining.

On the following Pirate possession, Xavier Purnell intercepted a Giesige pass to seal the verdict with 1:37 left.

Parker almost broke free on another scoring run but he was pulled down at the Pirate 28. LCC then ran the clock out to avenge a 35-0 loss at Bluffton last fall.

The T-Birds remained first in the Div. VII, Region 26 rankings after the big win.

1 2 3 4 F

BLU 0 13 0 8 21

LCC 7 7 3 14 31

Stats and notes
Bluffton netted 235 total yards in just 33 plays, an average of 7.1 yards per play. The Pirates threw for 146 yards and ran for 89 more on just 17 carries. But 134 of their yards came in the first half as they were only able to run 13 offensive plays in the second half.

The Thunderbirds possessed the ball for almost 32 minutes of the 48-minute game. They had two long scoring drives of over 10 plays in the second half as their physical run game controlled play.

LCC compiled 346 net yards on 57 plays, for 6.1 yards per snap. The Thunderbirds ran for 260 and amassed 86 yards aerially.

The Pirates compiled just nine first downs compared to 23 by the T-Birds.

Giesige completed 10 of 15 passes for 89 yards and three TDs with one late pick. He also rushed eight times for 55 yards with a long run of 27.

Wright caught four passes for 115 yards and two TDs of 43 and 64 yards.

Ethan Sprunger hauled in one pass for 11 yards. Cherry had one grab for an eight-yard score and caught a two-point conversion aerial. Lleyton made two catches for 10 yards. 

Kizer Young rushed four times for 24 yards.

LCC kept Giesige busy on defense as he made four solo stops and had 13 assists. He was everywhere on both sides of the ball as he also picked off a Parker pass and had one tackle for loss. Hill contributed three solo tackles and eight assists.

Mason Shank made one solo tackle and added nine assists. Keatyn Shaffer added seven assists and one solo tackle.

Parker rushed for 156 yards and TD runs of 11, eight and two yards on 23 carries. He also completed an efficient eight of 11 passes for 86 yards with one TD and one interception.

T-Bird tailback Carter Lester netted 91 yards rushing on 17 carries. 

Quatman pulled down five receptions for 61 yards with one TD.

Bluffton converted five of nine third down tries while LCC was successful on three of seven tries. The Pirates were 1-2 on fourth down, and the T-Birds were 2-2 on fourth.

Each team committed one turnover on an interception.

The T-Birds were flagged three times for 70 yards. Bluffton committed one penalty for five yards.

Crestview, rushing leader Leeth play at Bluffton in week 7

League co-leader Crestview (5-1, 3-0 NWC) and their record-chasing running back visit Bluffton (2-1 NWC) to provide the Pirates with a big challenge on Homecoming Friday, October 3. 

After the LCC loss, the Pirates have a key chance to gain ground and get back in league title contention by beating the visiting Knights.

Crestview whipped visiting Delphos Jefferson Friday, 35-0. The Knights are 3-0 on the road, while the Pirates are 3-0 at home.

Crestview is led by workhorse senior running back Braxton Leeth, who has already rushed for a league-high 1,426 yards (237.7 per game) and 24 TDs  with 144 points this season in just six games. 

Leeth averages a whopping 9.9 yards per carry on 24 runs per game.

Defending league champion Grove (3-3) is also 3-0 in the NWC after stumbling to an 0-3 start in non-league play.

Bluffton has outscored its foes 247- 109 through six games (41.2 ppg to 18.2 ppg). The Knights have outscored their foes 227-195 in six games.

Bluffton is fourth in the Div. VI, Region 22 computer rankings while Crestview is tied for 12th despite their good record. The five Knight wins have come against teams with a combined 5-25 record this season.

The Knights have won four in a row since losing to perennial state power Marion Local in week two, 63-0. Crestview has averaged 41.3 points a game during their win streak, and have allowed 22.8 ppg.

ML rallied late this past Friday to beat Versailles 20-19 and extend their win streak to 70 games.