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 Wapak QB Doug Hirt tucks it and runs during Friday's season finale against Elida. Staff photo/William Laney By CHRIS VOLOSCHUK
Sports Editor
The Elida Bulldogs varsity football team played their last Friday night like they wanted the season to continue 10 more games.
The Wapakoneta Redskins, on the other hand, played like they couldn’t wait for the 2009 season to be over.
With 398 total yards, 280 of which coming from the arm and legs of sophomore quarterback Reggie McAdams, the Bulldogs (5-5, 4-5 WBL) cruised to a 37-0 victory over Wapak (1-9, 1-8 WBL) at a blustery, wet Harmon Field in both teams’ season finale.
For Elida, Friday’s win marked its fourth in a row and the first time since 1995 that the team finished a season with a record .500 or better. During that ‘95 season, they went 7-3.
According to Bulldogs varsity coach Jason Carpenter, 2009 could be the jumping off point for future success.
“I asked the players ‘does this get you fired up for next year?’,” he said. “They were just so excited about the prospects of next year and getting in the weight room and stuff like that.”
But before they could dream of the future, the Bulldogs first had to get by the Redskins, who came into “Senior Night” having lost six in a row.
Elida truly set the tone for the game on its first drive, taking over five minutes off the clock and covering 65 yards in 13 plays. On 2nd-and-goal from the Wapak 14, McAdams rifled a pass to receiver Derek Cunningham in the end zone for a touchdown and an eventual 7-0 lead.
The game was never in doubt after that.
“It feels good,” Carpenter said. “It just goes to show you that the hard work pays off, the hard work that the coaches and players put in the offseason. It’s all worth it when you can go on a four-game win streak at the end and send the seniors out the way they should be sent out because that’s a hell of a leadership class that we have there.”
Wapak’s first drive started off promising enough with the offense gaining 22 yards in three plays. But on 2nd-and-9 from his team’s own 42, quarterback Jordan Martin threw an interception to Kevin Kraft, setting up another Elida possession.
In eight plays, the Bulldogs covered 50 yards and scored on a six-yard TD run by Colin Blymyer. Austin Etzler’s extra point made it 14-0 visitors.
After Wapak went three-and-out, Elida would score another touchdown with a six-play, 56-yard drive that started near the end of the first quarter and carried over to the start of the second. With 11:41 to go, McAdams fired a perfectly-placed deep ball to Etzler down the visitors’ sideline for 40 yards and another TD. With just over a quarter played, Elida led 21-0.
“It was a tough way to start,” Wapak varsity coach Doug Zimmer said. “We didn’t get off to the start we wanted. We didn’t play the way we were capable of playing. We came out a little flat and that’s not the way to go.”
The rest of the second quarter was back-and-forth, with both teams trading long drives but falling short. Wapak put up an eight play drive that encompassed 59 yards (20 on Elida penalties) but backup QB Doug Hirt, who replaced Martin after a knee injury, threw a pass incomplete on fourth down, ending the threat at Elida’s 31.
The Bulldogs answered with a seven-play, 48 yard march that ended with a McAdams interception to lineman Mike Bogan.
It was the only blemish of the game for McAdams, who completed 11 of 25 passes for 172 yards and three TDs.
“What can I say, he’s just a great athlete,” Carpenter said. “He’s a great kid and a great quarterback and a smart kid, too. There’s not much I can do. I could say it’s great coaching, but he’s a great athlete. That’s what it is.”
With 47 seconds to play and the ball at the Wapak 33, Carpenter elected to send Etzler out on fourth down to kick a 50-yard field goal. With a strong wind at his back, Etzler converted the kick with room to spare, making it 24-0 heading into the half.
Much like the first half, the second was all Bulldogs.
With 1:05 to go in the third quarter, McAdams connected with Cunningham again on a 29-yard touchdown pass toward the visitors’ sideline. Etzler’s extra point made it 31-0.
The Redskins’ ensuing drive only lasted two plays, as Hirt fumbled the ball on a QB keeper at his own 25 that Kraft recovered. Five plays later, McAdams burned the Redskins on the ground, calling his own number and picking up an 18-yard rushing touchdown. Drew Erb blocked the extra point try, but the Bulldogs led 37-0.
“It was a tough game, a tough situation,” Zimmer said. “We didn’t execute the way we wanted to on offense, and defensively we didn’t tackle well. It put us in a bind when we got behind like that, we just couldn’t rebound. It’s a tough way to play there.”
McAdams finished the game with 108 yards on the ground. He was joined by full-time running back Blymyer, who picked up 88 yards on 18 carries.
Wapak began its final drive of the season with 4:58 to play in the fourth quarter and made some progress against Elida’s second string defense, picking up 45 yards in 10 plays. Hirt completed passes to wideouts Greg Stoll (10 yards ) and Morgan Wiseman (seven yards) and even ran for a 20-yarder, but eventually turned the ball over on downs when a 4th-and-13 pass from Elida’s 18 fell incomplete.
Bulldogs backup QB Jesse Wheeler took two knees to mercifully end the contest.
Regardless of which string of Elida’s defense played, the results still added up to a shutout.
“The aggressiveness they showed tonight, it started to click tonight,” Carpenter said. “I hate that it’s Week 10, but all the coaching started to click and they were jumping balls instead of being passive about it, and that’s just awesome.”
For the Redskins, it was a hard lesson learned and one that won’t easily be forgotten heading into the offseason.
“There’s things we have to deal with in the offseason,” Zimmer said. “You don’t want to end the season that way, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You learn from that, too. This is a big lesson for our sophomores and juniors. And it’s tough for the seniors to swallow, because it’s their last game. But it’s something our young guy realize they’ve got to work on.”
For the game, Wapak finished with 158 total yards (48 passing, 110 rushing). Hirt completed five of 18 passes for 29 yards and rushed 13 times for a team-high 63 yards. Tailback Logan Erb had 11 carries for 42 yards.
Five different receivers caught passes for Wapak. Stoll led the way with three catches for 22 yards.
It was the final game for Wapak’s 19 seniors.
Etzler’s only catch was for 40 yards and a score, and Cunningham led all receivers with seven catches for 90 yards and two TDs. Kraft had three carries and 26 yards to go along with the two turnovers he forced.
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