By Cort Reynolds
HARROD - It poured rain almost right up to game time, and then host Allen East poured it on backyard rival Ada 41-14 in the Northwest Conference and regular season opener Friday night at Mustang Stadium.
AE (1-0, 1-0 NWC East) ran out to a 41-0 halftime lead to earn the opening victory. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs start 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the NWC East.
Normally when the two rivals meet it is at the end of the season, not the beginning. But with a revamped schedule due to the pandemic, seemingly everything is different.
"I thought it was a case of a lot of self-inflicted wounds on our part," said Ada third-year head coach Shawn Christopher. "We had a lot of penalties, dropped passes, turnovers. All of those things added up to major issues.
"I thought the kids played hard," he continued. "I was pleased with the time our offensive line gave our quarterback. The guys up front had a nice night.
"The fact that we did not have a scrimmage and they did (vs. Liberty-Benton) helped them, I thought. Not having any live action against an opponent hurt us."
AE took the opening kickoff of the season and drove from its own 29 deep into Ada territory. Sophomore back Kade Wireman carried five times for 25 yards on the initial march.
Senior wideout Gavin Maxwell hauled in a 10-yard reception, then snared a 26-yard aerial from senior Tyler Clum. A 12-yard pass to Bradden Crumrine gave the hosts first and goal at the five.
But on second down Clum rolled left and threw into a crowd where Bulldog junior Trent Ennis intercepted the pass in the end zone.
Yet three plays later Ada fumbled the ball back to the Mustangs, where it was recovered by Aiden Robey at the Bulldog 26.
Senior Crumrine quickly spun off a tackler and ran 11 yards. Wireman then rushed down to the Bulldog two. Two plays later, Clum weaved right to paydirt for a two-yard TD scoring rush.
Crumrine's point after kick made it 7-0 with 7:40 to go in the first stanza.
Ada took over at its own 20 and picked up one first down. But on third and eight quarterback Brandon Hull was sacked for a short loss. His left-footed punt was then partly blocked, and AE got good field position at the Bulldog 47.
Crumrine immediately pulled in a nine-yard pass. On the next play speedy junior Carson Young grabbed a screen pass to the left from Clum and sprinted 39 yards to the end zone with 5:08 still left in the first quarter.
The point after kick sailed wide right to keep the margin at 13-0 after the two-play, 47-yard drive took just 38 seconds.
After the ensuing kickoff the Bulldogs started at their own 26. A 10-yard pass to Cayden Murphy from Hull moved the chains. Trent Ennis yanked down an 11-yard pass, and Keagan Hull ran eight yards.
QB Hull then spun away from a rush and lobbed a pass to Murphy, who pulled it down at the AE 18 for a 22-yard gain.
But a big sack by Gabe Criblez and Cole Austin brought up fourth and nine.
Hull's crossing pass for Murphy in the end zone was on target but was broken up on what looked like clear pass interference. No flag was thrown and AE took possession on its own 18.
With Ada reeling, Crumrine pulled in a screen to the right and scampered 26 yards down the right sideline. Young then caught a 10-yard pass.
But the next Clum aerial hung in the air and Bulldog sophomore Levi Sousley made a leaping interception at the Ada seven.
After a penalty, Ada was backed up to its own one. Hull then rolled right and tossed a pass that was picked off by Blaine Belcher along the AE sideline at the Bulldog three.
On the next play Clum looked right and threw back left to Maxwell, who took it in from three yards out for the third AE score. Crumrine's extra point boot extended the lead to 20-0 with 21 seconds left in the opening stanza.
The Bulldogs got solid field position at their own 32 to begin the next drive. Three runs by the Hull duo gained 14 yards. On fourth and one, Brandon Hull kept it up the gut for three yards.
A holding penalty was followed by a 19-yard gain. But on second and one, AE's Blake Hershberger recovered a fumbled screen pass to give the Mustangs the ball just short of midfield.
Young sped around right end on the very next play and scored from 51 yards out with 8:33 left before intermission. Crumrine's third PAT advanced the lead to 27-0.
Ada took over at its own 21 and put together a solid drive. QB Hull ran for 10 yards, then had a good run negated by a hurdling flag.
The senior signal-caller then scrambled left, cut back across field and scooted down the right sideline deep into AE territory.
However, the long scamper was shortened considerably by a clipping penalty at the AE 42 to 17 yards. Two passes fell incomplete to turn the ball over on downs at the Ada 44.
AE struck quickly once more off a change of possession. Crumrine snared a pass to the right, eluded the Ada defender with a side- step move and scampered straight down the sideline 44 yards to paydirt.
With 4:55 left in the half, Crumrine's PAT made it 34-0.
Ada's next drive was stymied by another costly holding penalty. AE took over at its own 41 and drove 59 yards in five plays over 93 seconds to score again.
Two runs by freshman Jack Hoel gained 10 yards. Young then hauled in a 30-yard reception from Clum. Hoel ran for eight yards to the Ada 10. Hoel then weaved his way off right tackle 10 yards to the end zone for another TD.
The freshman tailback ran for 28 yards on four rushes and one TD on the drive.
Another Crumrine extra point kick made it 41-0 2:28 before intermission, and it stayed that way to halftime. AE did not punt in the first half, scoring five TDs and throwing two interceptions on its seven possessions.
In the second half Ada outscored the Mustangs 14-0, mostly against the AE reserves. Brandon and Keagan Hull each rushed for a touchdown for Ada.
Keagan Hull tallied on a five-yard TD run in the third period, but the extra point boot missed to keep the score 41-6. Ada's starting kicker, freshman Wyatt Green, was out with a groin injury suffered earlier in the week.
In the fourth quarter, Brandon Hull found paydirt on a two-yard TD run. His two-point pass to Ennis was successful to cut the final margin to 27 points.
"I thought we came out and did some good things," said Christopher of the second half. "We stayed up and played hard, and maybe found some things with new kids that got to play.
"We got the ball in some playmaker's hands and we got after it," he continued. "The offensive line made some good blocks, and Brandon and Keagan made some plays back there."
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 0 0 6 8 14
AE 20 21 0 0 41
Notes and quotes
Ada ran 66 plays and compiled 417 net yards (6.3 avg.). The Bulldogs racked up 18 first downs to 19 chain movers for the Mustangs.
Scoring quickly often, AE ran just 43 plays yet rolled up 390 yards in total offense (9.1 average). The Mustangs rushed for 202 yards on 27 carries (7.5 avg.).
Clum completed 12 of 16 passes for 188 yards with three TDs and a pair of interceptions. The senior also ran for a TD. His speedy and effective corps of receivers were not slowed down by the quick-drying surface of Goodwin Field.
Crumrine caught six passes for 107 yards and one TD. Young scored two times on two catches for 69 yards, and tallied on a 51-yard run. Maxwell contributed three grabs for 39 yards and a score.
"Allen East had some speed and playmakers (Crumrine, Maxwell and Young)," said Christopher. "But the biggest difference was that we did a lot of things you can't do and expect to win."
Hull completed 11 of 26 passes for 125 yards with one interception. He also rushed 26 times for a game-high 212 yards and one TD.
Keagan Hull rushed 14 times for 80 yards and a TD. Ada rushed 40 times for 292 yards (7.3 avg.).
Murphy caught three passes for 49 yards, and added 132 yards in kickoff returns. Cam Bober also snared three aerials for 46 yards. Ennis contributed three catches for 23 yards.
Colton Biederman made one grab for five yards.
Hull punted three times for an avearge of 31 yards per boot.
The Bulldogs lost two of their three fumbles, and both led to Mustang touchdowns. Meanwhile, AE did not commit a turnover. Ada was penalized six times for 60 yards and made three costly turnovers.
"Turnovers and bad penalties keep you from having a chance to win football games, at every level from junior high to Friday night, Saturday (college) and Sunday (NFL)," said Christopher.
The purple and gold were 0-9 on third down conversions, and 2-4 on fourth down. AE was 1-3 on third down and 1-3 on fourth.
AE has now beaten the Bulldogs three years in a row after losing to Ada 15 consecutive times from 2003-17.
"The Allen East defense did a good job, they flew to the ball and made some plays," Christopher summed up. "For giving up that many points, I thought our defense actually did a pretty decent job," (other than allowing a few big plays).
Ada at tough Grove in week 2
Ada plays at Columbus Grove, another of the three defending NWC tri-champions, in week two next Friday. CG is 1-0 after a convincing 41-7 win at Bluffton in week one.
"Columbus Grove has a lot of very good athletes," warned Christopher. "Blake Reynolds is getting looks to play college football at Villanova and other FCS schools. He has grown a lot over the years (as a four-year starter at QB), and they are well-coached.
"We want to see if we can slow them down and make them one-dimensional," he said, "and hope to take advantage of their defense to score some points.
"I can see it being a shootout IF we can keep from shooting ourselves in the foot," he added.
AE plays at NWC East division local rival Bluffton (0-1) in their second game.
Paulding outlasted Delphos Jefferson 50-48 in overtime, and Spencerville defeated Crestview 35-14 in the two NWC West games.
