By Ben Shanahan

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

ROSSFORD — Evergreen beat Rossford 33-6 at Rossford’s Jackson Ferguson Stadium Friday night to improve to 2-1 on the season, while the Bulldogs fell to 1-2.

The Vikings converted two onside kicks and the defense stood out with four interceptions, including two pick-sixes, a blocked punt for a touchdown, and two fumble recoveries.

“This is our style of defense; this is what we want to do,” Evergreen coach Barry Bock said. “We did this week one, and now this week. Now we have to show up every week like this because this is who we are and that is what we want to do.”

One of those interceptions and the only offensive touchdown by the Vikings came from two-way senior Riley Dunbar. Dunbar had a receiving touchdown, 158 receiving yards and an interception on the defensive side of the ball.

“It feels good. I try to do my best to do anything I can for the team,” Dunbar said. “With small numbers, you have to work both sides of the ball and step up to make plays.

“It helps the team get hyped with everyone making plays and gets the energy going throughout the game.”

For Rossford, offensive struggles were the Bulldogs’ downfall. Coach Todd Drusback left with questions going into week four.

“We got outcoached, played pretty simply, and can’t turn the ball over. This is a very poor performance, and we have to get better.” Drusback continued.

“Got to block, got to tackle. We have to look at our personnel and make some changes if we have to, especially on the offensive side of the ball,” said Drusack

The Rossford defense would stand tall on the Vikings’ first possession. Evergreen’s six-play, 36-yard drive wasstopped in its tracks after a failed fourth-down conversion attempt, giving the Bulldogs the ball on their 39-yard line.

Rossford senior quarterback Jackson Shultz used the momentum given to him by his defense to light up the scoreboard, leading a 55-yard, six-play drive that resulted in Shultz finding fellow senior Xavier Kellermeier in the end zone with an 18-yard touchdown pass.

The conversion was no good, so Rossford led 6-0 with 8:44 left in the opening quarter.

Evergreen responded on their next drive, cutting the Bulldogs lead in half with an Alex Mossing field goal. It was the final exclamation point on a long 17-play, 70-yard drive, making it 6-3 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.

On Rossford’s next drive, the Vikings’ defense made the big play on the third play of the drive. Evergreen junior Trevor Johnson intercepted Schultz and ran it back 15 yards for the touchdown, giving the Vikings a 9-6 lead with 1:02 left in the first.

The Vikings defense stepped up on the following drive as well. This time, as Schultz was leading a nine-play, 56-yard drive, his pass was intercepted by senior Jesse Spaldin with 8:43 left in the second.

It would take Evergreen quarterback Byrce Bolder two plays and one receiver to march 84 yards, finding Dunbar once for 40 yards and then again on a 44-yard touchdown throw. Another missed conversion followed, but the Vikings led 15-6 with 7:57 remaining in the half.

A few drives later, Evergreen lost the football on their first play from scrimmage as Kellermeier popped the ball loose.

Kaiden Kirkman ran for 15 yards, stepping out of bounds on the one-yard line, but the Viking defense got another a clutch turnover as Kirkman fumbled on the one-yard line, which Evergreen recovered.

Bolger took Evergreen on a 16-play, 64-play drive, forcing the Vikings to send out freshman Alex Mossing to attempt the field goal, which was no good.

That was until the Bulldogs were called for running into the kicker, allowing Mossing to have another attempt and giving Evergreen three more points, putting the Vikings up 18-6 with 49 seconds left in the half.

In the second half, it took 10 minutes for both sides to get anything going on the field, as both defenses stood tall for each team’s first three drives.

That was until Evergreen defender Ryder Hudik picked up a blocked punt and ran it 40 yards for another defensive touchdown, ending the score drought with 3:05 left in the third quarter.

If it is not broken, don’t fix it. Alex Mossing had his second successful onside kick of the evening as the Vikings kept the ball. However, after a five-play, 48-yard drive, Bolger threw an interception in the end zone caught by senior Jesse Tanicala.

Any celebration for Rossford ended quickly, as one play later, the Vikings came away with another pick, this time from Dunbar, with 1:26 left in the third.

Towards the end of the game, with 4:25 left on the clock, the Evergreen defense scored another pick-six as Memphis Lapointe picked off backup quarterback Kaden Kirkman and took it 30 yards untouched, making it 32-6.

The Evergreen defense ended the route with one last fumble recovery with 3:16 left. Trevor Johnson joined the turnover party, falling on a ball fumbled by Kirkman for no gain.