By Ben Shanahan

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

TONTOGANY — Eastwood defeated Otsego, 45-14, in wind and rain on Friday to improve to 7-1 on the campaign and stay unbeaten in the Northern Buckeye Conference at 5-0.

The Eagles were led by junior quarterback Kadyn Donnell, who played a part in four touchdowns, and senior running back Caiden Maize, who had two touchdowns and 171 rushing yards on 16 carries.

Donnell ran for 127 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns and he completed 7-of-11 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

It is a duo that Maize says has a bond that is as strong off the field as it is on it

“It started last year in JV; we got close, then in the summer we knew it was coming, so we hung out a lot through the ball around, got super close, and built the bond,” Maize said.

“And with the line, the bond is stronger than ever. We love supporting each other. We like to compete here and there during the game, so I would say best friends on and off the field for sure.”

For the Eagles, this win and Oak Harbor’s (8-0, 5-0) 21-0 win at Genoa (6-2, 4-1) Friday set up a Northern Buckeye Conference championship showdown between the Rockets and Eagles next Friday in Pemberville.

Before that game, Eastwood coach Sam Cotterman wants to straighten some things out.

“We have to clean things up. I know maybe when you are not on the field you do not notice, but we have had multiple times where dudes are unsure what the play is, and we just need to take care of those little things,” Cotterman said.

“Our focus in these next two weeks needs to take a step up to give us a chance in the next two weeks.”

For the Knights, this loss drops them to 2-6 this season, including 2-3 in the NBC, but despite the loss coach Josh Lindke saw some positives from his players.

“This is Jordyn Barnett’s (linebacker) first game back from a multitude of injuries. He was the starting running back to start the season, but then we unfortunately had to move the quarterback to running back to try and get some run games going,” Lindke said.

“But Kaidyn Hutton has been doing some good things at quarterback. JLB (Barnett) is always a bright spot and is one of our toughest kids, and it shows on the field.” added Lindke

The Eagles took the opening kickoff and went right to work, only running two plays to get 55 yards and a touchdown. Maize ran for 11 yards and then Donnell would break loose for 44 yards and the score with 11:23 left in the opening frame.

The Eagles defense did not take long to force a turnover, either. On the sixth play of the Knights drive, Hutton’s pass was intercepted.

The Eastwood offense did not capitalize on the turnover, forcing a punt back to the Knights offense. However, the Eagles’ defense stopped Otsego on fourth and one.

This time, Donnell and his offense would capitalize on the defensive momentum as they would run a five-play, 58-yard drive, resulting in a 23-yard pass from Donnell that would make its way into the hands of junior Dayquan Oliver for the score with 2:56 left in the first quarter.

The Knights cut the lead in half in the second quarter as Otsego cooked up a 74-yard, 10-play drive that saw Hutton throw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Owen Atkinson on fourth and goal with 9:38 remaining in the half.

Eastwood’s offense fired down the field on the following drive, bringing Otsego’s deficit back to 14. This time the Eagles created a six-play, 69-yard drive ending in Donnell’s third TD run of the half as he called his own number on the eight-yard quarterback run with 7:31 remaining in the half.

The game went scoreless until the second half as the Eagles called on senior Noah Haar for a 39-yard field goal, which he bombed dead center, extending their lead to 24-7 with 7:41 in the third quarter.

Eastwood did not stop there. On their next drive, Maize scored his first TD of the game on a 13-yard run on the second play of the drive with 4:21 left in the third quarter.

With 10:47 left in the fourth quarter, Maize was in the end zone again with a one-yard rush queuing the OHSSA running clock rule by giving Eastwood a 38-7 lead.

That was not in effect for long, however, as on fourth and one, Hutton found senior Jack Simpson for a 72-yard touchdown pass, making it 38-14 and ending the Knights scoring drought.

Donnell and the Eagles scored one more touchdown in “The Castle” with 5:52 remaining in play, coming off of a 72-yard drive spanning four plays. The scoring play saw Donnell finding junior receiver Colton Woodward in the end zone from 14 yards out.

Eastwood finished with 302 yards rushing and had 17 first downs to Otsego’s 14.

Eastwood’s Brock Messinger caught a pass for 35 yards, Oliver had two catches for 23 yards, Kaiden Sanchez had two catches for 23 yards, and Andre Lewis had a catch for 22 yards.

For Eastwood’s defense, Wyatt Oestreich and Andrew Badenhop had one interception apiece, Maize had 6½ tackles, including a sack, Badenhop had 5½ tackles and Sanchez had a sack.

For Otsego, Barnett had 18 carries for 68 yards, Hutton completed 19-of-29 passes for 232 yards, Jack Simpson caught three passes for 95 yards, Owen Atkinson had six catches for 52 yards, Devin Farley had seven catches for 42 yards, Kenton Wallace had two catches for 36 yards, and Barnett had a pass reception for 21 yards.