By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
PEMBERVILLE — Eastwood and Marion Pleasant held each other scoreless until the Eagles scored two fourth quarter big play touchdowns to prevail, 14-0, in a first round Division V playoff game at Jerry Rutherford Stadium Friday.
It was a defensive masterclass as both offenses were shutout until 8:35 remained in regulation.
That is when junior quarterback Kadyn Donnell and junior receiver Andre Lewis connected on a game-winning 55-yard fake hitch post route touchdown.
“It was awesome. The coaches and I have been talking about that play concept for a while, and once we saw them bite, we knew it was going to be there, and I was just praying I caught it,” said Andre Lewis.
Eastwood first-year coach Sam Cotterman had a similar reaction to the play.
“We had been running a lot of hitch routes, and they were really swarming all over us, so we knew it would be there. The only steps left were getting the ball there and catching it. And we were good,” said Cotterman.
For the Spartans, their season ended in heartbreak, only giving up two big plays on defense, which ended up being the difference.
“Hard-fought game. We struggled on offense,” Pleasant coach C.J. Westler said. “Once we were able to get the ball moving, we stalled out in the red zone.
“At that point, it was still 0-0, so it was a big play, and from there, we just gave up two big plays. Defensively, the kids played hard.
“So proud of them for what our kids did for the program, but that is a tough one to lose. We were so close and played so hard, but that is tough,” added Westler.
Both defensive coordinators earned their payday as the Spartans picked up three turnovers on an interception and two fumbles.
The Eagles recovered a fumble and had interceptions by Colton Woodward and Austin Maize, plus the Eastwood defense forced four turnovers on downs in shutout fashion.
“Proud of our defense, we always wanted a shutout all year long, and for them to get it the night our offense struggled, I am so proud of those guys, and a lot of those guys play offense, so I am glad we were good on that side of the play,” Cotterman said.
“We have a lot to fix on offense. That was not the offense we showed the past couple of weeks, so we will work on having a better showing.”
Put in a spot he had only faced once, in a week two 14-7 loss to Wauseon, Cotterman said his halftime speech was simple after being shut out in the first half.
“We just stopped ourselves,” Cotterman said. “They are all smart kids, and we ran this offense enough in the last 11 weeks. They know the mistakes that they made are not like them.
“We were not catching the ball. We were not throwing where it needed to go. We did not need to recreate the wheel at halftime. We just had to come out and show them how to exactly line up and what to do. The kids came out and answered.”
The game was put on ice by Eastwood running back Caiden Maize as he broke free for 59 yards with 5:23 left in the fourth, sending the Eagles to play next Friday at Edison (10-1), who faced no offensive struggles Friday, blowing out Spencerville 48-0.
Caiden Maize finished with 130 yards on 13 carries and Donnell ran for 65 yards on 12 carries and he completed 14-of-27 passes for 166 yards.
Andre Lewis had five catches for 85 yards, Dayquan Oliver had a catch for 21 yards, Kaiden Sanchez had a catch for 20 yards, Brock Messinger had two catches for 15 yards, and Maize had three catches for 13 yards.
Pleasant had 14 first downs to Eastwood’s 12, but the Eagles had 427 total yards to the Spartans’ 285.
Kevin Lewis led the Eastwood defense with 8½ tackles, Austin Maize had seven tackles, Andrew Badenhop had 6½ tackles, Paul Lautzenheiser had six tackles, and Woodward had 4½ tackles plus a sack for a loss of 11 yards.
Cotterman said some things will have to change before next Friday.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Cotterman said. “We are going to watch the film tomorrow. We know every game in this region will be tough, and we know we have a lot to work on before playing Edison. We are just excited to get to work and see what they’ve got.”
