ARCHBOLD -September 26, 2014 The Wauseon Indians upped their record to 5-0 and 3-0 in NWOAL play with a 30-7 victory over archrival the Archbold Blue Streaks.
In typical fashion, the Indians poored on the scoring in the first half to dig Archbold’s hole deep by half time as they rolled to 23-7 half time lead.
After a Archbold penalty on the first play of the contest, Wauseon’s Zac Robinson gave himself a birthday present when he took the hike from Anthony Werder and proceeded to cut over the left side of the Wauseon line and broke away for a 61 yard touchdown jaunt. Robinson outran the Archbold secondary as he set foot in the end zone at the 11:45 mark.
The teams battled with their defenses over the next few drives. Then the Indians found the end zone again at the 1:24 mark when Robinson swung a swing pass to Nate Suntken who galloped the remaining 31 yards for the score. The Indians scoring drive took just two plays and covered 35 yards. After Josh Whitcomb’s first attempt hit the goal post, the Indians went for two points and were successful with a pass from Mason Creager to Jacob Newlove as the Indians grew their lead to 14-0 with 1:24 left in the first stanza.
With the advent of the second quarter, the Indians were on the board for the third time. After some tough inside yardage from Jacob Flory, Robinson found Newlove for 31 yards putting the ball at the Archbold one yard line. From there Robinson covered the final yard. This time the Indians two-point conversion fell short and the lead was 20-0 with 11:05 left in the second quarter.
The Blue Streaks mounted their first legitimate drive on their next possession. Starting on their on 47, they took 10 plays to move down to the Indians 17, but as in past games, the defense stymied the Blue Streak drive with the help from the defensive front of Werder, Noah Castle and Jalen Brimmer.
Wauseon’s next score came when their next drive stalled as Josh Whitcomb made good on his second field goal attempt on the season. The field goal ended a nine play drive. Whitcomb’s 25 yarder built the lead to 23-0 with 2:41 left in the half.
After an Archbold drive that ended on the Wauseon’s 23, the Indians took possession with 1:18 remaining. Zac Robinson took his drop to throw but in the way was Archbold defender Mitchell Hogrefe who intercepted and ran the distance for the Blue Streaks’ score. Seth Mayer was good on the point after and with that the half ended with Wauseon ahead 23-7.
Much of the third quarter saw each team’s offenses go ‘three and out’. The Indians offense sputtered a bit, but the rock of Indians football, the defense, stayed steady and controlled the second half. During the third quarter the Blue Streaks accumulated just two first downs.
The Indians got their final score with 47 seconds left in the third quarter when Robinson found Newlove for 17 yards and the score. Whitcomb’s kick was good and the final score of the night was Wauseon 30, Archbold 7.
Statisically Robinson was the offensive leader for Wauseon. The senior signal caller was good on nine of 22 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. He was also the leading rusher with 121 yards on 19 carries and two scores. Newlove was the Indians leading receiver with three catches for 64 yards and one touchdown.
Team yardage was dominated by Wauseon. The Indians ran 63 plays to Archbold’s 57. Wauseon had total yardage of 372 yards to 165 for the Streaks. On the ground the Indians defensive dominance showed as the Streaks gained just 59 yards to Wauseon’s 205.
Next up for Wauseon is the Patrick Henry Patriots as the Indians celebrate homecoming.
