MANSFIELD: Three big plays on offense, three big plays on defense and one big play on special teams proved to be the winning formula Saturday for the Stow football team.
Stow defeated Lewis Center Olentangy 38-16 on a chilly November evening at Mansfield’s Arlin Field to advance to a Division I state semifinal/regional final for the first time in the history of Bulldogs football.
Stow (13-0) will play Lakewood St. Edward on Nov. 28 at a site to be determined. St. Edward defeated Euclid on Saturday.
Junior quarterback Kyle Vantrease led Stow’s offense by throwing two touchdown passes and rushing for two other touchdowns. He completed 11-of-21 passes for 197 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and rushed seven times for 74 yards.
Bulldogs coach Mark Nori called on Jayson Gobble to carry the ball 22 times and the senior gained 104 yards and scored one touchdown.
Senior Monte Board, junior Logan Ford and senior Owen Fankhauser each had an interception for Stow, and senior kicker Garrett Rigby recovered a fumbled kickoff. Seniors Noah Fisher and Jakob Madgar were also active defensively for Stow along with juniors Matt Esterle and Joe Andrassy.
Stow’s second and third possessions helped it build a 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Board snagged his interception on Olentangy’s second offensive play and returned the ball 25-yards to the Braves’ 12. Gobble gained six yards on the next three plays, but the drive stalled and Rigby kicked a 23-yard field to give Stow a 3-0 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Olentangy (11-2) put together a drive down to the Stow 10, but was forced to turn the ball over on downs. Stow then put together a seven-play drive that ended with Vantrease rushing for a 6-yard touchdown and junior Austin Burnham kicking the extra point to make it 10-0 at 2:40.
The Braves trimmed their deficit to 10-7 with 6:48 left in the second quarter when senior quarterback Deeb Haber threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Seth O’Neal and senior Jacob Bell kicked the extra point to cap a 14-play drive that covered 85 yards.
Stow went to the air to take a 17-7 halftime lead. Vantrease threw a short pass to Board, who sprinted down the sideline for a 42-yard touchdown with 2:10 on the clock. Burnham kicked the extra point.
Bell kicked a 25-yard field goal with 8:13 to go in the third quarter to cut the Braves’ deficit to 17-10. The Bulldogs countered with 14 points to remain in control of the game. Gobble broke loose for a 53-yard touchdown run up the middle two plays after Fankhauser’s interception, and Rigby nailed the extra point kick at 6:25. Vantrease threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to junior Logan Lindsay with 1:17 left in the third quarter and Burnham’s extra point made it 31-10.
Hauber threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to junior Sam Durst with 32 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 31-16.
Vantrease dashed 54-yards for a touchdown and Rigby’s extra point with 3:59 to go capped the scoring.
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps.