HOPEWELL-LOUDON 56, WILLARD 0
By Kyle Holsinger
BASCOM — Hopewell-Loudon was too much for Willard as they earned Coach Brian Colatruglio his 200th career win. The Chieftains continued their 21-game regular season winning streak as they defeated their Sandusky Bay Conference - River Division foe at home, 56-0.
“It's never been about me, but it really is a special night,” Coach Colatruglio said on the milestone.
“My family, my brother's coached with me for all 200, so it's his 200th win too. I have my son on the team, and he made some plays tonight. It's a special night, and like I said it's not about me. It’s about our family. It's about our team. It’s about all the kids that have given so much over the last 24 years. I mean, I've thought a lot about those guys this week and so, yeah, it's for all of them.”
The Chieftains (7-0 overall, 4-0 SBC River) scored on their opening possession, getting the ball at midfield after a defensive three-and-out and short punt by the Crimson Flashes (2-5, 0-4).
Hopewell’s Braylon Martinez got his team into enemy territory with a 10-yard run up the middle. Three plays later, sophomore Kellen Frankart rolled right and threw a screen pass to the left to coach’s son Jack Colatruglio, who took it 24 yards down to the Willard 5-yard line. The next play, Martinez ran it up the middle for a touchdown.
Hopewell-Loudon missed the extra point and led 6-0 with 9:08 left in the first quarter.
Willard converted a first down on a third-and-six situation, but then turned the ball over on downs to the Chieftains at the H-L 48.
Hopewell advanced into the red zone on a short pass to the left by Jacoby Ellis to Matthew Wyman that Wyman took the rest of the way for a 19-yard gain. Two plays later, Frankart threw a pass over the middle to a wide open Wyatt Crow for a 20-yard TD catch. At the 4:42 mark in the first period: H-L 13, Willard 0.
Willard started their next drive with a reverse pass that saw receiver Harry Meisner tossing the pigskin to starting quarterback Jake Rothhaar for an 11-yard completion. The very next play, Rothhaar’s pass was intercepted by the Chieftain’s Luca SanGregory, who returned it roughly 35 yards to the Flashes 14.
A couple plays later, Frankart kept the ball on a draw up the middle for a nine-yard TD scamper. The Chieftains were up, 20-0, with less than nine minutes off of the game clock.
The Flashes’ Rothhaar, a freshman, hit Paxton Flores on a screen pass to the right for a 13-yard gain on the first play of their next drive only to bobble and lose the ball on the next play. Hopewell-Loudon’s SanGregory recovered the ball at the Willard 45.
The Chieftain’s Ellis found Colatruglio for a 12-yard catch, and a couple plays later, connected with Martinez for an 18-yard gain. The following play, Ellis hit Colatruglio on a stop route for an eight-yard touchdown. A missed PAT kept the lead at 26-0 in favor of the Chieftains.
“Yeah, that was special, obviously,” Colatruglio said about his son’s touchdown on his historic evening. “He's one of our go-to guys, and to get in the end zone on a night like tonight, it means a lot.”
After holding Willard to another three-and-out and a short punt, Hopewell scored on the first play they had possession when Martinez took it up the middle and raced to the house for a 55-yard TD dash. A low kick was blocked on the PAT, and H-L held a 32-0 lead just 57 seconds into the second quarter.
Colatruglio intercepted Rothhaar’s pass over the middle on a third-and-16 scenario, giving the Scarlet & Gray the ball at the Willard 25.
The next play, Hopewell’s Ellis looked off defenders to the left then hit Frankart, who lined up next to Ellis in the backfield, on a wheel route to the right sideline for a score. It was Hopewell-Loudon 38, Willard 0 with 9:39 remaining in the first half.
Another three-and-out by the Chieftains defense gave them great field possession again at midfield. Frankart gained 12-yard on a keeper to the left to get into Crimson Flash territory. A couple plays later, Ellis threw back-to-back 10-yard completions to Martinez to get in the red zone. Two player later, Frankart tossed it to Crow for a six-yard TD pass. The score was 44-0 going into halftime.
With six second left in the third quarter, Hopewell freshman QB Sam Humphrey threw a deep pass over the middle to sophomore Brody Brickman for a 51-yard TD strike.
Chieftain RB Jaysin Cramer took a handoff up the middle then busted out to the right side, shedding a tackler on his way to an 18-yard TD rush to finish off the scoring. Hopewell-Loudon downed the ball on their final two point after tries.
“We took care of what we needed to do,” Colatruglio said. “We hadn't really started the way we needed to a couple of times here…we really took care of our business. We spread the ball out, we kind of did what we wanted to do.”
The Chieftains passed for 233 yards and ran for 140 for 373 total offensive yards.
Willard threw for 75 yards and was negative-41 yards rushing on the day for 34 offensive yards on the evening.
Hopewell-Loudon currently has no opponent scheduled for next week, but hosts Woodmore in Week 9. Willard hosts Gibsonburg next Friday.
Frankart threw, ran, and caught a touchdown in the game. When asked about the accomplishment Colatruglio said Frankart has played like that all year.
"He's such a talented player," coach said. "He's a sophomore, and he's just scratching the surface of how good a football player he could be."
"I'm still holding out hope," Colatruglio said about the open slot the Chieftains currently have for next week's opponent. "Hopefully, we find somebody. We're playing well and I'd rather not take a week off. If we do, we're going to work pretty hard in practice and get ourselves better, but I'd much rather try to find a game."
HOPEWELL-LOUDON 26 18 6 6- 56
WILLARD 0 0 0 0- 0
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