Rockets Soar Past Bulldogs; Gearing Up For A Duel With Pirates

Pandora - Going into the lockers down 14-0 to a rival is never how a team wants to start their season. However, sometimes it is high pressure situations where you find out more about the team you have. For Pandora-Gilboa, it seemed that this was the case as everything seemed to click after a halftime break en route to a 22-21 victory over Columbus Grove.

In the first half it was a pair of short touchdowns set up by a sustained drive and a huge rush from Brody McCleur respectively. Landon Best scored the first Bulldog touchdown of the season from 2 yards out and returning All-Ohioan Trevon Baxter scored from just one yard further in the second quarter.

In the first drive of the third quarter Pandora-Gilboa needed to respond and senior Ben Burkholder did just that. Just over 30 seconds into the half Burkholder (at quarterback in a wildcat formation) scored a six yard rushing touchdown. He would end his day with 27 carries for 127 yards and two touchdowns.

Grove would take their time but would get a response before the end of the third quarter. On 3rd and long, senior Andrew Webster jumped up with Gavin Baxter, but would only come down holding a white jersey and looking at a penalty marker signaling pass interference. The call would allow for the Bulldogs to maintain momentum and a huge gap gave a lane for Brody McCleur to go 22 yards to the house.

McCleur would end his day rushing for 96 yards on 9 carries and being the leading rusher for the Bulldogs. His offensive performance may have been overshadowed by Trevon Baxter who had 102 yards from scrimmage and 1 touchdown.

The next drive saw an immediate response from the Rockets who went 11 plays and was ended by a Cory Gerten to Chase Meyer eight yard passing touchdown. Meyer was predictably the Rocket's leading receiver with 89 yards off of 9 receptions. Gerten had a performance you would come to expect from a four-year starter going 19/33 (58%), 163 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions.

The score was 21-14 in Columbus Grove's advantage with 8:09 to play and it looked like they might run the clock out but the Rocket's defense had other plans. On a Brody McCleur run, defensive tackle Landon Siefker punched at the ball and popped it out right where Jace Fenbert was. Fenbert was also responsible for an interception off of senior Landon Best earlier in the game.

Jace was initially not even a starter but "due to injuries, fatigue, etc." he was forced into the game and showed out. The biggest thing that shined to Coach Matt Hershey was the effort he played with saying "His fumble recovery was just the result of running to the ball on defense. Good things happen when you play with effort."

It took no time at all for the Rockets to respond as on the very next play Ben Burkholder would have a 31 yard house call making it    21-20 Columbus Grove advantage. Layton Cannode was set to send in an extra point and hooked it left, however it was largely because of a Bulldog lined up offside forcing a half the distance to the goal penalty. 

Those who know Rocket football and 9 year frontman Matt Hershey, there was no doubt that Pandora-Gilboa was going for a 2 point conversion and the lead with 7:41 to play. Ben Burkholder lined up at quarterback with Landen Moore beside him and ran straight ahead. After a suspenseful pause, it was signaled he broke the plane and put PG up 22-21. 

Landon Best and the Bulldogs were determined to take the lead back and drove down systematically all the way to the 17 yard line. On 3rd and 7 Best was forced out of the pocket due to high pressure and quickly fired the ball to his lengthy tight end Brady Basinger who was running a wheel route. Best never set his feet due to players all over him like Zhander Boggs blitzing and big defensive tackle Lincoln Breece causing an underthrow that Andrew Webster took full advantage of, intercepting the ball at the 1 yard line.

Best played a good game but made one too many mistakes that the Rockets took advantage of. He went 11/22 (50%) for 104 yards, no touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. The dual threat aspect of his game was also displayed rushing for 42 yards and one touchdown.

Coach Hershey pointed out that Webster wasn't perfect but extremely complimentary of his work ethic and run stopping ability saying "Webster has improved a ton since last year. Aside from his late pick I think he did a good job of forcing sweeps back inside to linebackers. That was CG's best play and they hit us on that both times."

The Rockets would run out the clock and celebrate their victory in the 100th edition of the Route 12 rivalry game. With that comes a new challenge as just as fast as the celebrations started, they must end as the Rockets prepare for Bluffton (1-0).

Bluffton will look to air the ball out against a youthful Pandora-Gilboa secondary just as they did to Benjamin Logan last week. The Pirates threw for 318 of their 392 yards and were 4 of their 5 touchdowns. Junior Tayte Giesge returns as the signal caller and went 14/22 with a long of 80 yards passing the ball.

Coach Hershey and the Rockets coaching staff will look to a lot of less experienced players who preformed well in game one to weather the storm in the secondary. Last week they preformed with all three of PG's takeaways. Hershey said "For both guys being basically 1st year starters I couldn't be happier for them and the contributions they made on Thursdays win," but now he'll need it to be repeated in week two.

Third down conversions will be a huge thing to watch on Friday as Bluffton was just 4/9 against Benjamin Logan. If you can't make it to Harmon Field you can tune into Putnam Sports Radio for a 6:30 pregame/7:00 kickoff between the rivals in what will be the last time they play in the foreseeable future. 

Read more articles by Chase Dettrow