Bellefontaine exposed Urbana’s youth for a lopsided victory Friday night at AcuSport Stadium.
Bellefontaine’s Jack Clement attempts to get free after making a catch in the first half of Friday’s game against Urbana at AcuSport Stadium. (EXAMINER PHOTO | TONY BARRETT)
The Hillclimbers, who dressed just 22 players and had to start a freshman quarterback because of an injury, turned the ball over five times and the Chiefs rolled up 338 rushing yards en route to a 49-7 victory in a non-league contest.
After an 0-2 start, the Chiefs received a much-needed jolt of confidence with the easy win.
“This is what we have been preaching to these guys,” said Bellefontaine head coach Toby Smith. “We challenged ourselves to get ready for (Central Buckeye Conference) play. This was our first game against a CBC team, and we are happy with the result.” Urbana (1-2) lost four fumbles and threw an interception while mustering only 132 yards of offense.
“You saw a young team go up against a team of grown men, and it wasn’t pretty,” said Urbana head coach Carleton Cotner, who spent a season on the Chiefs’ staff before taking over the Hillclimbers last year.
“We have a lot of youth. Part of the result tonight was because of our youth and part of it was the caliber of the team we were playing. I think Bellefontaine will run the table.”
A lot of Chieftains contributed, with five players scoring touchdowns.
“We want to diversify our offense when we have the opportunity,” said Smith. “We saw some things they were giving us and we tried to take advantage of them.”
Bellefontaine raced to a 21-0 lead after one quarter.
Junior running back Garrett Gross scored the Chiefs’ first touchdown, getting into the end zone on a 2-yard run with four minutes left in the first period.
Derek Robb booted the first of seven successful extra-point kicks to give the Chiefs a 7-0 lead.
Urbana fumbled on the second play of its ensuing possession and Bellefontaine’s Tyson Brenner recovered on the Hillclimbers’ 22-yard line.
Three plays later, Bellefontaine junior quarterback Grant Smith took a keeper up the middle for an 8-yard touchdown run that gave the hosts a 14-0 lead at the 2:55 mark of the first period.
Bellefontaine took advantage of another turnover to score its third touchdown.
Urbana found itself backed up for a fourth-down play on its own 10-yard line on its next possession. A bad snap got away from the punter and Bellefontaine’s Isaac Williams fell on the ball in the end zone for a TD and a 21-0 BHS lead.
The Chiefs’ next scoring drive began after Jack Clement intercepted an Urbana pass on Bellefontaine’s 13-yard line.
A 10-play, 87-yard march ensued, with sophomore Ty Leeper finishing it off on a 9-yard TD run. That gave Bellefontaine a 28-0 lead with 6:02 remaining until halftime.
“Any time you can come up with a turnover, it’s big,” said Toby Smith. “To be able to turn them into points is an added bonus. It was nice to see our offense take advantage of Urbana’s mistakes.”
Grant Smith added a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:09 left in the second quarter to give Bellefontaine a 35-0 advantage at the intermission.
In the third quarter, Bellefontaine came up with its first passing touchdown of the season when Smith found Gross for a 28-yard score at the 7:32 mark.
Bellefontaine pushed its lead to 49-0 with 2:55 remaining in the third period when Clement ripped off a 79-yard touchdown run on an end around.
Urbana rounded out the scoring on a 58-yard touchdown run by Nic Dorsey with 5:10 left to play in the game.
Bellefontaine averaged over nine yards per rush. Gross led the way with 98 yards on 16 carries. Smith had 64 yards on seven rushes, Clement tallied 80 yards on his three rush attempts and Leeper added 63 yards on three carries.
Smith was 5-of-8 passing for 50 yards. Gross had two catches for 42 yards.
Along with Brenner and Williams, Noah Yoesting and Jacob Kidwell recovered fumbles for the Chiefs.
Dorsey rushed for 140 yards on 14 carries, but the rest of Urbana’s ball carriers accounted for negative six yards.
The Hillclimbers completed just 1-of-4 pass attempts for negative two yards.
Bellefontaine returns to action Friday at Graham.
HILLCLIMBERS @ CHIEFS
Urbana 0 • 0 • 0 • 7 – 7
Bellefontaine 21 • 14 • 14 • 0 – 49
TEAM STATISTICS URB • BFN
First downs 2 • 13
Total net yards 132 • 388
Rushes/yards 29/134 • 37/338
Passing -2 • 50
Comp-att-int 1-4-1 • 5-9-1
Punts/avg 4/32.8 • 0/0
Fumbles-lost 5-4 • 2-0
Penalties-yards 7-60 • 5-52
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