Tigers maul Jets with dominant rushing attack

526
West Liberty-Salem’s Gabe McGill sprints past a Northeastern defender during Friday’s game. (Examiner photo | Nate Smith)

West Liberty-Salem zoomed past the visiting Northeastern Jets Friday, rushing for six touchdowns as a team en route to a 42-7 runaway victory in to begin Ohio Heritage Conference divisional play.

The Tigers remain undefeated, 6-0 (1-0). Northeastern drops to 4-2 (0-1).
WL-S took a 21-0 lead after the first quarter Friday and never looked back.
Standout running back Gabe McGill rushed for five touchdowns on the game, amassing 245 yards on 13 carries.
Two of McGill’s touchdowns came as part of the first quarter onslaught.
Lakers pull away from Graham in second half 
For the first two quarters Friday, Indian Lake and Graham was locked in a closely contested, nip-and-tuck affair.
The second half was a much different story, however, as the Lakers scored 27 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters to ground the Falcons 34-7 to open Mad River divisional play in the Central Buckeye Conference.
The Lakers improve to 4-2 (1-0). The Falcons fall to 0-6 (0-1).
It looked early on as if the Lakers would run away with the game from the opening kick. After a Graham three-and-out to begin the play, the Falcons special teams pinned the Lakers back at their own one-yard line.
It took the Lakers just three plays on their opening possession to go 99 yards and grab a 7-0 lead at the 8:15 mark in the first quarter.
Pirates rough up Eagles, run winning streak to 5
Riverside’s football team was sound in all phases of the game Friday night en route to a 49-0 pasting of host Troy Christian in a Three Rivers Conference game.
It was the fifth win in a row for the Pirates, who are now 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the TRC.
The Eagles fall to 2-4, 1-2.
“That is the best we’ve played all year,” said Riverside head coach Bryce Hodge. “I thought we took a big step forward last week, but we still had some areas where we could have been better. But tonight, we played a complete game for the first time this season. I am very proud of the guys. They played well on offense, defense and in special teams.”
Raiders overcome double-digit deficit for first win of season
The Benjamin Logan Raiders fell behind by double-digits in the first half Friday in their game against Northwestern, but a strong second quarter and a dominant defensive effort in the second half jumpstarted a 19-13 comeback victory.
The Raiders improve to 1-5 (1-0). Northwestern falls to 2-4 (0-1.).
Northwestern scored the first two touchdown of the game to go ahead 13-0 at the 4:38 mark in the second quarter.
Red Raiders bulldoze their way past Chiefs
Bellefontaine had no answer for London’s smash mouth brand of football on Friday.
The visiting Red Raiders ran for 385 yards on 35 attempts and they limited
Bellefontaine to 120 yards of offense in a 36-6 win over the Chiefs in the first game of Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail division play.
Ranked sixth in the latest Division III state poll, London (6-0, 1-0) built a 28-6 lead at halftime and scored on its first possession of the second half to trigger the running clock.
Bellefontaine (4-2, 0-1) only had the ball twice and ran six plays in the second half.
“We talked all week that we had to play our best football and we didn’t,” said BHS head coach Jason Brown. “I take full responsibility for not playing at our best. That starts with me.”