Buckeye Valley overcomes loss of QB for win

DELAWARE – Buckeye Valley scored 27 unanswered points to pull out a 27-14 win over Pleasant in a Mid Ohio Athletic Conference game.

The win came at a cost as starting quarterback Ben Spaulding was injured five minutes into the contest and lost to the Barons for the rest of the night.

“It was a tough injury,” Buckeye Valley coach Matt Stephens said. “It was an emotional loss for us and some of the kids were visibly upset by it.”

Stephens said it took a while for his club to bounce back to register the homecoming victory.

“It was hard to get back up and play, but we did come back. Tim Schilling came in and we made some adjustments,” he said. “We were able to control the line of scrimmage late in the game and I think we wore them down some in the third and fourth quarters.”

Pleasant coach Aaron Cook felt his club played well, but failed to close out another close game.

“We have had a few games here that we have been close and had a chance to win. We will keep on teaching the guys and we will continue to work to win these close games,” Cook said. “The kids played hard and they deserve credit for that.”

Pleasant (2-5 overall, 0-4 in the MOAC) came out and went to the ground game after showing a pass oriented game for most of the season.

“We went back to our base offense a little bit and we made some plays,” Cook said.

Stephens was not expecting the running attack from the Spartans.

“We expected them to come out and spread it out against us and we had to make a few changes. They hurt us for a couple of big plays, but we made some adjustments and we stopped them after that,” Stephens said.

Pleasant opened the scoring with a quick drive in the first quarter set up by an interception by Nico Sansotta. Sansotta returned the ball to the BV 11 and it took just four plays for the Spartans to reach the end zone. Joe Craycraft hit Sansotta with an 8-yard TD pass on fourth down. Brady Thompson added the conversion kick and the Spartans had a 7-0 lead with 3:25 to go in the opening period.

Pleasant struck again in the second period with Sansotta again hauling in a touchdown pass. Craycraft tossed the ball to Bobby Husted who then launched the scoring aerial to Sansotta on a play that covered 58 yards. Thompson split the posts again for a 14-0 Pleasant advantage with 8:03 on the board.

The Spartan lead was cut in half as Ian Hogg raced 82 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff. Sam Scharff’s PAT boot made it 14-7 with 7:50 to play before the half.

Buckeye Valley (4-3, 3-1) closed the margin even more a few minutes later. Gabe Miller raced 73 yards to start the drive off for the Barons. A few plays later, Tim Schilling scored on a 4-yard run. Pleasant’s Kory Pytlarz stuck up a hand and blocked the PAT attempt to leave the Spartans with a 14-13 lead with 51 second to go in the opening half.

Pleasant had a slim 141-120 edge in yardage in the first half. All the Barons first half yardage came on the ground.

After a scoreless third chapter, the Barons got on the board early in the fourth. Teren Wycoff broke loose down the right sideline and rumbled 79 yards for a touchdown. Tim Schilling ran for the two point conversion and the home team had a 21-14 lead with 10:11 to play.

Ian Hogg came up with an interception for the Barons and that set up Buckeye Valley at the Pleasant 23. The drive stalled, but Scharff came on and nailed a 41-yard field goal to make it 24-14 with 6:53 remaining. Scharff added a 43-yard field goal with 2:22 to play.

Buckeye Valley’s Nick Cooper came up with an interception in the final minute to close out the matter.

The Barons finished with a 242-197 edge in yardage. Wycoff lead the Barons with 93 yards on nine carries. Josh Beam had 50 yards on 12 rushes for Pleasant. Sansotta caught four passes for 87 yards.