by It was a great night for playoff football as the 2 seeded Glenville Tarblooders took down the the 10 seeded Salem Quakers by the final score of 49-0. Glenville was purely dominant on both sides of the ball in this one. I talked to coach Tedd Ginn Sr. before the game and asked him what the key to a big playoff victory was. He responded “We have to be fundamentally strong” then continued, ” at this point everyone can play, so its about who can put it on the field and execute.” His team was nothing but fundamental and they executed to near perfection. Offensively they shined both on the ground and through the air. Senior Running Back Chris Newell Jr., who is committed to play safety at BGSU, finished the game with 3 total touchdowns, 1 through the air and 2 on the ground. Senior Quarter Back Arvell Nelson also accounted for 3 scores, throwing for 2 and rushing for 1. But the defense was the real star of the game. They were as perfect as a defense could be in the first half, and by the end of the game they gave up less than 100 yards and pitched a shutout.
The Tarblooders elected to defer the toss after winning, giving the Quakkers the ball to begin. Glenville made quick work on defense forcing a 3 and out.
On their first play from scrimmage, Glenville ran an outside handoff with their lead back, Chris Newell Jr.. Newell took the carry to the sidelines and used his speed to run right by the Salem defenders. A defender nearly caught him at the end of the run, where Newell carried him into the endzone with him. The 44 yard touchdown tote put his squad up 7-0 early in the first quarter.
After another Salem 3 and out, Glenville got right back to work. They used the running back tandem of Newell and Da’von McDougle to drive right down the field. They ran 6 plays, all runs and finished the 60 yard drive with another Newell touchdown, this time from 5 yards out. This put the Tarblooders up 14-0 with 5 minutes left in the opening quarter.
Glenville’s defense continued to look impenetrable while being led by Ohio State commits Cincere Johnson and Jamir Perez. They forced another 3 and out and set their offense up with great field position.
They got right back to work, but after some false start penalties they found themselves with a 3rd and long just outside the redzone. Coach Ginn dialed up the perfect play call with a running back screen. Quarterback Arvell Nelson found his back Romell Philips near the line of scrimmage. Nelson took the pass to the sideline and found his way into the endzone, extending the lead to 21-0.
The Tarblooders began to pour it on as their defense stayed elite and their offense remained unstoppable. Their next drive was capped off by a 10 yard touchdown run from Arvell Nelson to make the score 27-0 after a missed PAT. They again extended the lead, this time by 2 due to a sack in the endzone by junior Kaylon Bailey and senior Dion’dre Taylor. The safety made the game 29-0 with 6 minutes to play in the first half.
The Quakers looked to maybe have signs of life after they onside kicked after the safety and recovered. It was to no avail as the Tarblooder defense forced a turnover on downs. But on the next play Salem forced a fumble to get the ball right back.
The fumble didn’t lead to anything as they again could not pick up a first down. Glenville got the ball back and drove right back down the field, this time through the air. Nelson threw for almost 80 yards on the drive and found Chris Newell for a 28 yard touchdown, his 3rd time finding paydirt in the half. This extended the score to a dominant 36-0 with 2 minutes left in the first half.
The half ended shortly after and the Tarblooders took the 36 point lead into the half. Glenville’s defense held the Quakers to zero first downs in the half and just 3 total yards of offense. Complete dominance on that side of the ball.
The clock remained running on all plays in the second half due to the lopsided score. The Tarblooders got the ball to start the second half and they stayed dominant to start. They drove right down the field and Nelson found BGSU commit Pauley Sadler for a 30 yard score midway through the 3rd. This extended the score to 42-0.
Late in the 3rd quarter Glenville gave their freshman quarterback Chase Youngblood some reps. On the last play of the quarter he found sophomore receiver Elijah Harden for a 38 yard touchdown. The score put the Tarblooders up 49-0 to begin the 4th quarter.
On their final drive Salem ended up picking up their first few first downs, but were stopped outside the redzone and turned it back over on downs. The Tarblooders ran the clock out when the got the ball back and finished with the final score of 49-0.
Glenville’s defense finished the game giving up just 2 first downs and a little over 50 yards of offense.
The Tarblooders advance in their region of the Dvision 4 2025 OHSAA playoffs. They will play the 3 seeded Lake Catholic Cougars next week on a neutral site.
