Olentangy Runs Through Medina on Their Way to A 53-28 Victory

Both teams came into the matchup 1-0 looking to stay undefeated. Medina cruised to a win last week, beating Stow-Munroe Falls 48-18 with quarterback Danny Stoddard throwing for 412 yards and four touchdowns. Olentangy Won their first game in a hard-fought battle, beating Whitmer 46-35 with Penn State commit, four star quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer throwing for 444 yards on 27-34 passing.

To start the game Medina set the tempo early, airing the ball out down the field into the redzone. Jack Wojciak took a toss in for a three-yard rushing touchdown. Olentangy returns the favor by driving down the field themselves with a balanced attack. PJ Harrison ran it in for a one-yard touchdown. Olentangy took the lead 7-6 with a made PAT.

After a quick three and out caused by a sack by Daniel Stephens, Olentangy got the ball back with good territory. Riley Clarkson had a nice run taking the Braves from the twenty-one-yard line to inside of the goal line. PJ Harrison ended the drive again by walking in for another rushing touchdown, on the point after Grunkemeyer kept it himself to score a two-point conversion to give Olentangy a two possession lead. Stoddard found Austin Knowles for a big reception to get into Braves territory, but the next play he threw an interception to give the ball back to Olentangy.

Starting with the ball on the one-yard line the Braves pounded the ball with ease through Medina’s defense. Olentangy drained over half of the second quarter with their drive ending it with an eighteen-yard touchdown run by Cole Kershner to go up 22-6. Needing to score, Medina was quickly driving down the field, but PJ Harrison intercepted Stoddard. Grunkemeyer turned around and threw an interception of his own to give the ball back to Medina. Immediately after Olentangy’s turnover, Danny Stoddard found Austin Knowles for a long touchdown, cutting the lead to nine. Off of the kick return, Olentangy got great field position. Medina’s defense started stringing together a couple of plays by stuffing two runs and sacking Grunkemeyer to force a three and out. With 34 seconds left in the half, Medina found Wojack for two quick passes to get them into Braves territory. Then Stoddard found Knowles once again to score going into the half. After going down early, Medina scored two quick touchdowns to cut the lead to two. Olentangy goes into the half up 22-20 after being up 22-6 halfway through the second quarter.

After facing some adversity going into the half, Olentangy came out and showed great poise in their first drive of the second half. The Braves scored on a quarterback sneak to bring the lead back to nine. Olentangy forced Medina into a crucial fourth and one, and then broke up a pass intended for Knowles to get the ball deep in Medina’s territory. On fourth down, Medina brought the pressure, but Grunkemeyer completed a pass to Gavin Grover to extend the drive. After a couple of mistakes for Olentangy, the Braves settled for a field goal to extend the lead to twelve. After Stoddard goes down with an injury, Medina turns the ball over after a fourth and two pass fell incomplete.

To open up the fourth quarter, Olentangy failed to complete a wide-open pass that would have led to a touchdown. A couple of plays later, Grunkemeyer threw a touchdown to open the game up and extend their lead to nineteen. Immediately after on the kick return, Jack Wojack returned the kick for a touchdown putting Medina right back in the game. Stoddard came back into the game and converted a two point conversion to Wojciak to cut the lead to eleven. After driving down the field and draining the clock, Olentangy came down and PJ Harrison scored a one yard touchdown to put the Braves up 46-28. Medina drove down the field trying to get a quick score, but Stoddard threw another interception giving Olentangy the ball back and effectively putting an end to their comeback plans. Olentangy drove down with four minutes left in the game and added another rushing touchdown to their total  on the game.

Olentangy came into tonight’s game and executed their game plan perfectly. Offensively they ran the ball extremely well, running for 260 yards and five touchdowns behind an offensive line that looked to be too much to handle for Medina’s defensive front. Defensively they were able to contain Medina’s passing attack and force them to make plays on the run.

Medina showed flashes in tonight’s game, but it wasn’t enough to pull out the victory. Offensively they were stagnant, but when they needed to most, they were able to dial up the tempo and get into the endzone. Defensively they were overpowered by Olentangy’s rushing attack which allowed for the Braves to dominate the time of possession.

The Players of the game for Olentangy was the entire offensive line. From start to finish the offensive line for the Braves imposed their will on Medina’s defensive front. They led the way allowing their running backs and quarterback to run for a total of 260 yards and five touchdowns on their way to a 53-28 victory.

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