Brockington's 6 TDs fuel Tornadoes' 55-35 win

A fast start in the playoffs is key. That was especially true Friday night at Frost-Kalnow Stadium as Columbian jumped all over Ontario 20-0 in the first quarter of a Division III regional quarterfinal. Ontario had plenty of answers on offense, but didn't solve TC's offense one bit. The high-flying Tornado offense continued to roll Friday up and down the field, scoring at will against a defense that gave up only an average of 14 points per game in the regular season.Ontario made things tense at certain spots in the second half, but Columbian's offense always had the answer in a 55-35 playoff win. "Our offense was successful early and often and didn't have many lulls at all," TC coach Judd Lutz said. "We were very consistent, running it and throwing it with big play after big play. We knew they were very good on offense and had some explosive plays. But we got some key spots to give the ball back to our offense to keep them at bay. Every time they got some momentum we always scored right back, which it didn't feel like we ever lost momentum."Overall, we found a way to win. It can be 55-35 or 2-0, it's win and advance time. We'll look at film and evaluate some things, but it's great to come away with a win."Looking at the numbers, Columbian (10-2) did it all offensively. Quarterback Brayden Roggow was 16 of 21 passing for 294 yards and three touchdowns; Damien Brockington had 18 carries for 194 yards and four scores, while also adding two catches for 59 yards and two more TDs; Brady Gooding, who threw a TD pass, had four grabs for 96 yards and a score; Bryce Roggow had five catches for 94 yards and a score; and Jack Koerper caught five passes for 77 yards.When asked how can a defense stop the Tornadoes, Gooding answered: "I don't know if it can be controlled."TC has scored 104 points in two playoff games so far."When our offense is going, it's hard to stop," Gooding said. "It's awesome when you put together some drives and we just have to keep that going. "It all starts up front with those guys and then Brockington doing his thing, which then opens up the passing game. When we're clicking we're a tough group to stop."TC won the coin toss and elected to receive. As a result on the first drive, Brayden Roggow found Bryce Roggow in stride for a 36-yard touchdown to get things started. After the TC defense got a stop, Brayden Roggow then found Gooding for a 30-yard gain, which set up a Brockington 50-yard TD run. Just a little over four minutes in, TC led 13-0.After another stop from the Tornadoes' defense, Brockington ran in a 1-yard TD to make it 20-0 after a quarter.But then the Warriors offense woke up — mainly running back Chase Studer. He ran in a 10-yard TD, but then TC responded just three plays after. Brayden Roggow found Gooding for a leaping 34-yard TD grab, giving the Tornadoes a 27-7 advantage. Studer answered with another 10-yard TD run to cut the TC lead to 27-14 with 4:23 to go in the half. The Warriors finally did get a defensive stop and had 2:13 left in the half to draw a little closer — plus was going to get the ball to start the third quarter. But a fumble, recovered by Gooding, and the Warriors ran out of time to score and get closer was huge for the TC defense."Kudos to Judd and the staff getting off to such a good start, which is something we've done a lot of this year and we hadn't been down like that before," Ontario coach Aaron Eckert said. "When you're down to a good team like that we just couldn't break through. We had multiple times we had them third-and-long, but couldn't get off the field. "Looking at them (TC offense), they just have some amazing skill guys and every time they needed a play, they got open against some really good DBs, which I still think that. They just made plays and the way they attacked our defense … they just made plays when they had to. You know, to get down 20-0 in a Round 2 playoff game is not ideal and we could've folded, but we fought, scrapped and clawed to make a game of it. I thought we had a chance at the end of the first half, but we just didn't get the job done."Down by just 13 with a great offense, Ontario (10-2) was right in the game and got a chance to cut the lead with the first possession of the second half. However, on the second play of the drive, quarterback Bodpegn Miller threw a pass right to TC's A.J. Hickman. That resulted in a Brockington 2-yard TD run four plays later, giving TC a 34-14 edge. Studer answered with a 4-yard TD run, but Brockington countered with his second 50-yard TD rush of the game.Studer scored for the fourth time at the end of the third with a 5-yard plunge. But then Brayden Roggow found Brockington up the sideline for an 18-yard TD pass to open the fourth. Miller then scrambled and found the end zone from 29 yards out to make it 48-34 with 8:59 left.TC iced the contest with a trick play as Brayden Roggow threw to Gooding behind the line and then he tossed a perfect spiral to Brockington for a 41-yard score.Then a Koerper pick sealed it."We even had some big plays in special teams with a big Koerper punt return and some short fields with some kickoff returns, so props to coach (Pat) Boggs having those guys ready to go tonight," Lutz said. "I'm glad we don't have to guard us, cover us except in practice and obviously we have a great group of guys on that side of the ball that put in a lot of work to be that dynamic."Studer finished with 22 carries for 136 yards, while Miller threw for 160 yards and ran for 79 more."We didn't want to make it into a track meet by any means, but I thought we did a great job of bottling up the quarterback," Lutz said. "He did hit us a couple times, but we accounted for him in a lot of ways and we executed the game plan. We struggled at times stopping the run right at us, but again, we'll correct some things and turn the page. We'll be ready for next week."The Tornadoes take on Medina Buckeye next week at a site to be determined. The Bucks edged Norton 49-47.