H-L's season ends after turnover-plagued loss to Patriots

FINDLAY – Patrick Henry coach Bill Inselmann wouldn't so much as say his Patriots "stole" their way into the Region 26 finals.Technically, that's pretty much what happened."That is going to go down as one of the best games our secondary has played since I've been here," Inselmann said after five interceptions led directly to four touchdowns and a 35-7 win over Hopewell-Loudon in a Division VI, Region 22 semifinal at Findlay's Donnell Stadium."I thought it was just amazing."Saying something is "best ever" is noteworthy coming from a man who has won a state championship and 271 games overall in his 29 years at his alma mater.Inselmann's players, though, backed up the claim.Hopewell-Loudon had averaged 316.1 yards and 30.3 points a game in building an 11-0 record heading into Friday's game. But the Chieftains would manage just three first downs and 56 total yards – 26 rushing, 30 passing – against a Patrick Henry defense that, on Friday, had all the right answers and made all the right moves."If you'd have told me we'd shut them down defensively, I'd have said no way," Inselmann said."They do so many different things: jail break screens, tunnel screens, throw backs, gut passes up the middle, crossing patterns …. We have some pretty good kids, though. Grant Smith and Trent Johnson on the line, an all-league linebacker in Laden Punches, Akevian Kreider in the middle and Lincoln (Creager) on the wide side and the whole secondary had a whale of a game."I gotta give a lot of credit to Ben George. He does a tremendous job with the defensive backs and the whole defense.""They are very, very good at every level," Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said after the Chieftains lost to Patrick Henry for the second straight year in the regional semifinals."They make it hard to run the ball because they are so good inside. They're well-coached, they have really good players and they know how to play defense."We needed to make some plays but we just weren't able to. There just were no holes."Punches intercepted two Hopewell-Loudon passes and Lincoln Creager, Reid Creiger and Cal Schroeder picked off one each. The Chieftains also lost a fumble.Patrick Henry capitalized on the turnovers in a big way.Lincoln Creager, who had to step in and play quarterback midway through the 2023 season and ended up helping the Patriots reach the Division VII state semifinals, had just 47 yards and one TD passing. The Northwestern recruit rushed for 150 yards and three scores, though.Schroeder added 122 yards and a rushing touchdown for the Patriots, who will square off against Bluffton Friday in the Region 22 championship game. The site of the matchup will be announced Sunday.While admitting Friday's loss hurt, Colatruglio was also preparing for a second pain."Not getting to coach these guys on Monday, that's going to really hurt," he said of a group of players that won 23-straight regular season games."These seniors were part of a regional championship when they were freshmen, and they wanted to keep that going. It was a special group, a great group of kids."