Chieftains' D blanks Gibsonburg in 25-0 rout

GIBSONBURG — Friday night, undefeated Hopewell-Loudon went into halftime with a slim 6-0 lead on the road against Sandusky Bay Conference River Division foe, Gibsonburg. The Chieftains came out in the second half and took control to shut the Golden Bears out, 25-0."It was kind of a weird first half," Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said. "We had the ball our first drive—a 90-yard drive. Scored. Then, we turned it over two times in a row. We only ran a couple plays the rest of the half."Colatruglio said it felt like the Chieftains were in control of the game at the half, but it was only 6-0."We cleaned some stuff up after halftime, and our defense just battled the whole night," the coach continued. "To shut out that team…is really good team defense. We just didn't give up any big plays."H-L got the ball to start the third quarter, and made the most of the opportunity when Jacoby Ellis threw the ball over the middle to Luca SanGregory for 34 yards to get down to the Gibsonburg 8-yard line. Two plays later, Jaysin Cramer shook off defenders on his way to a seven-yard rushing score. The Chieftains led 12-0 with a little over four minutes of game clock spent in the second half.After picking up a first down from back-to-back runs by Grant Smith, Gibsonburg's Aiden Nims was tackled for a loss by Chieftain defender Joe Ewald to thwart the Bears' next possession.H-L then scored on a 10-play, 62-yard drive that lasted 5:38. Two plays after a Cramer four-yard rush was good enough for a first down, H-L's Brody Brickman broke off a 44-yard dash to the Bears 4.On fourth-and-goal from the six-yard line, the Ellis threw a short pass over the middle to Brickman for a TD. The score was 18-0 in favor of H-L with 11:53 left in the contest.After forcing Gibsonburg to punt, Brickman was able to return the ball across midfield to the Golden Bear's 37-yard line.The first play of the Chieftain's drive, Cramer took off to the left for 18 yards followed by a 10-yard scamper by Brickman to make it a first-and-goal scenario for the Scarlet & Gray. Two plays later, Brickman ran it up the middle from a yard out for a score. H-L's Ethan Link's PAT was good to cap off the scoring, 25-0.Hopewell-Loudon (5-0 overall, 2-0 SBC River) passed for 82 yards while rushing for 168 yards for 250 total offensive yards in the game.The Chieftains' Ellis was 6-of-9 for 82 passing yards, two TDs, and an interception. Cramer had 15 attempts for 83 rushing yards to lead his team in the category. Brickman had 11 carries for 81 rushing yards and a TD to go with three receptions for 27 yards and two receiving TDs.Gibsonburg (3-2, 1-1) rushed for 139 yards, but had negative-three yards passing on the night. The Golden Bears' Grant Smith had 19 carries for 72 rushing yards.On the opening drive of the game, Nims rushed for a 17-yard gain to move the ball into Chieftain territory before the Golden Bears were forced to punt. The Orange & Black junior Reece Walby's punt was downed at the H-L 8-yard line.From there, the Chieftains went on a 16-play, 92-yard scoring drive highlighted by the athletic abilities of Brickman and Cramer. Cramer had four carries for 34 yards on the drive while Brickman rushed for 18 yards on six runs.The drive was capped off on third-and-12 when Ellis threw a short screen pass left to Brickman—who then cut up the middle through his blockers for an 18-yard touchdown reception.The two-point attempt failed, but Hopewell-Loudon led 6-0 with 1:24 left in the first quarter.