LEXINGTON, Ohio – It took Taylor Gerhardt longer than usual to find his way to the coach’s office Friday night. Celebrating your first victory as a high school football coach, seeing your team snap an 18-game losing streak and enjoying your school’s first home win in almost two years made it an enjoyable walk back from the field.
All those moments were rolled into one during a 26-19 win against cross-town rival Ontario in the non-league season opener for both teams.
Lexington’s last win came in week two of the 2013 season when the Minutemen won at Shelby, 28-12. The team’s last home win was on Sept. 14, 2012, when Lexington stopped Orrville, 30-8.
“The most emotion I have tonight is pride for these kids,” the second-year coach said after his team used a defensive goal-line stand and a 204-yard rushing night from junior Hunter Biddle to subdue the Warriors. “I can’t tell you how happy I am for these boys. They survived an 0-10 season last year and then everything I put them through to get them ready for this season.
“They stayed the course. I could not be more proud of them tonight.”
Proud enough to give his team a day off on Saturday? “Hell no,” Gerhardt said with a smile. “We have got work to do.”
Dominance up front: Ontario seventh-year coach Scott Kreger credited Lexington’s work in the trenches for the win. The Minutemen rushed the ball 45 times for 316 yards and three TDS. Biddle (21 carries, 204 yards, 2 TDs on runs of 56 and 8 yards) was supported by fellow junior running back Jakob Goettel (10 carries, 48 yards) and senior quarterback Joey Vore (14 carries, 64 yards, one 12-yard scoring run).
Nowhere was that line play more clear than during a Lexington 16-play, 73-yard scoring drive that took 6:38 to reach the end to tie the game early in the second quarter. Every play was a run and none was longer than 10 years. Almost every run was between the tackles.
“Their offensive line handled us, hands down, at the line of scrimmage. You can see the results of that. They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect. They just executed better than we did tonight. I give our kids a lot of credit for their effort, but Lexington deserved that win tonight,” Kreger said.
Gerhardt praised the work of junior center Garrett Muti (5-9, 185), senior guard Tyler Reece (5-9, 245), junior guard Jared Galat (6-2, 210), senior tackle Paul Hogsette (6-4, 240) and sophomore tackle Keslyr Hooper (6-5, 280).
“The big uglies up front did the job,” Gerhardt said. “I tell those kids every day we will go where they take us.”
Biddle, who started both ways as a sophomore last year at tight end and linebacker, found a home in the backfield Friday night. He had a 56-yard TD run in the second quarter and ripped off a 76-yard gain in the third quarter to set up the winning TD by Vore.
Meanwhile, the Lexington defensive line closed down the Ontario offense most of the night, limiting the Warriors to 240 total yards, including a 70-yard scoring run in the second quarter by junior Treyvian Jordan.
OHS senior quarterback Alex Vredenburgh was hounded all night, held to 42 yards on 20 carries. He also completed 15 of 26 passes for 127 yards and one TD, but was picked off three times.
“I hope Alex doesn’t have to take the beating he took tonight all season,” Kreger said. “We are going to have to block better for him and find a way to get more backs involved in the offense. The only way we will be successful this season is to be multi-dimensional.”
Goal line stand: Lexington rolled up big yardage on offense, but it was a goal line stand late in the third quarter that kept the score tied at 19 and allowed the ensuing winning drive.
The Warriors started at their own 45 with 5:51 left in the period and quickly moved to a first-and-goal at the Lexington 9-yard line, highlighted by a 30-yard pass from Vredenburgh to Jordan.
That’s where the Minutemen defense stood up, stuffing Vredenburgh for no gain on a keeper, keeping Hunter Plew out of the endzone on a 7-yard reception and then nailing senior Greg Dorsey for a 1-yard loss on third-and-goal from the two.
Ontario, which saw two failed PAT kicks Friday night, opted to go for it. But junior defensive back A.J. Nickoli raced in and nailed Vredenburgh for a 4-yard loss as the QB rolled to his left, looking for an opening.
“We talk about playing this play,” Gerhardt said. “We can only impact one play and it’s this one now. We can’t do anything about plays in the past. We work on tackling every single day in practice. We have worked on rugby tackling, taking the head out of it, wrapping the arms and getting the guy on the ground. A.J. was a little high on that (tackle), but he got him on the ground.”
Emotional leader: Junior T.J. Gerhardt, expected to start in the backfield and also on defense, was limited to snapping on punts Friday night. The coach’s son was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome this summer and spent seven days in Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
The syndrome is a serious neurological disorder that can cause nerve damage and can often take months for a full recovery.
“T.J. lost 15 pounds of muscle, but he has eked his way back out there. He is about 65 percent, but he snapped (on punts) for us all night and ran down and made a tackle on special teams. He shows his teammates what toughness is all about,” coach Gerhardt said.
Next up: Lexington travels to 1-0 Shelby next Friday night. The Whippets defeated Madison on opening night. Ontario travels to play 0-1 Clear Fork. The Colts dropped their opener to Fredericktown.
“They just executed better than we did tonight. I give our kids a lot of credit for their effort, but Lexington deserved that win tonight,” Coach Scott Kreger said.
