SHELBY, Ohio — Brennan Armstrong played just 24 minutes of football on Friday night, but the Willard defense saw more than enough of him.
Shelby’s standout quarterback racked up six touchdowns, three by land and three by air, to lead the Whippets to a 46-7 romp over the Flashes on Friday night.
“It was another great night with my guys,” Armstrong said. “I felt very comfortable in the pocket, and stepping into my throws.”
He proved it just 57 seconds into the game. Armstrong fired a 51-yard touchdown strike to senior Devin Tuttle, and the hounds were loose.
“Playing quarterback is the hardest position in sports, and we have a very good one at that spot,” Shelby coach Erik Will said. “He’s the hub of our offense, no question.”
Later in the first quarter, Armstrong shook loose on a 5-yard scoring run, and then added a 10-yard TD dash with 10:58 showing in the second period.
Willard (0-6, 0-2) simply couldn’t stop the strapping sophomore, or his teammates.
“We feel like we have the ability to run and throw,” Will said. “What we have to learn is how to adjust when a team takes one of those things away from us.”
That didn’t happen Friday night.
With 5:52 showing in the half, Armstrong faked a hand-off to a teammate and the Flashes converged. He sidestepped a mass of humanity and shot through the middle of the Willard defense 77 yards for a touchdown.
“When I got back to the sidelines the coaches said our running back got smacked, so I went over and told him thanks,” Armstrong said.
He hooked up with senior Brandon Schneider on a 21-yard score, then connected with junior Hunter Egner on a 32-yard TD bomb with 34 seconds left in the half.
That made it 40-0, and the suspense was long since gone.
“Brennan is a very humble young man who is very coachable,” Will said. “The great ones always want to get better.”
The second half was played with a running clock. Still, the Flashes took the kickoff and marched the length of the field for their only score. Junior Derek Provenzale powered in on a 1-yard blast.
Shelby responded with Devon Brooks’ 7-yard touchdown at the 4:31 mark of the third period to finish the scoring.
The Flashes suffered their 23rd consecutive loss. Meanwhile, Shelby improved to 3-3 overall, 2-1 in the Northern Ohio League.
“We played a good first half against Madison and a good first half against Norwalk,” Will said. “We’re going to see if we can build on this.”
