Ontario overcomes slow start to roll past Clear Fork on Senior Night

ONTARIO —  Ontario coach Chris Miller had the same instructions for every senior after they crossed the field with their parents on Friday night.

“Give your mom a kiss and a hug,” Miller said. “And let’s get ready to win a football game.”

Mission accomplished for the Warriors on Senior Night.

Ontario, after spotting Clear Fork a two-TD lead in the first 20 minutes, roared back with six unanswered scores of its own to claim a 41-14 win in a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference game.

The win evened Ontario’s record at 2-2 while Clear Fork fell to 0-4.

SENIORS LEAD THE WAY: Ontario was powered by the same seniors it honored before the game.

— Senior quarterback Ethan Snyder completed 18 of 27 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns. He also scored himself on a 5-yard run.

— Senior wide receiver Nolan Payne caught five passes for 81 yards and two scores on receptions of 11 yards and 25 yards.

— Senior running back Jaylon Scott caught two passes for 131 yards, including an 85-yard catch-and-run of a screen pass.

— Senior wide receiver Owen Hatfield ran the ball four times for 67 yards, including a 33-yard TD burst.

All of that scoring came after Ontario fell behind 14-0, the fourth time in four games the Warriors have fallen behind by two scores early.

“I don’t know what it is about the start of football games,” Miller said. “We stressed (starting faster) all week. We talked about it before we came out tonight.

“I don’t know. We’re tried some different things and we just need to get to get off to a better start,” Miller said.

The Warriors have 18 seniors on their roster and that experience has not panicked despite early deficits in all four starts, including a 28-24 win against River Valley (3-1) last week.

“I saw probably the same thing we’re seen the first four weeks of the year,” Miller said. “I am probably the craziest person out there. The kids keep their composure and do a nice job of moving onto the next play and all of the things that we kind of preach during the week.

“We’re got a lot seniors and I think the maturity of them (makes a difference),” Miller said.

Miller said he saw plenty of things his team needs to improve upon.

“We’ve got to clean a lot of things up. It was very sloppy for us offensively. Penalties and drive-killers. We just kind of all year have hurt ourselves on that side of the ball. If we can ever get that figured out, we might turn the corner a little bit,” Miller said.

LOOKING FOR A WIN: Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll, who has built one of the area’s best programs, said his young team (which had eight sophomores on the field against Ontario) has to learn.

“We started out like gangbusters, once again, get the lead. And then like in the past, then the wheels start falling off. We have talked over and over. We know what the problem is. It’s like when a person has a bad habit, they have to admit before they can fix it,” Carroll said.

“We have admitted it. The kids have admitted it. We just do not keep our focus. Until the kids decide that we’re gonna play with discipline and we’re gonna give an all-out effort all the time, this is what we’re going to get,” he said.

“We have good kids. I love these kids. They have character. We’re just not playing good football right now. I feel bad for them because they’re trying. They’re trying to get better,” Carroll said.

The Colts were led by senior running back Ashton Lyon, who rushed for 117 yards on 18 carries, including an 11-yard TD run in the second quarter that gave Clear Fork a 14-0 lead with just 4:16 left before intermission.

Lyon also caught all four passes Clear Fork completed for another 62 yards.

Senior QB Brady Tedrow gave the Colts a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, capping a long opening drive with an 11-yard run. He finished the game with nine carries for 35 yards before leaving in the second quarter with a knee injury.

Lyon and Tedrow were the only Colts who finished with positive rushing yardage.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Ontario finished with 17 first downs, rushing for 179 yards on 31 carries and passing for 299 more, rolling up 478 yards of total offense.

Clear Fork had 13 first downs, running the ball 39 times for 150 yards and passing for 62 more, finishing with 212 yards in total offense.

Sophomore QB Victor Skoog came off the bench and completed three of nine passes for 53 yards.

UP NEXT: Ontario travels to Galion (2-2) next Friday night. The Tigers fell to unbeaten Shelby in week four, 42-6. Clear Fork hosts Marion Pleasant (1-3), which lost to River Valley, 28-14 on Friday night.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st quarter

Clear Fork — Brady Tedrow 11-yard run (PAT Luke Labaki kick)

2nd quarter

Clear Fork — Ashton Lyon 11-yard run (PAT Labaki kick)

Ontario — Owen Hatfield 33-yard run (PAT Spencer Hall kick)

Ontario — Nolan Payne 11-yard pass from Ethan Snyder (PAT Hall kick)

3rd quarter

Ontario — Payne 25-yard pass from Snyder (PAT Hall kick)

Ontario — Jaylon Scott 85-yard pass from Snyder (PAT Hall kick)

4th quarter

Ontario — Snyder 5-yard run (PAT kick failed)

Ontario — Hatfield 30-yard pass from Snyder (PAT Hall kick)