NANKIN – It took just one Friday night for Mitchell Young to prove that winning is in the genes.
After growing up watching his father, Al Young, accumulate 198 victories in 29 seasons at Black River, Mitchell guided Mapleton to a rousing, comeback victory over visiting Loudonville, 32-24.
The Mounties scored two touchdowns inside the final eight minutes – both on runs by senior Gabe Osborne – to hand the 23-year-old Young a win in his first game as head coach.
“The kids responded (after halftime) in a phenomenal way,” said Young, just a few years removed from playing at Bluffton University. “We’ve got tough kids, we really do.”
Young had his father by his side as the offensive coordinator. While he played for him at Black River, it was the first time the two had coached together.
“The experience that he brings to me on the sideline, the motivation to the kids … the kids love him,” Young said.
The comeback also was keyed by a critical late interception from MHS senior Chase Sword, as Mapleton stole the spotlight away from first-year Redbirds head coach Ed Honabarger.
Far from a rookie, Honabarger arrived in Loudonville this offseason carrying a 132-60 record in 16 seasons leading the program at Danville. His teams there made the playoffs 12 times and Honabarger had spent the last four seasons as an assistant at Ohio Cardinal Conference power West Holmes.
But a stable of Mapleton running backs – including Osborne (10 carries, 60 yards, 2 TDs), junior Jack Keener (8-104-1) and senior Colton Wittman (18-82) – spurred the Mounties to 302 yards on 49 carries.
Replacing graduated quarterback and All-Ohioan Kollin Cline, first-year Mapleton QB Logan Conroy also got his feet wet with 80 yards passing and a 47-yard touchdown to Sword in the first quarter.
“It definitely was back and forth,” Honabarger said. “They outplayed us, they were more physical than us and we made too many mistakes.
“That’s what it comes down to; we’ve been trying to get on the kids about doing the little things right and we didn’t do enough little things right.”
The Redbirds weren’t without their own playmakers.
Quarterback Dilan Wade showed off plenty of athleticism following in the footsteps of graduated standout Matt Sprang. The senior finished 9-of-18 for 137 yards and touchdowns to receivers Josiah Hershberger (6 catches, 106 yards) and Collin Caley (3-31).
Wade also led LHS on the ground (13-65-1) and had a pair of two-point conversion runs on a night when the teams combined to go 7-for-7 on two-point plays.
“We had some kids make some plays in crucial times and that’s something that we can build on – we just need more of that,” Honabarger said. “We didn’t have it enough at the right times.”
Loudonville opened the scoring on the game’s first drive when Wade found Caley over the top of the Mapleton defense for a 28-yard touchdown.
But the Mounties answered on the next play from scrimmage when Keener cut around left end and zoomed up the sideline for a 71-yard score.
Mapleton went ahead 16-8 on the long, Conroy-to-Sword touchdown late in the first quarter.
But the Redbirds spent the next two-plus quarters seemingly taking over in the driver’s seat.
The next five Mountie drives included a turnover on downs, two punts and two interceptions by Loudonville’s Caley and Nic Buzzard.
But after Wade hit Hershberger for a 48-yard touchdown that gave the Redbirds a 24-16 lead late in the third quarter, Mapleton found some crucial fourth-quarter mojo.
A 12-play drive that lasted more than 6 minutes was capped by a 1-yard score from Osborne with 7:47 left.
Conroy’s gutsy two-point run tied it up at 24-24 and just two plays into Loudonville’s ensuing drive, Sword made his leaping interception near midfield to give the ball right back to MHS.
“He went up and had some great catches and got that pick for us,” Young said. “That sealed the deal.”
The Mounties converted a third-and-16 with a 25-yard pass from Conroy to Sword, and Osborne punched in the game-winning scored from 10 yards out with 3:21 remaining.
“I’ve just got to give it all to my line,” Osborne said. “They’re really the reason that I can get around that edge and just bull in for a touchdown.”
Loudonville’s late push to tie the score for a fourth time was snuffed out when Hershberger finished a yard short of the first-down stick near midfield on a fourth-and-10 reception.
That play set off an early celebration for Young and Co. on the Mapleton sideline, as the Mounties went into victory formation.
The new coach noted the line play of Logan Dubois, Shaw Dreibelbis and Garet Garwood and said it was a doozy of a start to his career.
“Our kids come to work everyday and I could not ask for anything else as a coach,” Young said.
The Redbirds remain on the road in Week 2 with a game at Worthington Christian, while Mapleton will be back at John E. Camp Stadium next week against Wellington.
