ONTARIO — Mason Vantilburg enjoyed a bagel for Homecoming on Friday night.
The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Ontario running back used all 2,800 of his ounces to break a myriad of tackles and then raced into the end zone on a 44-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown run that stopped a Clear Fork rally dead in its tracks.
The score put the undefeated Warriors back on top by 10 as Ontario improved to 5-0 and 2-0 in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference with a 31-14 win over the Colts.
Clear Fork (1-4, 0-2) had closed a 17-0 second-quarter deficit to 17-14 entering the fourth quarter. That’s when the stellar senior stepped away, leaving a trail of grasping Colt defenders in his wake.
“It’s called bagel,” Vantilburg said after the game in describing the play call. “Because it goes left and I am starting on the right.”
The back-breaker was the second TD of the night for Vantilburg, who finished with 124 yards on just 16 carries, averaging nearly eight yards per attempt. It was followed just minutes later by a 43-yard scoring run by QB Bodpegn Miller to finish it.
photo gallery from ontario’s 31-14 win against clear fork
Ontario coach Aaron Eckert laughingly called the Vantilburg play by a different name.
“That is the Vantilburg Special right there,” Eckert said. “He is a hard runner for a guy who most wouldn’t consider a big or heavy back. He runs like he is 200 pounds and we are fortunate to have him on our team.”
Vantilburg said the fourth-quarter score helped make up for his earlier mistake, though even he cannot explain from where his power running emerges.
“I just had to make up for that fumble I had,” Vantilburg said.
“When I get the ball, my adrenaline starts running and I feel like I have to turn up the effort. That’s what that play was all about,” he said.
Clear Fork coach Aaron Brokaw admitted the Vantilburg score was a huge difference.
“We got it to three points, and they were completely gassed and we had all of the momentum,” Brokaw said. “That’s what we were telling our guys.
“We practice to play four quarters. It has to show up in the fourth quarter and it didn’t tonight. We just keep finding ways to shoot ourselves in the foot.
“Our kids are fighting. So we are proud of that. But we just put ourselves in some bad situations. As a staff, we have to figure out how to change that,” he said.
The second-year head coach declined to point to injuries as a reason for the loss. The Colts were without their starting quarterback, a starting receiver and two starting defensive players.
“It has to be next-man-up,” Brokaw said. “Those are excuses, and there is no room for those in this program.”
The two-headed backfield monster of Miller — a 6-4, 190-pound senior who will play receiver at Ohio State next season — and Vantilburg finds ways to put opponents into bad positions.
“I think you’ve really got two guys that can run. They have a little different running styles, but they’re both really effective. That’s why we’re the top rushing team in the conference, along with some other good backs that we have,” Eckert said.
ontario announces homecoming king and queen before game
Miller completed just 6-of-16 passes for 50 yards, but rushed for 157 yards on just 10 carries and two TDs, including a 55-yard burst up the middle to open the game’s scoring in the first quarter.
The Warriors finished with for 319 yards on 31 carries. Clear Fork had 135 yards on 47 attempts.
Eckert said seeing the Colts cut the lead to just three with a TD run from QB Mason Sansom and a touchdown catch by Jay Jackson was a wake-up call for his team.
“Our O-line really stepped up and really took over the game at that point,” Eckert said. “We struggled early with their front. They do a great job defensively, having not given up 100 yards rushing to a team this year.
“Fortunately for us, we were able to grind through that and take care of business,” he said.
The Ontario coach also praised what he said was an improved Clear Fork team.
“Those kids play very hard,” Eckert said. “They are getting back to playing Clear Fork football. You saw that tonight with how tough and physical they are. We knew they were going to come out and punch us in the mouth, and we just had to respond.”
For the game, Sansom completed 10-of-14 passes for 106 yards, one TD and two interceptions. He also ran for 43 yards and a TD on 19 carries.
Clear Fork’s Porter Schmidt ran for 58 yards on 15 attempts. Jackson had 26 yards on five carries and added seven catches for 79 yards.
A week nine Ontario showdown with unbeaten MOAC opponent Shelby (5-0, 2-0) is just a month away. But Eckert said it’s not on the Warriors’ radar — yet. The Whippets knocked off Ontario last year in a 37-31 thriller.
“We’re just trying to be 1-0. We can only beat the team that’s in front of us that week. We have an opportunity to beat that team.
“We’ll enjoy this one tonight and tomorrow we’ll start taking a look at what we did wrong and try to correct it and then get ready for (next week),” Eckert said.
Up next:
— Ontario is at Galion (4-1) in another Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference game next Friday night. The Tigers lost their first game of the season on Friday night at home against unbeaten Shelby, 35-6.
— Clear Fork hosts Marion Pleasant (3-2) in an MOAC game. The Spartans fell to River Valley in week five, 35-0.
Ontario 31, Clear Fork 14
Scoring summary
1st quarter
Ontario — Bodpegn Miller 55-yard run (PAT Kooper Kilgore kick), 7-0
Ontario — Kilgore 24-yard field goal, 10-0
2nd quarter
Ontario — Mason Vantilburg 3-yard run (PAT Kilgore kick), 17-0
Clear Fork — Mason Sansom 1-yard run (PAT kick failed), 17-6
3rd quarter
Clear Fork — Jay Jackson 24-yard pass from Sansom (PAT Sansom run), 17-14
4th quarter
Ontario — Vantilburg 44-yard run (PAT Kilgore kick), 24-14
Ontario — Miller 43-yard run (PAT Kilgore kick), 31-14
