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EL beats OG

LOOKING FOR ROOM — Oak Glen running back Dakota Price looks for running room during Friday’s 45-7 home loss to East Liverpool. (Jimmy Joe Savage)

NEW MANCHESTER — Friday against Oak Glen, the East Liverpool football team played the kind of football it envisioned all season.

Quarterback Austin Mayfield burned the Golden Bears with his arm, while the Potters got timely plays from their defense and solid special teams play in a 45-7 rout over their rivals at Oak Glen High School.

“I’m proud of the guys’ overall effort in all facets of the game,” East Liverpool coach Josh Ludwig said. “The offense moved the football, the defense came up with some turnovers and the special teams didn’t give up anything big. It was a great effort by all the Potters.”

The Potters (2-5) set the tone on the first series of the game when Zach Gill stepped in front of a Lance Collins pass for an interception and raced 30 yards for a touchdown.

Mayfield was a handful for the Golden Bears (1-6) whether he was throwing or running. Mayfield completed 18-of-24 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown. He added 66 yards on 17 carries and three rushing touchdowns.

Mayfield’s favorite target was senior Noah Shaw, who hauled in four passes for a season-high 161 yards.

Shaw was the recipient of two long Mayfield passes in the second quarter which helped tilt the momentum toward East Liverpool for good.

With the Potters up 14-7 midway through the second, Mayfield found Shaw in stride for a 56 yard bomb, which set up a 33-yard field goal by Dylan Kidder.

On the next possession, Mayfield lofted a gorgeous 62-yard touchdown strike to Shaw to make it 24-7 at halftime. The Golden Bears didn’t threaten the rest of the way.

The Golden Bears’ lone score came on a 31-yard touchdown from running back Dakota Price early in the second quarter to make it 14-7. Oak Glen established a nice rhythm with Price again on their next possession when they moved the ball to the Potters 15. Two East Liverpool sacks, however, moved the Golden Bears way back. Oak Glen turned the ball over on downs at its 39, setting up the Mayfield-to-Shaw score.

“We had a lot of missed opportunities,” Oak Glen coach Ted Arneault said. “We came out and played well defensively, but not enough to stop the big play.

“Big plays, whether they were turnovers by us or big plays by their offense, killed our momentum.”

The Potters defense limited Price to 89 yards on 19 carries, including just 13 in the second half. East Liverpool also sacked Collins five times.

“(Wide receiver) Chase Crago’s a good ballplayer and we were able to hold him to a minimum,” Ludwig said. “Our goal was to keep Price under 100 yards and our defense did a great job against him. We were also able to keep Collins in the pocket.”

East Liverpool hosts Buckeye Local on Friday while Oak Glen welcomes Harrison Central.

“One thing I will note positively is we didn’t have a lot of penalties,” Arneault said. “That’s something we worked on coming into this game and if there’s any light I can see at the end of the tunnel it’s that we reduced our penalties.”

East Liverpool 45, Oak Glen 7

East Liverpool     14  10  7  13  —  45

Oak Glen    0   7   0   0  —    7

E: Gill 30 interception return (Dylan Kidder kick)

E: Mayfield 12 run (Kidder kick)

O: Price 31 run (Collin Williams kick)

E: FG 33 Kidder

E: Shaw 62 pass from Mayfield (Kidder kick)

E: Mayfield 10 run (Kidder kick)

E: Mayfield 1 run (Kidder kick)

E: Reed 4 run (Kidder kick)

RUSHING: East Liverpool, Mayfield 17-66, Carter 2-44, Kopras 7-22, Reed 2-11; Oak Glen, Price 19-89, Collins 13 (-15), Rowland 7-16.

PASSING: East Liverpool, Mayfield 18-24-242-0; Oak Glen, Collins 2-10-60-1.

RECEIVING: East Liverpool, Shaw 4-161, Adkins 6-54, Gill 6-18, Ice 2-9; Oak Glen, Crago 1-37, Mueller 1-23.

FIRST DOWNS: EL 16, OG 9

PENALTIES: EL 5-53, OG 5-45

FUMBLES: EL 1-1, OG 2-1

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