Jonathan Alder’s Brendan Liford (4) picks up yardage late in Friday’s game at DeSales. Also shown for JA are Denver Petersheim (27), Andrew McGlaughlin (53) and Alex Schrock (51). (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
Jonathan Alder head football coach Brett Glass explained it as well as anybody could to his team after Friday evening’s game at Columbus St. Francis DeSales.
“Guys, tonight you just ran into a better team,” he said after Alder’s season-ending 31-6 loss to the Stallions. “That’s life.”
The loss came during the Division III, Region 11 semifinal game on the Stallions’ turf field.
The No. 4 seed Pioneers (who finished the season with an 8-1 record) could not get much in the way of offense established against the region’s No. 1 squad.
DeSales limited the Pioneers to 83 yards rushing. JA did pass for 194, but finished well below its game-average for total offense.
On the other hand, the Stallions ran through JA’s defense for 353 yards on the ground.
“We just didn’t have an answer to their two running backs,” said Glass.
Quintell Quinn, who is an Ohio University recruit, carried the ball through the Pioneers for 189 yards, while Jonathan Thompson added 113.
Both kept their legs churning and carried Pioneer players for extra yardage most of the times they touched the ball.
Jonathan Alder took the game’s opening kickoff and proceeded to march down the field.
Will Heisler picked up some critical yards, while quarterback JT Keith found his younger brother Jonathan on a couple of pass receptions.
Heisler carried the pigskin down to the DeSales 26-yard-line.
Keith, though, was sacked on the next snap, leaving the ball at the Stallions’ 32.
Keith went for broke on the next play, firing the ball toward Jackson Izzard in the end zone.
DeSales’ Nicky Pentello, however, intercepted the pass to keep JA off the scoreboard.
DeSales took over on its own 20 and used up nearly the rest of the first-quarter clock on a scoring drive.
Quinn did most of the heavy lifting on the ground during the series.
He capped the drive with a seven-yard run into the end zone.
JJ Baughman’s extra point gave the Stallions a 7-0 lead with 43 seconds left in the quarter.
The Pioneers had the ball for only three plays as action moved into the second period.
JA punted to the Stallions, who later had to return the favor.
Alder got across midfield on its second possession of the stanza, but again had to surrender the ball on a punt.
DeSales took over on its own 14.
Quinn and Thompson covered 30 yards on four plays.
Quarterback Whit Hobgood then connected with Jordan Johnson on a pass to midfield.
Hobgood handed the ball to Quinn on the ensuing snap.
The Stallions’ senior got through to the second level of Pioneer defenders, made a couple of twists and turns and was off to the races.
He didn’t stop until he had crossed into the end zone on a 50-yard jaunt.
Baughman’s extra point pushed DeSales out to a 14-0 lead with slightly less than two minutes left until halftime.
Alder went through another three-and-out, surrendering the ball on a punt.
The Stallions took over on their own 37 with 1:06 left to play until the half.
Hobgood took to the air more during the possession, connecting with Nathan Barber, Quinn and Kyle Nicely.
Time was running out in the half when the Stallions moved down to the JA 23-yard-line.
That forced Hobgood to spike the ball with five ticks on the timer.
That was enough time, however, for Baughman to line up a 40-yard field goal that sent the Stallions into the turn with a 17-0 advantage.
The Stallions gave themselves additional breathing room by scoring on the first series of the third quarter.
Once again, Quinn returned to the ground game, for which Alder had no response.
He carried the ball for the final 11 yards, including a one-yard dive over the top of JA’s defense into the end zone.
Baughman booted the extra point as DeSales climbed to a 24-0 margin.
The Pioneers made sure they wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment of a shutout.
They tallied their lone touchdown on their next possession.
The series ended when Keith connected with Tyson Mast on a 49-yard scoring strike.
JA attempted to go for a two-point conversion.
Keith, who battled a good deal of pressure from DeSales’ defense for much of the night, threw an incompletion on the play.
It didn’t take long for the Stallions to respond to Alder’s only score.
DeSales took over on its own 25-yard-line after JA’s kickoff.
Thompson took the handoff from Hobgood and blasted through Alder’s defense en route to a 75-yard touchdown.
Baughman’s PAT gave the Stallions the 31-6 spread that held up for the remainder of the game.
Despite the loss, Glass said he was proud of his team.
“Our guys never quit and they battled hard,” he said. “We had a couple of drives in which we didn’t score, so we left some plays and points out of the field.
“We just couldn’t get our running game going and it was tough to protect JT against a bigger line,” he said.
Pioneer quarterback JT Keith rears back to throw the football down the field at DeSales on Friday. Keith completed 16-of-31 passes for 194 yards. (Journal-Tribune photograph by Sam Dillon)
Denver Petersheim (27) of Jonathan Alder picks up yardage against DeSales Friday evening. The Pioneers finished the season with an 8-1 record after their 31-6 loss to the Stallions in the Division III, Regional 11 semifinal contest. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)