Nostalgia was in the air Friday night at Bellevue Athletic Field.
The Redmen hosted Clyde in the annual Route 20 rivalry game in front of a capacity crowd, and it was a throwback to games of years past with Bellevue holding on for a 14-7 win.
The Redmen improved to 3-0 for just the second time in 13 years, while Clyde fell to 1-2 for the second straight year. Last season, it was the Fliers claiming a 14-7 win. The Redmen also improved to 8-2 at home vs. the Fliers since the series resumed in 1994, and own a 27-11-3 series lead in all-time meetings.
With the two teams combining for just 29 pass attempts and 79 rushing attempts, the low-scoring game was old-school football that resulted in the eighth one-possession game between the two teams in the previous 18 meetings.
"It was two good teams and two very proud programs with great kids just going at it in a hard-fought game," Bellevue coach Ed Nasonti said. "What more could you expect? I'm just glad to come out on the winning side of it. Anytime you can win your big rivalry game, it's huge. We're humble, but want our kids to stay hungry.
Ashland 58, Sandusky 7
After a strong run for the last two and a half seasons, including two playoff appearances, one Greater Buckeye Conference championship and one Northern Ohio League championship, Sandusky has found the going a little rocky to start the 2012 season.
The inexperienced Blue Streaks found out how rough it can get by suffering a 58-7 pasting against Ashland Friday to open up its home portion of the schedule. After two straight blowout losses to open the season on the road, Sandusky had hoped to regroup and give the hometown fans at Cedar Point Stadium something to cheer about.
It didn’t happen.
The onslaught began right away, with the Arrows (2-1) finding the turf at Strobel Field to its liking by scoring on five of their six first half possessions to grab a 30-0 lead at the half.
The big play-makers for Ashland were Tyson Vogel and Nick Barker, the quarterback-wide out tandem that played pitch and catch seemingly at will until they sat near the end of the third quarter.
By halftime Vogel threw for 325 yards, completing 16 of 21 passes with three touchdowns. Two of those TD tosses went to Barker. Vogel added a rushing touchdown to open the game’s scoring, while Barker had 232 yards on 11 catches after just two quarters. He finished the night with 241 yards, while adding seven extra points and a 27-yard field goal to close out the first half.
For more information on these games, and others, see Saturday's Sandusky Register.
