Written by: RON NUNNARI, Centerville-Washington Times on October 8, 2011. rnunnari@tcnewsnet.com

Clayton – Centerville powered its way to 34-7 victory Friday, Oct. 7 to improve to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in the Central Division of the Greater Western Ohio Conference.

The defeat was Northmont’s second consecutive Central Division loss and all but squashed the Thunderbolts hopes of contending for the division title. Northmont fell to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in Central Division play.

The Elks running game powered through Northmont’s defense to amass 360 rushing yards and enabled Centerville to hold the ball for 30 minutes and 14 seconds. Senior quarterback Janson Matthews ran for 133 yards on 24 carries with three touchdowns. Fullbacks Kyle Wenning powered his way to 79 yards on 11 carries and Chris Barr picked up 67 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown.

“Our offensive line is playing well now and they have to in order for us to be successful,” said Centerville Coach Ron Ullery. “With our halfback Dan McCoy out of commission, our fullbacks ran well tonight.”

Junior Jimmy Brooks started at quarterback and completed one pass for 8 yards, but Matthews stepped in and took over.

“Brooks got dinged up a little bit and Matthews did a nice job carrying the load most of the night,” Ullery commented.

Most of the damage inflicted upon Northmont came as a result of Matthews running, but Wenning and Barr also picked up big chunks of yardage when needed.

“Wenning hasn’t gotten a lot of carries this year, but when he does you can tell he’s hungry. He has quick feet,” Ullery added.

The Elks scored just 2:18 into the game on a 23-yard run by Chris Barr. Jason Kaczala added the extra point to give the Elks an early 7-0 lead. That score came as the result of Northmont attempting to catch Centerville off guard with an attempted onside kick on the opening kickoff. The ball traveled too far with Adam Ozio fielding the ball at the Centerville 46 to give the Elks excellent first possession field position.

On Northmont’s first play from scrimmage running back Emery Miliner ripped off a 19 yard gain for a first down at the Thunderbolts’ 45. Cameron Belton passed to Jamal Trammell for eight yards and Miliner picked up a first down at the Elks’ 45. On third and eight Belton got pressure on an attempted pass play and scrambled for another first down at the Elks’ 28. Belton hit tight end Troy Mangen for a six yard gain but on fourth and one the Centerville defense stuffed Miliner for no gain and the Elks took over on downs at their own 19.

Centerville couldn’t sustain a drive and was forced to punt. The ball went out at the Northmont 34 yard line and on first down Belton threw deep down the middle to Trammell. Two Centerville defenders were right in stride with Trammell, but the ball was thrown perfectly and dropped between both defenders and into Trammell’s hands for a first down at the Centerville 21. Miliner got 10 yards for another first down at the 11, but the drive stalled. Northmont attempted a 25 yard field goal, but the kick sailed wide right.

Neither team could get much going on offense until late in the second quarter. Ifeadi Odenigbo and Colton Hale sacked Belton to force a Northmont punt. The 27 yard punt gave the Elks the ball at their own 49 and Centerville took full advantage of the short kick. The Elks drove 51-yards in nine plays with Matthews scoring on a 3-yard run with 1:30 remaining in the first half. Kaczala’s kick was good to boost Centerville’s lead to 14-0.

With less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half the Elks got the ball back on a punt at their 37 yard line. On first down Matthews threw a deep pass and connected with Nick Bozzo for a 44-yard completion to the Thunderbolts’ 19 yard line. Matthews hit Bozzo again for a first and goal at the nine. From there Kaczala kicked a 25-yard field goal to give the Elks a 17-0 halftime lead.

Kaczala added a 33-yard field goal with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter and Matthews scored on a 5-yard run for a 27-0 advantage.

Northmont’s lone score was setup when Mike Hale fumbled a punt and the Thunderbolts recovered the ball at midfield. Two plays later Belton threw another perfect deep pass over the middle to Trammell for a 47-yard touchdown. Joel Anderson’s kick was good to make it 27-7 at the end of the third quarter.

Centerville added another touchdown by driving 62-yards in 13 plays capped by a 5-yard run by Matthews. Kaczala added the point after to make the final score 34-7.

Northmont Coach Lance Schneider attributed his team’s sagging fortunes to a number of factors.

“It’s a lot of things wrong. We have a lot of issues. We are beat up and decimated,” Schneider said. “We have a lot of guys who aren’t normally starters playing because we have so many players that are hurt. Hopefully, the younger guys will learn that the weight room is paramount to our success. They didn’t believe it and now it’s being shown to us on the field. I’ve preached for 12 years that you win games in the weight room. Over the years we’ve beaten teams bigger than us because we were physically stronger. Hopefully we will get back to that. If we don’t, we’re in trouble.”

CEN 7 10 10 7 – 34

NMT 0 0 7 0 – 7

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Qtr: Centerville – Chris Barr 23-yard run. Jason Kaczala kick. 7-0.

2nd Qtr: Centerville – Janson Matthews 3-yard run. Kaczala kick. 14-0

2nd Qtr: Centerville – Kaczala 25-yard field goal. 17-0

3rd Qtr: Centerville – Kaczala 33-yard field goal. 20-0.

3rd Qtr: Centerville – Matthews 5-yard run. Kaczala kick. 27-0.

3rd Qtr: Northmont – Cameron Belton 47-yard pass to Jamal Trammell. Joel Anderson kick. 27-7.

4th Qtr: Centerville – Matthews 5-yard run. Kaczala kick. 34-7.

First Downs: Centerville 24, Northmont 9.

Rushes/yards: Centerville 65-360, Northmont 27-61.

Passing yards: Centerville 63, Northmont 144.

Pass attempts/completions/int: Centerville 7-3-0, Northmont 19-9-0.

Total plays/yards: Centerville 72/423, Northmont 46/205.

Punts/Avg: Centerville 3/27.3, Northmont 6/37.2

Fumbles/Lost: Centerville 1/1, Northmont 0/0.

Penalties/Yards: Centerville 4/30, Northmont 6/60.

Time of Possession: Centerville 30:14, Northmont 17:46.