By DOUG DONNELLY

By DOUG DONNELLY

Monroe News

OTTAWA LAKE – Eight yards and a cloud of dust.

The Whiteford Bobcat offense put its running game in attack mode Friday, averaging eight yards on a carry and finishing with 465 yards on the ground in a 50-14 win over Erie Mason.

The Bobcats split a whopping 60 carries among five players. Jake Iott and Hunter DeBarr both passed the 100-yard mark. Iott, Drew Knaggs and quarterback Shea Ruddy scored two touchdowns apiece as the Whiteford run game dominated the game.

“I thought as the game went on, we got better,” Bobcat coach Todd Thieken said. “We made some mistakes in the first half, missed some assignments. In the second half, we cleaned some of those things up.”

Erie Mason was seemingly within striking distance late in the first half. The Eagles won the coin toss and took the ball, scoring on its first possession when Vaughn Brown found Trent Herrera on a 15-yard scoring play.

The Bobcats came right back, however, marching 63 yards on 11 plays before Drew Knaggs scored from two yards out. Whiteford never relinquished the lead.

After forcing the Eagles to punt, Jake Iott finished off a seven-play drive with a 14-yard touchdown. The Eagles punted again on their next possession and the Bobcats needed eight plays to go 53 yards with Iott covering the final 20 yards.

Brandon Knaggs put the Bobcats up 28-6 with a 12-yard run midway through the second quarter but the Eagles took advantage of a Whiteford turnover to pull within 28-14 with 5:06 left before halftime. Erie Mason would not score again, despite having a couple of possessions.

The Bobcats tacked on three scores in the second half as the Whiteford defense stiffened. One of the big keys was pressure the defensive front put on Brown. Whiteford stats had Brayden Luse with three tackles for loss and Iott 2.5. Ryin Ruddy, Iott, Drew Knaggs, Luse, Shane Suchora and Seamus Waterford had sacks.

“A couple of times we got off the ball really good,” Thieken said. “He was getting sacked before he even had a chance.”

The Whiteford defense allowed just six yards rushing. Brown had 19 carries for 16 yards, all of them on plays where he dropped back to pass and had to scramble.

Mason coach Steve Bowers said the Whiteford defense was impressive.

“They fly around the ball,” Bowers said. “They are very impressive.”

Brown finished with 172 yards passing. Trent Herrera caught five passes for 72 yards.

Bowers was pleased with how the Eagles hung in the game against the No. 1 ranked Bobcats.

“Before the game and all week long we told the kids we have nothing to lose,” Bowers said. “We’ve had a few rough weeks with injuries and lost some starters. We said we were coming in and do what we can, the things we practice, the things we work on. No one expected us to come here and win except us.”

The Eagles have gone 0-3 since starting the season 5-0. It appears they must win in week nine to reach the playoffs.

Whiteford probably sealed home field with the win, which also clinched the second consecutive outright Tri-County Conference title for the Bobcats. Whiteford is 8-0 and play Pioneer (Ohio) North Central to try and finish 9-0 for the first time since 2018.

“We did some things in the first half that were not who we are,” Thieken said. “We wanted to come out in the second half and finish this game off. As the game went on, we got better and better. It was good for us to have a tight game. We did what we had to do.”

ERIE MASON 6 8 0 0 – 14

WHITEFORD 16 12 22 0 – 50

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

EM – Trent Herrera 14 pass from Vaughn Brown (pass failed), 10:04

W – Drew Knaggs 2 run (Jake Iott run), 5:34

W – Iott 1 run (D. Knaggs run), 2:07

Second Quarter

W – Iott 20 run (pass failed), 9:43

W – Brandon Knaggs 12 run (run failed), 7:01

EM – T. Herrera 42 pass from Brown (Cole Kreger pass from Brown), 5:06

Third Quarter

W – D. Knaggs 2 run (Iott run), 8:55

W – Shea Ruddy 49 run (Iott run), 4:15

W – Ruddy 1 run (run failed), 1:50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Erie Mason: Brown 19-16, Miller 1-(minus)-3, Kreger 2-(minus)-7. Totals 22-6. Whiteford: DeBarr 19-156, Iott 14-123, B. Knaggs 8-70, D. Knaggs 13-61, S. Ruddy 6-55. Totals 60-465.

Passing – Erie Mason: Brown 17-35-2-1 172. Whiteford: S. Ruddy 1-7-0-1 33 yards.

Receiving – Erie Mason: T. Herrera 5-72, Kreger 4-39, K. Herrera 1-31, Narew 4-27, Murbach 3-3. Whiteford: K. Masserant 1-33.