St. Charles runs over Sandusky

The Redskins’ Keith Perry (78) and Clint Northrop, muddied and wearied from the outcome, watch their season come to an end in the final minutes of Friday’s night’s playoff game at St. Charles. (Photo by Dale Ball) ST. CHARLES – For a few minutes, the Sandusky Redskins looked like they could be in for a good night. Then, St. Charles decided to score on seven of its first eight possessions.

The Redskins saw their football season end Friday night in a Division 6 first round game when the Bulldogs rolled to a, 51-12, triumph on the muddy St. Charles High School field. St. Charles (9-1) will host Reese (8-2) this Friday evening in a Region 2, District 2 championship game. Sandusky finished its season at 6-4.

“We didn’t tackle real well,” admitted Brad Bays, Sandusky coach. But, he also added, “After their first touchdown, we were in our spots (on defense). We had trouble with (muddy) conditions and their size. Our defense (three-five),” continued Bays, “is a combination of blitzing and stunting. But, we couldn’t do any of that. It was the worst field conditions I’ve seen.”

Sophomore Justin Mills of Sandusky drives for extra yardage on a kick return against St. Charles Friday night. (Photo by Dasle Ball) The Single-wing offense is one resurrected from the earlier days of football when passing was almost nonexistent at any level. It worked to near perfection for the Bulldogs, tri-champions of the Tri-Valley West, despite the field conditions.

Sandusky cashed in on a St. Charles fumble in the early moments of the game. Andrew Fetting skipped 27 yards for a touchdown to put Sandusky up, 6-0.

Bays of was afraid of the Bulldogs’ big-play offense coming in, and they proved why he should be.

Tyler Larsen, a shifty, 6’2”, 200 pound running back, knotted the game on a 55 yard scamper. Travis Crane then booted the first of his four extra points.

Before the quarter was over, the Bulldogs’ Tyler Nieman raced 75 yards to paydirt on a third-and-four.

St. Charles pushed the lead to 20-6 in the early moments of the second quarter when Larsen escaped on a third-and-13 play for another 75 yard jaunt.

The Redskins gave the ball back on downs to the Bulldogs at the Sandusky 28. A running attempt on a fourth down-and-two was stopped by the St. Charles defense.

Three plays later, St. Charles’ Duggan Russa plowed in from two yards out for a 27-6 lead.

Sandusky finally got its offense going again, moving to the Bulldogs’ 19 late in the half. An interception by Russa ended the threat.

The Bulldogs quickly added three more scores in the second half, sandwiched between a power outage that lasted about 15 minutes.

After the lights came on St. Charles added one more score in the fourth quarter. Sandusky closed out the scoring with a four yard TD run by senior Clint Northrop.

For the night, the Bulldogs netted 309 yards of offense, with all but one yard coming on the ground. The ‘Skins managed 149 yards rushing and were 0- for-6 in the air. Fetting finished with 58 yards rushing while Northrop had 52.

Bays noted that he would have used the passing game out of the spread more, but the field conditions would not allow it.

“We couldn’t pass the ball because we couldn’t cut,” said Bays.

Overall, added Bays, “Obviously we didn’t play our best. But, the kids played hard.”