The Springfield Blue Devils were eager to bounce back and build off of some of the fight they displayed at Sandusky a week prior when they welcomed the Tornadoes of Tiffin Columbian in their home opener on a picturesque late August evening.
It was the Tornadoes, however, that lived up to their namesake, leaving in their path a wake of destruction and questions for Springfield’s defense in the game’s opening 12 minutes. When the dust had settled on a long but electric first quarter, Tiffin Columbian held an eye-popping 34-9 edge on the scoreboard despite running only 20 plays on offense.
That deficit proved too much for the Blue Devils to overcome, falling 46-17.
While the pace with which the Tornadoes played on offense was impressive, Head Coach Jerry Bell insisted it was not something that caught his squad off guard.
“Our guys, we have to fit our gaps properly, and when you get one guy who doesn’t hit his gap properly, then it opens up the hole,” he explained. “They were a good enough football team that they found those gaps that we were just misaligned or just taking the wrong half of the guy. A good football team like Tiffin is going to take advantage of that. We have to get those rectified. We’re trying to get that fixed on the sideline with our replay system so then we get one guy corrected, and then another guy makes a mistake.”
The gaps were big indeed. Only one of the Tornadoes five touchdowns came from less than 25 yards out. Four of the five came on the ground, too, with scoring runs of 62, seven, 41 and 25 yards, respectively, building up a 27-6 lead within the game’s first seven minutes and change.
Thanks largely to those scoring runs, Tiffin Columbian rushed for 197 yards in the first half on 16 carries and 307 for the game, averaging over 10.5 yards per rush on the night.
It was hardly a welcome encore for the new defense installed this year after struggling in week one, too.
“We’re just going to continue repping it and continue getting our kids in the right position and keep coaching them hard,” said Bell.
The big play department was not exclusive to the Tornadoes, however. Springfield showed resilience right away following the opening salvo Continued from page 1 from Tiffin Columbian with senior tailback Taylen Miller showing off his wheels in the return game.
With some well set up blocks, Miller exploded down the left side, sneaking in a few subtle moves and making a house call with an 88-yard touchdown return that made the score 7-6 early on.
His was but one of many strong showings by the Blue Devils special teams units.
“We spend a lot of time on special teams, and I’m super proud,” Bell said. “Last year we weren’t very good on special teams. This year, we went back to really making it a priority and making these kids believe in the importance of the special teams that we have and our units have done well. We gave up a big play to them when one guy was out of his lane, but other than that I thought we played pretty well on special teams.”
That big play did prove costly as it set up a short touchdown run only seconds following Miller’s score, but that aside they played quite well, even managing a 50-yard return on a squib kick.
Arguably the biggest play however was one that, if viewed in the scorebook, wasn’t. Following a 29-yard field goal from senior kicker Hunter Keivens with just over 90 seconds to play in the first quarter, Bell called for an onside kick. Keivens executed the dribbler to perfection, catching the Tornadoes off guard and nearly recovering the ball himself.
The pigskin was dislodged from him just past the midfield stripe but was ultimately recovered by the Blue Devils at their own 49. However, the officials conferred and determined that the ball had not traveled 10 yards before Keivens attempted recovery and awarded Tiffin Columbian the ball with an illegal touching penalty on Springfield.
While not the primary reason for losing, Bell believed that play significantly shifted the course of the contest.
“I almost started the game with it,” he said. “It was there at the beginning of the game, I just didn’t have the guts right at that point. I think it would have changed some of our feelings, too. High school football is all about momentum and once you gain that momentum you’ve got to keep it and that would’ve been a huge momentum play for us.”
The Blue Devils comeback hopes were further dampened by two more injuries along the offensive line in junior tackle Jayden Welch and junior interior lineman Joey Keller, the latter of which appeared more severe midway through the third quarter.
But despite losing two key players up front, the offense navigated an impressive touchdown drive that culminated on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“Next man ready,” said Bell. “That’s what we’re holding our hat on. We’ve got some young guys that thrust in there in the second half and I thought they did pretty well and held their own in there. Those guys are just going to have to step up this week in practice. If we can get Jayden back, great. If we can get Joey back, great. But those other guys just have to step up and be ready.
“But I’m happy because those guys have been practicing really hard and like I said they did some really good things tonight in the second half.”
That unlikely touchdown drive might have best epitomized the Blue Devils growth in their third year under Bell’s tutelage. Having lost Keller and junior wideout De’Mario Harris-Lloyd on back-to-back plays, the offense kept fighting their way into Tiffin Columbian territory.
A devastating holding call pushed the ball well back onto Springfield’s side of the field, eventually leading to a third-and-39 situation. Junior quarterback Will Scott bought time rolling to his right as sophomore Kaiden Taylor managed to slip behind the defense.
The desperate heave ended up covering 53 yards for an improbable first down, and one play later Scott found senior wideout Jack Semler on the right edge of the end zone who toe-tapped perfectly to secure a 13-yard touchdown reception. Miller converted the two-point try to cut the lead to 29 and eliminate the running clock for the remainder of the game.
“We have it. The potential is all there,” said Bell. “Sometimes potential is a bad thing. But we are right there. People won’t see that in the stands, people won’t see that when they look at the score. But at the end of the day, our kids are fighting. We don’t have many, but they’re fighting.
“I challenged them at halftime,” he continued. “I did not like the way we played on our heels in the first half and the way that we didn’t make the adjustments like them applying the adjustments on the field whether it was offense or defense. I challenged them and said ‘not one guy better have their chin in their chest, not one guy better not have that positive leadership that we talk about and we better execute and play at a higher level.’ I thought we did that in the second half and just looked like a better team in the second half.”
Springfield is home again tonight, September 2, when they take the field against the Clay Eagles. Kick off is at 7 p.m.
