O-G steamrolls Eastwood, leaves little doubt in advancing to finals

By JEREMY SCHNEIDER

FINDLAY — In order to do proper justice to Ottawa-Glandorf’s performance in a Division IV football regional semifinal, let’s head to the thesaurus.
    First, there’s quarterback Nathan Kahle. The thesaurus gives us energetic, dynamic, electrifying.
    And for running back Brandon Kuhlman, the book gives us swift, fleet and accelerated.
    Finally, the Titans defense could be summed up as commanding, authoritative and aggressive.
    Kahle totaled 275 yards, Kuhlman rushed for 140 yards and the Titans defense gave poor Pemberville Eastwood a pounding in O-G’s 48-3 win Saturday at Findlay’s Donnell Stadium.
    “It’s a heck of a win. We thought it would be a closer game than that, but our offense did a heck of a job,” Kahle said. “The cutback lane was open all night. It was a great game for the whole team.”
    The Titans (10-2) move on to face the winner of the Genoa-Orrville game Saturday at a site to be announced today. It is O-G’s second straight appearance in a regional final.
    It took no time at all for the
    Titans to assert their dominance. After a couple of short runs and a Kahle-to-Ryan Kuhlman pass for 12 yards, Kahle faked a handoff, moved left and didn’t stop until he notched the game’s first points less than four minutes into the game.
    The next drive was Brandon Kuhlman’s turn to shine. The fleet back ran three straight times for 67 yards, including two great option pitches from Kahle. Kuhlman found the end zone after a 35-yard option run to the far sideline.
    “We emphasized the option more and more, and Nathan’s making great decisions,” Schriner said. “He brought the end to him and made the solid pitch.”
    After Wyatt Karhoff recovered an Eastwood (9-3) fumble on the Eagles’ 6-yard line, Kuhlman added another score on the next play.
    All of that took place before the first quarter was over.
    “We talked to our kids about winning the hitting game and coming out and being physical,” Schriner said. “That’s the way our defense played, just smashmouth football, and offensively, we really got some things rolling.”
    The Eagles, who came into Saturday averaging 33 points, mustered only 152 total yards, 47 in the second half. They averaged 2.8 yards per play.
    “We really don’t have any superstars on this team. … The bottom line is we just run to the ball,” Schriner said. “Our defense is pretty quick, pretty aggressive. Our defense coach, Brian Heebsch, and please print it, he’s dynamite.”
    After Eastwood put a field goal on the board, OG responded with a 58-yard TD dash for Kahle, the second of his four rushing scores. He also scored from 20 and 45 yards out in the third quarter. He hit Matt Peck with a 54-yard scoring pass late in the first half as well.
Kahle rushed for 166 yards on just five carries, a 33.2 yard average. He added 109 passing yards on 5-of-8 completions. He went out early in the fourth, along with the rest of the starting unit.
The Titans gobbled up 354 rushing yards. Credit to the offensive line was everywhere.
“Even when it wasn’t a designed run, dropping back in regular passing action, huge holes were opening up everywhere,” Kahle said. “Once I take off, the entire line goes downfield and makes block the whole way down the field.”