BUCYRUS — The Wynford Royals make no attempt to conceal what they intend to do on offense — run the ball. Then, run it some more.
Running out of the Wing-T offense, that is exactly what they did at the Bucyrus Sports Complex Friday night.
Anthony Evans rushed for 165 yards on 22 carries for a pair of touchdowns and Bryce Locker added 135 yards on 13 tries for two scores as the Royals ran past the Redmen, 48-12.
It marks the 27th consecutive year that the Copper Kettle will rest in the Wynford trophy case.
“I know the streak has been extended by another year and that’s a really ugly number in a rivalry,” Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko said. “We’re just going to work really, really hard to get it down off the board in year three.”
To the surprise of few, Wynford (2-6, 1-4 N10) got the job done almost exclusively with the ground game. The Royals attempted just three passes on the night, completing two of them.
“That’s kind of our goal, to be able to run the ball, control the line of scrimmage,” Wynford coach Cyle Skidmore said. “I thought our guys took advantage of that. The number one thing I thought tonight is our guys came ready to play and I really appreciate that out of them.”
Bucyrus (0-8, 0-6) took the opening kickoff and promptly drove 66 yards in 11 plays to the Royals’ seven yard line. But an illegal procedure penalty and two incomplete passes ended the scoring threat at the Wynford 12.
That was a dramatic shift in momentum for so early in the game.
“We have a false start when our snap count was simulated,” Butchko said. “That really backs you up. Red zone penalties are crazy. That’s a defensive penalty for the last 20 years. It just didn’t happen that way, we’re backed up, and we come up empty.”
Wynford turned the tables, marching 88 yards in 13 plays with Evans taking it the last eight yards for the score to give the Royals a 7-0 lead with 2:34 left in the first quarter.
The Redmen never fully recovered. Wynford built a 27-0 halftime lead and led by as much as 41-0 after a 62-yard touchdown run by Rakim Deaver.
“Bucyrus is trying to do some creative things on offense, and I thought they did that tonight,” Skidmore said. “They try to get their guys in space, try to make big plays happen.”
The Redmen finally got on the board following a fumble recovery and 47-yard return to the Wynford 21 by Bucyrus’ only senior, linebacker Jake Green. Quarterback Dylan Coppler ran 19 yards to the two and punched it in on the next play to make it 41-6.
The Royals fumbled again on their ensuing possession which was recovered by DeShawn Cosey at the Wynford 34. Coppler finished the six-play drive with a 16-yard scoring run.
“We knew they were going to lineup and run it on first, second, third, and fourth down,” Butchko said. “We knew that was their MO and they did it a little better than we defended it. Credit to them, they were physical, and we weren’t. They executed what they do, and we didn’t. Had we come out and got a score there (on the first drive), maybe it has a different feel in the first half.”
Wynford finished the scoring with a six-yard run by Deaver with 2:25 left in the game.
Royals’ quarterback Landon Miller no doubt did not have to ice his arm after the game. He did connect on two of his three tosses for 59 yards. One was a 32-yard touchdown to Evans — his third of the game along with two rushing — and a 27-yard connection with Jake Stover to set up Wynford’s last touchdown of the first half.
Locker had scoring runs of 16 and 23 yards in the first half. Deaver finished with 78 yards and two scores.
“I thought our guys came out and did their job tonight,” Skidmore said. “They were consistent. I’ve been preaching to the kids, ‘We’ve got to be a consistent football team to win games like this.’”
Coppler threw for 107 yards, completing 13 of 22 tries, and rushed for 56 yards and both scores. Christian Neal was his top receiver with 60 yards on six catches.
“We’re just not a team with very great resolve, very great resiliency,” Butchko said. “We have low numbers, make any excuse you want, but that’s just where we are. These things are exponentially magnified with where we are right now.”
“Getting a win, having a positive thing go in our direction,” Skidmore said of the effects of the game in addition to retaining the Copper Kettle for another year. “I think that’s going to go a long way going into next week (at Buckeye Central).”
Box score
Score by quarters
Wynford 7 20 14 7 — 48
Bucyrus 0 0 6 6 — 12
Scoring summary
First quarter
W — Anthony Evans 8 run (Victor Arellano Cazares kick), 2:54.
Second quarter
W — Bryce Locker 16 run (Cazares kick), 9:49.
W — Locker 23 run (Cazares kick), 6:11.
US — Evans 6 run (Cazares kick), 3:21.
Third quarter
W — Evans 32 pass from Landon Miller (Cazares kick), 10:48.
US — Rakim Deaver 62 run (Cazares kick), 7:31.
B — Dylan Coppler 2 run (pass failed), :00.
Fourth quarter
B — Coppler 16 run (pass failed), 6:14.
W — Deaver 6 run (Cazares kick), 2:25.
Individual statistics
Passing
Wynford: Landon Miller 2-3-0 59; Bucyrus: Dylan Coppler 13-22-1 107.
Rushing
Wynford: Anthony Evans 22-165, Bryce Locker 13-135, Rakim Deaver 4-78, Zaiden Zier 3-3, Gage Massey 1-1, Landon Miller 2-(-1); Bucyrus: Dylan Coppler 12-56, Demaris Munn-Page 5-35, Jake Green 4-5, Wyatt Makeever 3-0.
Receiving
Wynford: Anthony Evans 1-32, Jake Stover 1-27; Bucyrus: Christian Neal 6-60, DeShawn Cosey 5-24, Demaris Munn-Page 2-23.
Team statistics
W B
First downs 16 8
Rushing 45-381 24-96
Passes 2-3-0 13-22-1
Yards passing 59 107
Total yards 440 203
Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-1
Punts-Avg 0-00.0 4-32.3
Penalties 5-60 8-66