CRESTLINE — On Friday night before its game with Buckeye Central, Crestline High School honored its winningest football coach, the late John DiPietro.
DiPietro, who was the head coach of the Bulldogs from 1972 until 1997, before returning to the team from 2005-07, passed away on July 2 at the age of 82.
Many of DiPietro’s former players were on hand for the ceremony, and many fans at the game wore glasses with red stars, which DiPietro favored.
The game, however, was not what the Bulldogs wanted.
The Bucks went to the air early in the game and took advantage of Crestline mistakes to down the Bulldogs, 50-0, in the season opener for both teams.
BC quarterback Derex Dean, a three-year starter, fired three touchdown passes in the first half, and the Bucks added a fumble recovery for a score, to take a 29-0 lead at the half.
BC coach Chad Jensen, who started his career at Crestline for eight years and knew DiPietro, felt that his team had to pick up the intensity to beat the Bulldogs.
“It was a great win for our kids,” Jensen said. “Our kids played really hard, and they practiced well, and we were focused. We knew Crestline would be ready to play and they did, and we answered the challenge. I challenged our kids to equal their intensity.
“We knew they were going to be fired up because it was Coach DiPietro Day, and I knew they were going to be ready to go.”
Crestline coach Mike Winland said that his team didn’t match BC’s intensity.
“I was very disappointed,” Winland said. “I thought we had a good week of practice, and I thought the kids felt like we had a good game plan. Our expectations were to execute the game plan. They got a little bit down and hung their heads and that was it.
“We made some mistakes. We’re young and we need to learn from it and recover.”
BC opened quickly, as Dean went deep, hitting Heath Jensen from 65 yards away. Dom Dean scored on the two-point conversion and the Bucks led 8-0.
On the next possession, the Bulldogs botched a punt and BC lineman Bren Jones scooped up the ball at the Crestline 31 and scampered into the end zone as BC held a 15-0 lead after one quarter.
Dean found Alec Phillips in the back of the end zone from nine yards out before grabbing a 51-yard scoring pass later in the half to build the 29-0 lead at the break.
“Our line did a great job, especially in the second half,” Jensen said. “We talked, especially in the second half, about getting that conditioning to work for us. There were times I thought our line was okay in the first half but in the second half they really stepped up.”
BC went more to the ground in the final two periods, as Dom Dean finished with 69 yards on nine carries.
Jensen swept the left end on a 14-yard scoring run in the third period and Dean hit Phillips again, this time from 15 yards out as the Bucks held a 43-0 lead after three periods.
Isaac Hiler scored from a yard out to end the scoring.
Jensen had high praise for the Dean and Phillips brothers.
“Derex is a three-year starter and Dom has really worked hard in the weight room,” Jensen said. “The Phillips boys do a great job. They both run great routes and they block well. All our receivers really block well in the open field. They really did a great job.”
Jensen felt that getting off to a good start is paramount for his team.
“We want to start off 1-0,” Jensen said. “This is Crawford County. And we wanted to come over here to Crestline and do our best and represent our school. I think we did that.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Buckeye Central 15 14 14 7 — 50
Crestline 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring summary
First quarter
BC — Heath Jensen 65 pass from Derex Dean (Dominic Dean run), 9:20.
BC — Bren Jones 31 fumble recovery return (Dom Dean kick), 7:07.
Second quarter
BC — Alec Phillips 9 pass from Derex Dean (Dom Dean kick), 9:51.
BC — Phillips 51 pass from Derex Deam (Dom Dean kick), 4:06.
Third quarter
BC — Jensen 14 run (Dom Dean kick), 10:36.
BC — Phillips 15 pass from Derex Dean (Dom Dean kick), 1:29.
Fourth quarter
BC — Isaac Hiler 1 run (Dom Dean kick), 10:35.
Individual statistics
Passing
Buckeye Central: Derex Dean 10-12-0 183, Jack Phillips 0-1-0 0; Crestline: Carter Giesige 2-4-0 37, Parker Bowman 1-2-1 6, Caydin Jarvis 1-6-2 5.
Rushing
Buckeye Central: Dominic Dean 9-69, Elijah Cline 4-26, Derex Dean 1-21, Heath Jensen 1-14, Isaac Hiler 6-14, Jack Phillips 3-8; Crestline: Caydin Jarvis 9-22, Carter Giesige 9-12, Kevin Snyder 4-4, Parker Bowman 1-1, Colten Keller 2-(-8).
Receiving
Buckeye Central: Alec Phillips 4-94, Heath Jensen 3-71, Jack Phillips 3-18; Crestline: Caydin Jarvis 1-23, Jayden Lozier 1-14, Carter Giesige 2-11.
Team statistics
BC C
First downs 8 3
Rushing 24-142 25-31
Passes 10-13-0 4-12-3
Yards passing 182 48
Total yards 324 79
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1
Punts 0-0.00 6-27.3
Penalties 3-20 9-45