CRESTLINE — In a game where the Crestline Bulldogs were moving up and down the field at will, mistakes cost them again.
The Bulldogs rushed for 326 yards and gained 455 on the night but had three touchdowns called back by penalties and added a missed extra point in a 36-35 loss to Ridgemont Friday night at Hutson Stadium.
The Bulldogs missed a score on the opening kickoff when Calvin Reed ran 90 yards, but a questionable block in the back call canceled it. On the final play of the first half, Reed caught an apparent 22-yard scoring pass from Trevor Shade, but an egregious offensive pass interference call ended the half.
Reed also scored in the third period, but a holding call ended the march.
“Over the last several weeks, we don’t have a margin for error,” Crestline coach Jonny King said. “We have to play really clean, disciplined football. And if we do that, then we will have wins.
“If you look back over the last three weeks, we had chances to win the games, if we don’t self-inflict things,” King added. “It comes down to discipline and, part of that is coaching, it’s on us.”
King felt that his team has made too many mistakes over the last three weeks, games the Bulldogs could have won.
“We have to be holding players accountable,” King added. “If we continue to allow these things to happen, what do we expect to happen on the field? That’s something we have to take care of as a coaching staff. The kids have to buy in and understand that is the difference between winning and losing games.”
Reed finished the night with 166 yards rushing on 16 carries and added 77 yards on two receptions. Running mate Brock Noblit added 162 rushing yards in 15 totes as the Bulldogs moved up and down the field.
“We scored 35 points and had 21 of them not on the board,” King said. “We have some dynamic athletes; we have kids that can and should be playing on any team in the area. They are good enough to play for a team in any division around here. We just have to play as a team, and we need some other guys to step up.
“We have kids that are out here working so hard,” he added. “We just need to start seeing progression. If everyone does their one-eleventh, things will start to come together in wins.”
Crestline took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 14-yard pass from Shade to Austin Silverwood, but the Golden Gophers grabbed a 14-7 lead at the half on scores from Wade Gamble.
Crestline tied the game in the third period on a 10-yard Shade-to-Silverwood toss, but Gamble scored again, this time from five yards out.
Noblit scored from two yards away and Crestline held a 21-20 lead entering the final frame.
Austin Elsasser scored twice on runs in the fourth period for Ridgemont, but the Bulldogs got scores from Reed on a 57-yard run and added a 58-yard pass from Shade to Reed.
Shade threw for 136 yards and three scores as his maturation process continues.
The Bulldogs host Elgin next Friday night, the week before the playoffs begin.
Crestline and the Bucyrus Redmen have opted out of the playoffs and will play Oct. 9 in Bucyrus. King said all of this came quickly.
“That came about in the 11th hour,” King said. “Bucyrus reached out to us and asked us about playing in Week 7. Our athletic director came down to me and I reached out to our team and coaches about it, and the consensus was, if we were sitting with three or four wins, and we were sitting with a chance to win a league championship, then we would be playing a playoff game.
“But given where we are right now, and with some of our injuries, we don’t know who that draw would be, and we have games lined up for weeks eight, nine and ten that we feel we should be competitive in.”
After the Bulldogs play Bucyrus, they will finish the season at home with Buckeye Central, Ridgedale and Vanlue.
“Also, this was an opportunity to play a game we don’t normally get,” King added. “Playing Bucyrus, with their N10 schedule, and our situation, we normally don’t get opportunities to play these teams that are in our backyard.
“All of those things were kind of weighed and the kids kinda made the decision. They wanted to play against kids that they compete against in basketball, baseball, and track. We’re looking forward to play against a Crawford County rivalry.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Ridgemont 0 14 6 16 — 36
Crestline 7 0 14 14 — 35
Scoring summary
First quarter
C — Austin Silverwood 14 pass from Trevor Shade (Brock Noblit kick), 2:32.
Second quarter
R — Wade Gamble 7 pass from Jayden Streets (Gamble run), 9:57.
R — Gamble 28 pass from Streets (run failed), 7:13.
Third quarter
C — Silverwood 10 pass from Shade (Noblit kick), 8:10.
R — Gamble 5 run (run failed), 7:11.
C — Noblit 1 run (Noblit kick), :53.
Fourth quarter
R — Austin Elsasser 1 run (Wes McKinley pass from Streets), 9:35.
C — Calvin Reed 57 run (kick failed), 8:25.
R — Elsasser 32 run (McKinley pass from Streets), 2:03.
C — Reed 58 pass from Shade (Reed run), 1:16.
Individual statistics
Passing
Ridgemont: Jayden Streets 6-12-0 122. Crestline: Trevor Shade 8-22-1 137; Calvin Reed 0-1-0 0.
Rushing
Ridgemont: Wade Gamble 14-95, Streets 17-75, Austin Elsasser 5-57. Crestline: Reed 16-166, Brock Noblit 15-162, Shade 2-(-9).
Receiving
Ridgemont: Gamble 4-56, Wes McKinley 1-37, Jeremiah Whitaker 1-5. Crestline: Crestline 2-77, Silverwood 2-24, Brandon Hiles 2-15, Noblit 1-11, Connor Lusk 1-10.
Team statistics
R C
First downs 11 17
Rushing 36-207 33-319
Passes 6-12-0 8-23-1
Yards passing 98 137
Total yards 305 456