HOLMES TOWNSHIP — For the first four weeks of the season, Wynford’s offense was somewhat sluggish.
In the past two weeks, the Royals have been anything but.
Physical dominance was apparent on both sides of the line of scrimmage as Wynford dominated backyard rival Bucyrus, 70-18, in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
The win gave the Royals possession of the Copper Kettle — which the schools have played for since 1977 — for the 26th consecutive year.
“I think we did our job up front. We took care of business at the line of scrimmage,” Wynford coach Cyle Skidmore said. “We have a physical team. I think if you turn on the film or watch the game, you notice that.”
Bucyrus (0-6, 0-3 N10) managed to stay close into the second quarter, thanks to big plays. After the Royals got the lead on a 4-yard run by Kaiden Blair — one of his five on the night — and a 6-yarder from Anthony Evans, Redmen quarterback Brayden Campbell found Christian Neal from 51 yards out to cut the deficit to 14-6.
Wynford (3-3, 2-1) answered in three plays. Blair scored his second TD on another 4-yard jaunt, set up by a 47-yard pass from quarterback Ashton Warren to James Rindfuss.
The Redmen appeared poised to answer, driving to the Royals’ 23 with a third-and-one. But a procedure penalty moved the ball back five yards and Bucyrus eventually turned it over on downs.
“It stopped a very promising drive. That was a turning point,” Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko said. “All the air went right out of our sails. They got some things very easily.”
The Royals took advantage. On the third play following the stop, Warren connected with tight end Jake Stover on a 70-yard catch-and-run to push the lead to 29-6. It was a change of pace to the Royals’ run-first offense.
“We want to be able to do a little bit of both,” Skidmore said. “Obviously, you can tell, we’re a run team. That’s plain and simple, just like the way we line up. But we also have the ability to throw the ball.”
Warren was an efficient seven of 10 for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Rindfuss caught four balls for 142 yards and a score.
There was one last gasp left for the Redmen to stay in the game. Campbell again hooked up with Neal on a 52-yard strike to get back to 29-12, but Blair raced 55 yards for a score to make it 35-12.
“He’s come a long way,” Butchko said of Neal. “He started out hot, then kind of slowed down a bit. Being only a sophomore, we’re really excited about some of the things he has in store for the future.”
Trading punches, Bucyrus got a 45-yard bomb to Kam Lewis from Campbell to make it 35-18 with 4:44 left in the first half. From there, it was all Royals.
Evans had a 30-yard run and Blair added one from 14 yards to make it 50-18 at halftime. The running clock shortened the second half.
“Obviously, they’ve got athletes,” Skidmore said of the Redmen. “That’s easy to tell. They’ve got fast kids and a quarterback who’s young, but he can throw the ball a little bit. I think their future is bright.”
Blair scored on a 19-yard run, Rindfuss had a 56-yard scoring reception, and Deegan Lutz ran in from 12 yards for the second-half points.
Blair finished with 153 yards on 13 carries en route to his five touchdowns. Evans ran for 123 on 14 tries for two scores.
“We are what we are,” Butchko said. “We’re very aware of what we are right now, and we try to play around that. The goal is to get your team ready to play. That’s a bad spot to be in, young and inexperienced, at the line of scrimmage.”
Campbell passed for 237 yards and three scores, though he also had three interceptions. Neal caught six for 142 yards and Lewis had two catches for 52 yards.
“We dominated the game up front,” Skidmore said. “Our backs ran well, and we threw the ball well and our receivers caught the ball.”
“We knew that was a concern coming into the season,” Butchko said of the mismatch at the line of scrimmage. “We’ve tried to play some young guys and they’re playing their tails off. It will pay off in the long run.”
“We’ve got to get better,” Skidmore said. “We’ve got to clean some things up. I’m still not happy with some of the penalties we get. It comes down to being disciplined.”
“We’re going through some ugly growing pains right now and it makes the scores so lopsided, so quick,” Butchko said. “We took a step forward last week. We just didn’t expand on that step this week.”
Score by quarters
Bucyrus 6 12 0 0 — 18
Wynford 21 29 13 7 — 70
Scoring summary
First quarter
W — Kaiden Blair 4 run (Collin Hulsmeyer kick), 7:43.
W — Anthony Evans 6 run (Hulsmeyer kick), 3:08.
B — Christian Neal 51 pass from Brayden Campbell (pass failed), 1:25.
W — Blair 4 run (Hulsmeyer kick), :29.
Second quarter
W — Jake Stover 70 pass from Ashton Warren (Stover pass from Warren), 9:09.
B — Neal 52 pass from Campbell (pass failed), 7:12.
W — Blair 55 run (kick failed), 6:03.
B — Kam Lewis 45 pass from Campbell (pass failed), 4:44.
W — Evans 30 run (Warren run ), 3:12.
W — Blair 14 run (Hulsmeyer kick). 2:50.
Third quarter
W — Blair 19 run (kick failed), 8:00.
W — James Rindfuss 56 pass from Warren (Hulsmeyer kick), 2:10.
Fourth quarter
W — Deegan Lutz 12 run (Hulsmeyer kick), 7:11.
Individual statistics
Passing
Bucyrus: Brayden Campbell 13-32-3 237, London Wade 0-1-0 0; Wynford: Ashton Warren 7-10-0 238.
Rushing
Bucyrus: Damarius Munn-Page 2-31, Blayne Barto 8-18, Brayden Campbell 1-4, Louis Martinez 5-0; Wynford: Kaiden Blair 13-153, Anthony Evans 14-123, Ashton Warren 1-22, Deegan Lutz 1-12, James Rindfuss 1-7, Maddax Engler 1-4, Landon Miller 1-(-1).
Receiving
Bucyrus: Christian Neal 6-142, Kam Lewis 2-54, Dylan Coppler 1-12, Blayne Barto 2-1; Wynford: James Rindfuss 4-142, Jake Stover 1-70, Kaiden Blair 1-16, Hunter Rouston 1-10.
Team statistics
B W
First downs 9 15
Rushing 16-53 32-320
Passes 13-33-3 7-9-0
Yards passing 237 238
Total yards 290 558
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Punts-Avg 2-28.0 0-00.0
Penalties 7-81 8-74