Playoff-bound Potters too much for Oak Glen

Jimmy Joe Savage
LOOKING FOR ROOM — Oak Glen running back Greg Sauers takes the hand off looking to run up field with Sam Wright trying to get a block on East Liverpool’s D’Shawn Kirby.

EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool’s football team found itself in a bad spot to start the season after dropping four out of its first five.

But the Potters found a way to turn it around.

Using a dominating performance against an overmatched Oak Glen, the Potters won their fifth straight in a 52-0 run away on Friday and qualified for the playoffs.

“We just needed to play together,” East Liverpool senior wide receiver Blake Adkins said about the turnaround. “We didn’t have the chemistry yet. Last year we had the chemistry. We felt we were going to be as good as we were last year, but we just had to work for it. We eventually found our spark and lifted off.”

Adkins did his part against Oak Glen with five catches for 140 yards including touchdown receptions of 25, 16 and 87 yards. His second catch of the game — a 25-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Wright — set the school record for catches in a season. The previous mark was 44 set by Timmy Neal in 2019 and Tony Metsch in 2006. Adkins now has 48 catches for 873 yards and 10 touchdown receptions on the season.

“It’s amazing,” Adkins said. “I couldn’t do it without all of my coaches and teammates. It’s amazing being in this atmosphere with all the people around me. It just helped me to break it.”

Potter coach Paul Cusick was happy to see the record set on senior night.

“He’s a ball player and he just goes out and makes plays,” Cusick said. “You have to get him the ball in space, and I think Gavin does a good job of distributing the ball to all of our playmakers. Blake happened to be that guy tonight even though we have a lot of guys who can do that. I’m happy for him.”

The score was 46-0 at the half as Oak Glen struggled to do anything at all against the 6-4 Potters. East Liverpool outgained Oak Glen 352 to -27 in the first half. All of the Potter starters were pulled at the half and a running clock with nine minute quarters was instituted.

Potter senior D’Shawn Kirby had his way with the undersized Oak Glen line as he busted through to the backfield on many plays causing a lot of disruption.

“Coach wanted me on the nose guard and wanted me to come heavy the whole time,” Kirby said. “He didn’t want me to let up on the pressure and that’s what we did.”

One of the disruptions ended up in a Michael Harty 25-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Kirby also caught two passes for 72 yards, including a 56-yard pass play.

“That’s one of our plays,” Kirby said. “He just caught me in the middle, and I took off with it.”

Wright was nearly perfect for the Potters under center. He completed 10 of 11 passes for 282 yards and five touchdowns. Quintin Conrad caught two balls for 52 yards including a 45-yard touchdown. Owen Fredritz also had a 6-yard touchdown reception. On the ground, Xavier Lara had five carries for 36 yards including an 18-yard touchdown run.

Meshach Harris scored on a 5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to cap the Potter scoring.

For Oak Glen (0-8), it appeared to be an up-hill battle from the start as the team had many players out with injuries.

“I knew it was going to be a tough task,” Taylor said. “We had four starters out and played three freshmen. They brought all of their pressure inside, and we have a 158-pound center and we just were not able to handle that rush up inside. That really hurt us. They had a good game plan, but hopefully we get some of these guys back next week. We have two more games to see if we can turn this thing around.”

It was not all roses for the Potters. The team had 10 penalties for 90 yards in the first half. There were also miscues on special teams. A playoff veteran with Crestview for many years, Cusick knows those mistakes can’t happen if the Potters want to advance.

“I thought we were sloppy with some penalties and motions and the special teams with the extra points and stuff like that,” Cusick said. “You have to clean that stuff up when you get to Week 11.”

The Potters were ranked 10th in the Div. IV, Region 15 coming into the week. With Oak Glen at 0-8, the Potters were unlikely to pick up enough computer points to make the top 8 and host.

Oak Glen is at Weirton Madonna next Friday. The Golden Bears will wrap up their regular season on Nov. 8 at Tygarts Valley. That game was a late addition to the schedule after Trinity Christian backed out of last week’s game with the Bears.

East Liverpool 52, Oak Glen 0

OG: 0-0-0-0 — 0

EL: 19-27-0-6 — 52

SCORING

E — Blake Adkins 25 pass from Gavin Wright (kick blocked)

E–Quintin Conrad 45 pass from Wright (kick failed)

E– Michael Harty 25 fumble return (Kamdin Miller kick)

E–Adkins 16 pass from Wright (Miller kick)

E–Adkins 87 pass from Wright (Miller kick)

E–Xavier Lara 18 run (Miller kick)

E–Owen Fredritz 6 pass from Wright (run failed)

E–Meshach Harris 5 run (kick blocked)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Oak Glen, Evan Clouston 5-43, Josh Maher 7-27; East Liverpool, Gavin Wright 4-44, Xavier Lara 5-36, Tamar Tisdale 3-41.

PASSING — Oak Glen, Gregg Sauers 0-2-0-0; East Liverpool, Gavin Wright 10-11-282-0.

RECEIVING — East Liverpool, Blake Adkins 5-140, D’Shawn Kirby 2-72, Quintin Conrad 2-52, Owen Fredritz 1-6.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — East Liverpool, Michael Harty.