Bulldogs’ historic run ends in state semifinals

ORRVILLE – For the last three weeks, East Knox appeared to be a team of destiny.

The Bulldogs used a blocked extra point to beat Ashland Crestview in their first playoff game since 2005. Then, they erased a 20-point third-quarter deficit to defeat Seneca East in the second round. Last week, in the regional title game, East Knox came back from 14 down to trounce Carey and advance to the state semifinals.

On Friday night, however, the magic ran out.

East Knox (13-1) suffered its first and only loss of the season, 42-14 to New Middletown Springfield (14-0) in the Div. VI state semifinals. The Tigers will face Anna (13-1), Ohio’s top-ranked team, in the state title game next Friday.

“I’m just super proud of our team. We overcame a lot of adversity, from Week 1 ‘til now. Never stopped fighting, never gave up, never quit fighting together…” East Knox head coach Cody Reese said.

“I told them, this season – the 2019 East Knox Bulldogs – will never be forgotten. We listed off all the accolades that they had earned as a team this year, and we’re just extremely proud of them and couldn’t ask for more.”

2019 was indeed a historic year for East Knox football. The Bulldogs won 13 games – a school record – and advanced to the state semifinals for the first time. They won their first KMAC title and recorded their third undefeated regular season in program history. They beat arch-rival Danville for the second straight year, a first since 1997.

“It’s the best season in East Knox history,” senior quarterback Kadden Lester said. “No better way to go out.”

Springfield was able to do Friday what no other team could: contain East Knox’s explosive offense and crack its clutch defense.

Down 14-7 at halftime, East Knox needed to come out swinging in the third quarter at Orrville’s Red Rider Stadium. After senior linebacker Dawson David stripped the ball from Springfield’s David Duvall on the second play from scrimmage, the Bulldogs were in prime position. They had the ball on the Tiger 47-yard-line with momentum on their side.

But the Bulldogs couldn’t convert. The Tigers broke up three straight passes and East Knox was forced to punt. Two plays later, Springfield quarterback Beau Brungard galloped 75 yards for a touchdown, putting the Tigers up two scores and leaving East Knox stunned.

Another East Knox three-and-out gave Springfield the ball back, and the Tigers capitalized. Brungard scored again – this time on a 15-yard touchdown bolt – to put Springfield up 28-7.

Brungard, just a sophomore, proved to be unstoppable on Friday night. Working behind a monstrous offensive line, the run-first quarterback finished with 233 yards on 17 carries and three touchdowns. He averaged 13 yards per carry, and his touchdown runs were electric – they went for 58, 75 and 15 yards.

“We tried different stunts and different blitzes to try to stop him. We knew coming in this week that he was going to be extremely good; we knew he was a tough player,” Reese said. “And you get to a certain point in the playoffs and there’s just great athletes, and no matter what we were doing, we just couldn’t slow him down.

“It wasn’t a lack of effort on behalf of our players – they give us everything they’ve got and that’s all you can ask of a man. We just didn’t, in the end, have any answers for him.”

Brungard also passed for a touchdown – a 25-yard bullet to Garrett Walker – which extended the Tiger lead to 35-7. The sophomore completed 5 of his 8 passes for 70 yards.

After hanging close with Springfield throughout the first half, East Knox found itself down 28 points with 4:58 left in the third quarter.

But the Bulldogs never gave up.

East Knox responded by executing its sharpest drive of the night – an eight-play, 80-yard march that ended with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Lester to Weston Melick. The wideout caught a pass on fourth-and-10 and raced down the Springfield sideline, stretching the ball across the pylon to bring the purple-and-white crowd back to life.

On a frustrating night for the Bulldogs, Melick was sensational. The junior ran for East Knox’s other touchdown – a one-yard plunge in the second quarter – and finished with six catches for 89 yards.

Down three scores, the rally-prone Bulldogs still had a shot with 15 minutes left. But Springfield’s next offensive drive would define – and ultimately determine – the game.

The Tigers executed a 13-play, 58-yard drive that spanned 6:39 and ended with a 1-yard Austin Tindell touchdown burst. The drive included 12 run plays, and by the time Springfield finally crossed the plane, the East Knox defense was running on empty.

“They’re a great team,” said East Knox senior Gage Steinmetz, noting Springfield’s size advantage up front. “We knew it was going to be a challenge to beat them. Every team in the Final Four’s going to be a good team.”

Walker intercepted Lester on the next possession to put the game away. The Tigers danced as the final buzzer sounded – this was their first trip to the state semifinals, too, and next week will be their first trip to Canton – while the Bulldogs stood, devastated.

While many teams had tried this season, Springfield finally cracked East Knox’s code. The Tigers used their immense size advantage to dominate the trenches on both sides of the ball. On offense, that led to 396 rushing yards on 7.9 yards per carry; nine different Tigers carried the rock on Friday night.

On defense, it led to unprecedented success against East Knox’s most demoralizing weapon: running back Caleb Gallwitz.

The senior, who had run for 2,790 yards and 48 touchdowns coming into Friday night’s game, was held to just 51 yards on 14 carries. It was his first (and only) game without a touchdown this season.

“In the box, we knew with their size and speed, we were going to struggle running the football,” Reese said. “So we tried to stretch the field to the perimeter and down the field, and we had some success there, but just not enough.”

Lester threw a season-high 38 passes, completing 19, but the offense simply could not produce enough big plays against the stingy Tiger defense. Springfield kept Lester uncomfortable in the pocket all night long, and even when he had time to throw, his receivers were often covered.

“We haven’t seen a team with that size and that speed all year long. No matter what we tried, they could counter it; they could defend it; they could make an adjustment to make the play…” Reese said. “When you get to the state semifinals, you’re gonna run into really good football teams and that’s what we did tonight.”

“They’re a well-coached team, they have great athletes, and they adjusted great to whatever we were throwing at them,” an exhausted Lester added. “It was a dog fight, that’s all you can really say about it.”

East Knox met its match on Friday night, but Reese was quick to remind the team afterwards of all it accomplished this season. He spoke glowingly about the team’s 10 seniors, who took the program to new heights.

East Knox had experienced two straight 1-9 seasons heading into their freshman year, and by the time they were seniors, the program found itself one win away from the state title game.

When asked what stood out about this year’s senior class, Reese said the boys’ “work ethic, integrity and character.”

“I know that they’ve left the imprint of doing things the right way,” he said. “Being good men – great men – takes you further than anything in life. And you know what? That’s more important than football, that’s more important than wins.”

After missing the playoffs by one spot the last two seasons, East Knox’s upperclassmen led a rigorous offseason program last winter, which set the tone for a breakthrough season this fall.

“They decided to work at something that they didn’t achieve. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves. They said, ‘We’ve faced obstacles, we’ve faced downfalls, and we’re gonna do something about it,’” Reese said.

“And they really did something about it. They responded, and they responded with flying colors in my book. I mean, they went above and beyond because they decided to stick together and fight.”

Next year’s Bulldogs will have big shoes to fill. The team will need to replace four-year starters on both sides of the ball. Given the culture in place, however, Lester feels the program is equipped to do it.

“We’ve come a long way, through the ups and downs. I mean, we kind of set the tone,” Lester said. “The underclassmen, they have big shoes to fill, but we are 100 percent confident that they have the ability to do that.”

Friday’s loss hurt for East Knox. The Bulldogs finished one win away from a shot at a state title.

But it also marked the end of a run worth celebrating – a season that will forever live in East Knox lore.

“It’s awesome. Tonight stings, but it’s awesome,” Lester said of his team’s historic run. “Nobody will forget it.”