LOUDONVILLE — Loudonville’s sophomore quarterback Coltin Caley stepped out of the pocket and hit Collin Caley with a swing pass that turned into a 77-yard touchdown.
Coach Keith Lemke knew there would probably not be a repeat of that play, but it was the big one in the Redbirds’ 26-14 Knox Morrow Athletic Conference victory over visiting East Knox on Friday night.
“They play a lot of man (defense) so we knew we would like to match him (Collin) with their linebacker,” Lemke said. “We just liked the odds so we wheeled him out of the backfield and it’s probably only going to work once.”
The Redbirds needed that jolt after East Knox running back Rush Beatty scampered 26 yards to a touchdown for an early lead.
“We struggled a little bit to get our footing offensively in the first quarter, but our defense did a great job limiting big plays and forcing East Knox to drive the ball,” Lemke said. “We were able to force a turnover late in the first quarter and then our offense found it’s footing and we started to move the ball well.”
That’s when the Caley Connection struck for the 77-yard reuption.
“The biggest improvement from the last couple of weeks is we were able to control the game offensively and defensively,” Lemke said. “Our players did a great job of protecting the ball all night.
“We cleaned up a lot of tackling mistakes from the past two weeks and were able to limit big plays.”
Coltin Caley put Loudonville in front for good with a 4-yard TD pass to Chayse Wright for a 13-7 halftime bulge.
Collin Caley’s 10-yard rushing touchdown made it 19-7 in the third quarter.
“East Knox has some great playmakers so that was a positive for us to be able to contain them for the most part,” Lemke said. “Overall, we’re really happy with our team mentality and effort tonight.”
The visitors fought back quickly though. Beatty rolled to his second rushing TD with 7:19 showing to make it 19-14. But that’s as close as it would get.
Collin Caley’s 45-yard scoring run finished it.
For the game, Collin Caley ran 19 times for 101 yards, and two touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 103 yards and another TD. He tacked on two returns for 42 more yards to finish with 246 yards of total offense and three touchdowns.
East Knox coach Gage Steinmetz understands the schedule does not get easier for the Bulldogs.
“We play in the KMAC, and it is a very competitive league, and we didn’t play clean enough football tonight,” Steinmetz said. “We didn’t stay on schedule and we were not getting the drives that we needed.
“We did some things well and we have some things to work on.”
Loudonville improved to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the KMAC. The Redbirds host Centerburg next week.
“All week long we have preached, ‘We over Me.’ This was a great team win, it took a joint effort from all eleven guys on the field tonight,” Lemke said. “We had a couple injuries last week so we had to shuffle some guys around and I thought a lot of guys stepped up and played really well.”
The Bulldogs are 3-2 overall, 0-2 in the KMAC. East Knox visits Cardington next week.
Steinmetz had high praise for both the league and the Redbirds.
“I think it is a testament to the KMAC and Loudonville; they are a really well-coached team,” the Bulldogs’ boss said. “They took advantage of the opportunities tonight.”
This verdict ended a two-game losing streak for Loudonville.
“For the last couple of weeks, we kind of stumbled over ourselves, and we knew we needed to get back and play our brand of football,” Lemke said. “When they would hurt themselves, we would take advantage of that.”
(Photos by Dan Werner)
