St. Paul scores early, often to pull away from Toronto
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TORONTO -- In a matchup of old school vs. new school, Norwalk St. Paul's ground-and-pound offense took it to Toronto.
The No. 13 seed Flyers ran for 397 yards and eight touchdowns enroute to a 56-20 victory against the fourth-seed Red Knights in an Ohio Division VII, Region 25 Quarterfinal Friday night at Clarke Hinkle Field.
St. Paul scored touchdowns on each of its first seven drives, and the visitors from Huron County also tacked on a safety as they built a 43-7 lead at halftime.
It was a battle of teams with major differences in offensive philosophies, and right from the start we shot ourselves in the foot," Toronto (9-2) head coach Josh Franke said. "We did not execute. We had some miss communications. We had a couple untimely bad snaps. We made mistakes that put us behind very quickly, and that forced us to divert from our game plan.
"When you lose Russ Dickinson, who has meant everything to this team in the last seven weeks, you're down to your third string quarterback. We had to play a sophomore quarterback who has very little varsity experience as we attempted to go out and win a playoff game.
"Michael Henry did an excellent job. He threw two touchdown passes. He has a bright future.
"I'm proud of our kids. They fought until the end regardless of what the score was. That shows what kind of character this team has. They fought until the end. I am proud of them. They had to deal with a lot of adversity."
Starting quarterback Russ Dickinson completed 4-of-8 passes for 31 yards. He also ran twice for seven yards. Dickinson was injured after completing a pass on the first play of the second quarter. He returned but was eventually removed and replaced by Henry. Henry completed 7-of-14 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns.
With the win, St. Paul will play No. 5 seed Malvern Friday night on the road in the regional semifinals.
The Knights were facing an uphill battle almost from the start of the game as they found themselves down by seven points 83 seconds in.
The Flyers raced out to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Red Knights threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns, while the hosts amassed 70 yards on the ground on 22 carries.
Dom Bouscher delivered 58 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, while also hauling in four passes for 31 yards.
Mason Marchbank collected three receptions for 51 yards and a touchdown, while Aiden Filby finished with two catches for 42 yards and a touchdown.
Pocos opened the scoring with a 36-yard run, and Nate Griffin kicked the extra point to put the Flyers ahead, 7-0, with 10:37 left in the first quarter.
St. Paul added to its lead on its next drive. This time, Burger ran it in from the 4, and Griffin's extra point once again split the uprights increasing the Flyers' lead to 14-0.
Pocos capped the victors' third drive of the game with a 3-yard run, and Griffin booted the PAT to make it 21-0.
Toronto got on the scoreboard early in the second stanza as Boushcer ran around the end for a 13-yard score, and Henry kicked the extra point to make the score 21-7.
The Red Knights had some momentum, however, the Flyers answered and took control. Burger scored on a 7-yard run, and Griffin's extra point regained a 21-point lead for St. Paul at 28-7 with 9:17 left in the half.
Disaster struck on the first play of the ensuing drive as Toronto was called for intentional grounding in the end zone giving St. Paul a safety to make the score, 30-7. The Flyers then returned the free kick to the 5, and Pocos ran it from there. Griffin tacked on the extra point to make the score, 37-7.
Pocos capped the scoring in the first half when he scored on a 27-yard run. This time, the extra point was no good keeping the score at 43-7.
With there being a 36-point difference in the score to start the second half, the running clock came into play.
Stieber opened the second half with an 18-yard run, and Griffin's conversion kick was true giving St. Paul a 50-7 advantage.
The Red Knights responded when Marchbank hauled in a 23-yard score from Henry. Henry converted his second extra point to make it 50-14.
Burger opened the scoring in the fourth with a 3-yard run to make the score 56-14. Griffin's extra point hit the upright and then the crossbar before bouncing back onto the field keeping the lead at 42.
Filby finished the game off with a 35-yard score from Henry to make the score 56-20.
One highlight for the Red Knights came in the second half when Bouscher set the school record for most career receptions with 95.
"I don't what else I can say about Dom Boucher … ," Franke said. "He's a special player. He's going to leave a big void next year."
St. Paul 56, Toronto 20
St. Paul 21 22 7 6 – 56
Toronto 0 7 7 6 – 20
First Quarter
SP: Pocos 36 run (Griffin kick)
SP: Burger 4 run (Griffin kick)
SP: Pocos 3 run (Griffin kick)
Second Quarter
T: Bouscher 13 run (Henry kick)
SP: Burger 7 run (Griffin kick)
SP: Safety (Intentional grounding in the end zone)
SP: Pocos 5 run (Griffin kick)
SP: Pocos 27 run (kick fail)
Third Quarter
SP: Stieber 18 run (Griffin kick)
T: Marchbank 23 pass from Henry (Henry kick)
Fourth Quarter
SP: Burger 3 run (kick fail)
T: Filby 35 pass from Henry (Time expired)
RUSHING: St. Paul 44-397 8TDs (Pocos 16-197 4TDs, Burger 13-80 3TDs, Stieber 4-32 TD, Caizzo 9-78, Fries 1-5, Sander 1-5); Toronto 22-70 TD (Baker 4-8, Bouscher 10-58 TD, R. Dickinson 2-7, Marchbank 2-5, Henry 4-(-6))
PASSING: St. Paul 2-2-82-0-0 (All by Kuhnle); Toronto 11-22-133-2-0 (R. Dickinson 4-8-31-0-0, Henry 7-14-102-2-0)
RECEIVING: St. Paul 2-82 (Daley 1-42, Stang 1-40); Toronto (Bouscher 4-31, N. Dickinson 2-9, Marchbank 3-51 TD, Filby 2-42 TD)
FIRST DOWNS: St. Paul 16; Toronto 10
PENALTIES: St. Paul 2-15; Toronto 3-32
FUMBLES-LOST: St. Paul 1-1; Toronto 3-0
PUNTS-AVERAGE: St. Paul 0-0; Toronto 3-39.67