SMCC scores 49 points in 1st half, routs Danbury

SANDUSKY — Jackson Grimm got a running start. The St. Mary Central Catholic defender was late getting on the field on the final play of the third quarter. But he got to his spot, got around Danbury's offensive line and sacked Lakers quarterback Eli Knight. It was that kind of night for the Panthers. SMCC scored on all seven of its possession in the first half, blowing past Danbury 49-14 in Northern 8 Conference action Saturday at Strobel Field. "They're going to win some games and they're young," said Panthers coach Toby Hammond of the Lakers, who made the N8 playoffs a year ago. "They'll be very competitive against most teams. They're going to be really good in a year or two if they stay with it." The Panthers (1-0) wasted little time getting going. On the opening drive, they drew Danbury (0-1) offsides on fourth-and-1 for a fresh set of downs. Facing the same mark at the Lakers 4, quarterback Cullen Dillard covered that distance for the touchdown. The extra point by Matteo Di Rosa put the Panthers up 7-0 with 6:33 left in the first quarter. On its first possession, Danbury faced fourth down from its 38. The Lakers opted to go for it, but Knight's pass fell incomplete. That gave SMCC a short field and the Panthers cashed in. It took just five plays for Dillard to hit Cayden Wikel for a 22-yard touchdown. After a five-yard penalty pushed the Lakers back on their next drive, Wikel intercepted the first play from scrimmage. He returned it 38 yards for the touchdown and 20-0 lead with 3:21 to go in the first quarter. Danbury put together its best offensive series in response. The Lakers picked up five first downs, using the legs of Drake Turinsky quite a bit. He rumbled 11 and then 12 yards to get to the SMCC 2. He scored on the next play, helping Danbury get within 20-6. "Up front, we're young," Lakers coach Brayden Martin said. "But if those guys get down, don't be afraid to get their noses bloody and we get (Turinsky) rolling, we can roll all day. That opens the pass game. We have a quarterback that is a dual threat. He had flashes tonight." But the Panthers kept coming. Wikel picked up 32 yards on the ground on the first play of the next SMCC drive. On the second play of the second quarter, Josh Will exploded for a 21-yard touchdown run. Dillard added the two-point conversion run for a 28-6 margin. "The thing I didn't like is we gave up contain," said Hammond of his defense. "We told the kids if their quarterback broke contain, we were in trouble. He did a few times early. I think we did a better job of it in the second half." After a Danbury punt, the Panthers slowed it down, but still piled on the points. SMCC guzzled more than six minutes off the clock, using a steady diet of Will to pick up chunk yards. A false start penalty forced the Panthers' drive to start at their own 3, but it didn't affect the offense. SMCC marched the 97 yards in 12 plays, capped by a second 22-yard touchdown pass from Dillard to Wikel to make it 35-6. Danbury again turned the ball over on downs deep in its own territory. Taking over late in the half, Dillard hit Trace Smith for a 13-yard pass and then Eli Dinsmore for a 13-yard score. that was the first of three touchdowns in the final two minutes of the half. Danbury's Brexton Masters took the ensuing kickoff 80 yards to the house for a touchdown. The two-point conversion pass from Knight to Taylor Monak cut the Danbury deficit to 42-14. "Sometimes some of our kids have the attention span of a kindergartner," Hammond said. "We didn't do what we talked about all week and practiced all week." The quick score gave SMCC time to strike again. Dillard went 40 yards on the ground to get inside the Lakers' red zone. Three plays later, Will scored on a six-yard rumble. "Too many missed assignments and we're young," Martin said. "We're getting in our heads early. Coming into the game, with all the older guys St. Mary had, they were in their heads. I tried to tell them to go out and compete no matter what. It didn't matter if we had less on our roster or team, we had to go out and get our assignments." The entire second half was played with a running clock, limiting possessions. Dillard completed 11 of 15 passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns. He ran eight times for 63 yards. "I think he has some good receivers in Cayden, Josh, Trace and the tight ends," said Hammond of the junior quarterback. "We probably threw the ball more than I thought we would. Give credit to Danbury. They were physical on the line of scrimmage and they took some of our speed away." Danbury is back in action Friday at Waldron, Michigan. "The only way to succeed is to fail," Martin said. "I told them that at halftime. How are we going to learn from our mistakes? How are we going to learn what our weaknesses are? NBA teams, NFL teams and MLB teams start out losing games to start the season all the time. "I started out my senior year (of high school) with three losses and we ended up making it to the third round of the playoffs. A loss is a loss, but it's way to fail and learn. " SMCC faces a similar contest Friday, traveling to Adrian Christian in Michigan. "I think we came out of this in pretty good shape," Hammond said. "We have a short week. We'll get in and watch film and go back to work Monday. We'll make corrections." Danbury 6 8 0 0 — 14 SMCC 20 29 0 0 — 49 SMCC — Cullen Dillard 4 run (Matteo Di Rosa kick) SMCC — Cayden Wikel 22 pass from Dillard (Di Rosa kick) SMCC — Wikel 38 interception return (kick failed) D — Drake Turinsky 2 run (pass failed) SMCC — Josh Will 21 run (Dillard run) SMCC — Wikel 22 pass from Dillard (Di Rosa kick) SMCC — Eli Dinsmore 13 pass from Dillard (Di Rosa kick) D — Brexton Masters 80 kickoff return (Taylor Monak pass from Eli Knight) SMCC — Will 6 run (Di Rosa kick)