Smetzer carries Polar Bears to 28-0 win

CASTALIA — Kaine Smetzer has practiced jump cuts for years. He looked like an old pro using the move Friday night. Smetzer, a shifty senior running back, carried 26 times for 125 yards and two touchdowns to lead Margaretta to a 28-0 Senior Night win over Gibsonburg. The win raised the Polar Bears' record to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the SBC River Division. It also will move Margaretta up in the Division VII Region 22 playoff standings. The game started great for the home team on Senior Night when Jordan Luzader recovered a Gibsonburg fumble on the opening kickoff. It ended when Margaretta's Mason Kromer jumped on a fumble to stop the Golden Bears' last drive inside the Polar Bears' 10-yard line with time running out. "We said we hadn't played our best game of the year yet but, by golly, we played it tonight," Margaretta coach Gary Quisno said. "Both sides of the ball. We bent a little bit on defense and we had a good offensive ballgame." After Margaretta got a turnover just 6 seconds into the game, Smetzer carried seven times for 36 yards and a 1-yard touchdown to give Margaretta an early 7-0 lead. A 9-yard gain helped by a jump cut was a sign of things to come. "My freshman and sophomore years we practice jump cuts all the time. It's become muscle memory," Smetzer said. "Every time I see someone coming I just jump cut away from them. "I've gotten pretty good at it because I've done it four years straight. I've gotten a little shifty with it." A Judah Keller interception, which was tipped by Ben Coffman, set up Margaretta's second scoring drive, which covered 58 yards and 11 plays. On third-and-goal from the Gibsonburg 10, Jake Bouy hit Julian Washington on a perfectly timed slant pass for a touchdown with just over four minutes left in the first half. Gibsonburg responded with a long drive, but on fourth-and-goal from the Margaretta 2 with 20 seconds on the clock, Polar Bear linemen Kellen Moore and Landon Weyer pressured Gibsonburg quarterback Camden Mooney, who threw an incomplete pass in the end zone. "We got to him. There was a guy open in the back of the end zone but I don't think he saw him," Quisno said. "We played strong, physical football up front and for the most part didn't give up big plays." After a scoreless third quarter, Margaretta put the game out of reach when Bouy ran for a 10-yard touchdown with 10:29 to play. A short Gibsonburg punt set up the Polar Bears on the plus-41 with less than nine minutes to play. It was the fourth drive Margaretta started in Gibsonburg territory. Smetzer finished off the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown run. He also had a 10-yard run on the drive. Those were his only two runs of 10 or more yards on a night he melted the clock with intermediate gains. "He ran hard," Quisno said. "It was his last game on this field and he had his best game on this field. He's a force. That was the best running game we've had this year." The Polar Bears held Gibsonburg to 215 total yards. The Golden Bears' leading rusher, Grant Smith (brother of former Gibsonburg superstar Connor Smith), finished with 10 carries for 43 yards. He has been injured in recent weeks and carried only once in the first half. Margaretta senior Adam Heath spent his night opening holes for Smetzer from his right tackle position and disrupting the Gibsonburg offense from a defensive end spot. "I loved every minute of it," Heath said. "I'm an offensive player at heart but I love defense, hitting people." Margaretta picked up some important playoff points and can further improve their postseason standing with a win next week at Willard. The Polar Bears will welcome back standout two-way lineman Dylan Gibson, who has missed two games. Margaretta also played Friday without injured senior lineman Dalton Rohrbaugh and injured freshman linebacker Tyson Bailey. "We overcame some adversity with some guys out and other people stepped up and had to go both ways," Quisno said. "It was a great team win against a good football team." Gibsonburg 0 0 0 0 — 0Margaretta 7 7 0 14 — 28 M: Kaine Smetzer 1 run (Gage Bodey kick) M: Julian Washington 10 pass from Jake Bouy (Bodey kick) M: Jake Bouy 10 run (Bodey kick) M: Setzer 18 run (Bodey kick)