Defense has keyed H-L, Patrick Henry during strong seasons

Fans of defense should head to Findlay on Friday when top-seeded Hopewell-Loudon tangles with fourth-seeded Patrick Henry in the Division VI semifinals. Both teams score an average of just over 33 points per game, but each allows only a bit more than 6. "I think points are going to be hard to come by for both teams on Friday," Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said. "It's going to be which team's defense can cause a turnover and maybe give their offense a short field, and who can get a big explosive play on offense to try to score, because driving the ball and getting first downs against them and against us is a pretty difficult thing to do." That's something other teams learned this year. Patrick Henry enters 10-2 with losses to the undefeated duo of Division VII Columbus Grove (27-13) and Division V Liberty Center (21-15), the only two teams to score more than seven points against the Patriots. Last week's 34-0 win against Carey gave Patrick Henry four shutouts this year, and the Patriots have allowed two opponents to only score via safeties and gave up just a field goal to another. "We have an excellent defense and the coordinators are doing a great job. It starts up front," Patrick Henry coach Bill Inselmann said after last week's playoff win against Carey. "We're a complete defense. We just can't get complacent. "We got a nice pass rush, excellent linebacking corps and a good DB secondary behind them," he said. Linebacker Akevian Kryder leads that defense with 111 tackles, eight tackles for loss and three fumble recoveries, while lineman Grant Smith, the school's career sack leader enters with 100 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 11 sacks this season. Lineman Trent Johnson (64 tackles, 4 sacks) and linebackers Jaden Punches (53 tackles) and Lincoln Creager (50 tackles) add plenty of stopping power, while Kiefer Holloway has picked off three passes. Colatruglio said the Patriots have the best defense his Chieftains have faced all year. "They're good at all three levels. They have a couple absolute studs, defensive linemen, they are so active and they just disrupt what offenses are trying to do," he said. "Their quarterback (Lincoln Creager) also plays linebacker, he's a big-time player. And then they're good in the secondary. "Extremely well-coached. Just an extremely disciplined, well-coached, physical defensive team," he said. But so are the 11-0 Chieftains. Hopewell-Loudon has blanked five opponents so far this year, including last week's 34-0 win against Seneca East, and hasn't allowed anyone to score in double digits since Week 4. Season-opening foe Carey scored the most points against H-L, falling 27-22. Mason Reinhart keys H-L's defense with 81 tackles and five sacks, while Will Nutter checks in with 65 stops and three sacks and Brayden Brickman adds 64 tackles and two fumble recoveries. Aiden Ewald backs them with 56 tackles and five sacks, Scott Turco has three sacks and Jack Colatruglio brings five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Inselmann said H-L, who his Patriots beat 26-14 in last year's regional semifinal, will be formidable. "They've got a tremendous coach and a tremendous program, and it'll be the second year in a row they'll be undefeated coming in …, so we'll have our work cut out for us," he said. While the defenses may take the spotlight Friday, the offenses probably won't be far behind. Creager fuels Patrick Henry's run-first attack with 1,298 yards and 22 scores on the ground, but he's also thrown for 1,052 yards and 14 more TDs. "He's a dual-threat quarterback, that's why we put him back there," Inselmann said after last week's win. "We love to run him, and he's improving in his passing now. We're starting to click a little bit with our passing game, which is going to make us tougher to defend." Coach Colatruglio said it's a familiar task, and one the Chieftains need to accomplish better this year. "They'll spread you out a little more than some other teams, but it's a lot of different ways to try to get their quarterback the ball in his hands," he said. "A big reason they had success last year was him running the ball and we've got to be able to do a little bit better job at the point of attack than we did last year." Jaiden Rutter (599 yards, 3 TDs), Smith (376 yards, 7 TDs), Cal Schroeder (313 yards, 3 TDs) and Reed Jackson (239 yards, 3 TDs) add plenty of depth to Patrick Henry's run game. Lane Jackson's 18 catches for 313 yards and Johnson's 14 catches for 249 yards lead the receiving corps. Both have five TD receptions. Holloway (10-156, 2 TDs) and Reid Creager (6-143, 1 TD) also figure in the air attack. The Chieftains feature Jacoby Ellis throwing for 1,429 yards and 11 touchdowns while triple-threat Kellen Frankart adds 353 yards and six TDs on the ground, 706 yards and nine scores through the air, and nine receptions for 119 yards and two more touchdowns. Braylon Martinez backs them with 941 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground to go with 33 catches for 355 yards and five TDs. Jack Colatruglio's 52 receptions for 852 yards and five scores tops the receiving corps. Matt Wyman (16-175, 1 TD), Evan Eilrich (18-149), Brody Brickman (7-120, 2 TDs) and Wyatt Crow (8-90, 2 TDs) adding plenty of depth in the passing game, and Jaysin Cramer (202 yards, 3 TDs) helps in the run game. The job now is to keep it going, coach Colatruglio said. "This is what we planned to do from the beginning. This is always our goal, to get to this level. Last year we came up a little bit short, and now we get another shot at it," he said. "I know our seniors and our entire team, we're going to go out there and give them the absolute best shot we have," he said. "I've said it all year, if somebody's going to beat us, they better be really talented and they better play a really good game. They're going to get our best and I'm sure we're going to get theirs."