Columbus Grove screens out Blue Jays in regional final

LIMA – During its postseason run, Delphos St. John's has made a habit of late-game rallies.It looked like the Blue Jays were primed to do it again against Columbus Grove in the Region 26 final in Lima Friday night. Trailing the Bulldogs' 7-0 late in the third quarter, St. John's used eight consecutive running plays to move deep into Columbus Grove territory.An 11-yard run by Riley Mueller set the Blue Jays up with a first and goal at the 7.Columbus Grove coach Andy Schafer was very aware of St. John's penchant for coming back, mentioning it in interviews earlier in the week."That was always kind of in the back of my mind," Schafer said.But this time, there was no comeback.Facing a fourth and goal at the 5 with about a minute gone in the fourth quarter, the Blue Jays' Connor Gaynier took the ball on an end around, reaching the 2 before being stood up and stopped by the Columbus Grove defense.It was perhaps the biggest play in Columbus Grove's 14-0 win."Our offense wasn't performing the best, so our defense had to step up and stop them at the goal line," said Bulldogs' safety Grant Eversole, who had two interceptions and tipped another to teammate Trevon Baxter."I feel like that definitely boosted our confidence, shutting their offense down. Our offense had to get rolling after that."It did. After three runs by Trent Barraza (one for 25 yards) pushed the Bulldogs out to the 36, the Grove coaching staff went back to a play that had paid off handsomely in the first quarter.The screen.On the Bulldogs' first offensive possession, quarterback Kyle Hopkins connected with Baxter on a short pass that went for a 37-yard touchdown.Now, Hopkins threw another screen to Baxter. "After the great blocks, all you see is daylight," Baxter said. "Just gotta put the jets on."He did, racing 66 yards to the end zone to put Columbus Grove up by two scores with 9:45 left in regulation."Two big screen plays," said St. John's coach Todd Schulte. "They executed well; great calls by them. That's the difference in the game.""They haven't worked like that all year," Schafer said. "We've run them, but they were bringing so much pressure. You have to call plays like that, and you have to execute them. Baxter did a great job with his speed for sure."Baxter ended with six receptions for 108 yards. He also ran for 22 yards. Barraza added 22 carries for 107 yards, and Hopkins was 8 of 10 passing for 110.But the game may have belonged to Eversole, who played a big role in holding St. John's to 151 yards of total offense.In addition to his defensive highlights, the senior helped grind out the game late at running back, finishing with nine carries for 48 yards. "You could just see, the way he was playing," Schafer said, "He wanted to make it to Week 15." The Bulldogs won their third consecutive regional title. They will play Marion Local in the state semifinal next weekend.For the Blue Jays, Gaynier had 85 yards rushing on 17 carries. Due to key injuries this week in practice, Gaynier was playing running back for the first time this season.Schulte said his team had its chances."We needed to get that score and just build some momentum," he said. "I think there was four or five (plays) in the first half where we're a shoestring tackle away from busting a 40-50 yard run with Connor Gaynier."But as it has all season, the Bulldogs made the key stops ."At the very end, they didn't score," Schafer said. "So, that was big." Delphos St. John's&emsp;0&emsp;0&emsp;0&emsp;0 --0 Columbus Grove&emsp;7&emsp;0&emsp;0&emsp;7 -- 14 FIRST QUARTER CG -- Trevon Baxter 37 pass from Kyle Hopkins (Evan Verhoff kick) FOURTH QUARTER CG -- Baxter 66 pass from Hopkins (Verhoff kick)