DIVISION III Beaver Local dominates Gallia Academy

The Beavers did most of their damage on the ground.
By ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CALCUTTA -- There was nothing tricky about Beaver Local High's offensive game plan against Gallia Academy Friday night in the first round of the Division III playoffs.
The Beavers treated the Blue Devils to a steady diet of smash-mouth football, rushing for over 450 yards in a 45-13 victory.
With the win, the Beavers (11-0) will face Steubenville in a Region 11 semifinal game next Friday night at a neutral site. The Big Red defeated New Concord John Glenn 31-7 to advance to Week 12.
Rushing dominance
Just like in the regular season, Beaver Local's rushing attack was unstoppable. Four Beavers ran for over 100 yards, including Josh Pastore, who hit the century mark for the 11th game in a row.
The Beavers' ground game was led by quarterback Jake Robinson, who churned out 117 yards and scored four touchdowns. Pastore and Matt Vujaklya each added 106 yards and Adam Hoppel pounded out 105 yards.
"I'm not smart enough to try anything tricky, so I just let my athletes do the work," said Beaver Local coach Rich Wright.
"We broke a lot of tackles and ran with a lot of determination. The offensive line really did a great job. It was all about team football.
"That's a good football team and [Donnie] Johnson is a heck of a player," he continued. "We made some mistakes early, but we made some big plays and I'm happy with the final outcome."
Gallia (9-2) managed to hang tough in the first half. The biggest reason for that was the play of Johnson, the quarterback. The senior scored both of the Blue Devils' touchdowns on two running plays.
But the Beavers' offensive and defensive lines wore down the Blue Devils in the trenches in the second half and the Beaver Local running backs did the rest, rushing for over 250 yards.
Beaver Local scored on its opening possession, after a 52-yard kickoff return by Dan Kinsey. Starting on the Gallia 42, the Beavers needed just five plays to get on the scoreboard. Hoppel barreled in from 1 yard out with 10:17 remaining in the opening period. The point-after kick gave the Beavers a quick 7-0 lead.
Gallia took advantage of Beaver Local's only turnover, recovering a fumble at its 29. On the second play, Johnson broke loose for a 69-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7 with 3:56 remaining in the first period.
The Beavers claimed the momentum heading into halftime, scoring twice in the last minute of the first half. Aided by a pass interference call, Beaver Local scored on a 3-yard run by Robinson to take a 14-7 advantage.
Beaver Local recovered an onside kick at the Gallia 41 and worked the clock. Five plays later, Jeff Dalrymple connected on a 28-yard field goal to put the Beavers ahead 17-7 at half.
Johnson took the second-half kickoff 94 yards to bring the Blue Devils to within 17-13.
Pulling away
The Beavers' defense came up with three interceptions in the third quarter and the offense scored 21 points to put the game out of reach.
Robinson, who collected two interceptions, put the nail in Gallia's coffin late in the third. On defense, he intercepted a Johnson pass at the Beaver Local 33. On offense, he sprinted 36 yards for a touchdown with 3:51 remaining, giving Beaver Local a 38-13 lead.
"We had a great defensive game plan," said Robinson. "We knew exactly what they were going to do.
"When you put that much pressure on the quarterback, there's not much he can do but try to throw the ball away and when he did, we were there."