Saturday, October 23, 2004
Columbus quarterback Marty Assmann passed for 285 yards.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Marty Assmann threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns Friday as the Columbus Bishop Hartley football team defeated Springfield, 35-6, at Tiger Stadium.
Columbus Bishop Hartley, the number nine team in Division V Region 20 in this week's computer playoff ratings, registered 419 yards of total offense.
The Tigers (7-2) are the number nine team in Div. V Region 17.
"Take nothing away from Bishop Hartley as they played an excellent overall game tonight," Tiger coach John Smith said. "The Tiger team that you saw in the first half tonight, however, isn't the same Tiger team that played the first eight games of the year."
Assmann, a junior, threw scoring strikes of 10, 74, 46 and 48 yards, the latter two to tight end Tim Mackey as the Hawks built a 28-0 halftime lead and never looked back in the second half.
"[Marty] Assmann is one of the reasons that we went to the spread offense," Hawks coach Dick Geyer said. "Springfield Local is an excellent offensive football team and they were a real challenge for us tonight.
"We wanted to get off to a good start tonight and by doing so put pressure on their offense."
Slow start
Neither team could mount any drive on their first possession of the game, but when Assmann found Zack Byers with a 10-yard scoring pass, the Hawks took a 7-0 advantage at the 5:40 mark of the opening quarter.
After holding the Tigers on their next series, Assmann connected on a 74-yard scoring strike to Tom Gantner and the Hawks had a 14-0 lead after the first 12 minutes of play.
A 46-yard scoring strike from Assmann to Mackey made it 21-0 in favor of Bishop Hartley just 2:24 into the second quarter.
When Michael Thomas raced 66-yards with a punt return at the 3:28 mark of the quarter, the Hawks increased their margin to 28-0.
While the Hawks registered 314 total yards of offense in the first half (214 coming from the arm of Assmann), their defense proved to be equally effective as they held the Tigers to 95 offensive yards, a mere 34 coming from their ground game.
"Our defense has been both aggressive and effective for us all season long," Geyer said. "They've registered three shutouts and twice allowed just seven points so we're really pleased with their effort tonight."
Huge lead
Mackey's second touchdown grab of the game, a 48-yard strike from Assmann at 8:52 of the third period, then increased the Hawks' lead to 35-0.
But a 32-yard scoring toss from Andrew Schuler to Matt Morell with 5:41 remaining helped the Tigers to avert the shutout.
Mackey's five catches and 131 receiving yards for the Hawks led all receivers while the Hawk defense held the Tigers to just 245 total offensive yards, 135 of those yards coming on the ground.
Springfield Local, however, held a 15-14 first down advantage in the game.