By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LEETONIA — It wasn’t moving the football that the Leetonia High football offense had problems with Thursday night against rival Lisbon — it was holding onto it that was the difficulty.

The Bears committed three turnovers in the first half, one of which was returned for a Lisbon touchdown. Despite four first downs in its first two drives, Leetonia trailed 7-0 and Lisbon hadn’t even run a play yet.

Not quite the beginning Leetonia coach Matt Altomare had in mind, but three quarters later, he felt better about the results.

The Bears’ offense played turnover-free football in the second half and piled up 349 total yards to outscore Lisbon 22-6 after the intermission and pull away for a 34-13 win in the annual Spaghetti Bowl rivalry game.

“When you turn the ball over three times, give up a defensive touchdown and a kickoff return for a score, you have to feel very fortunate to come away with the victory,” said Altomare, who is in his second season as the Bears’ head coach. “It was a very sloppy game and we have some things to correct.”

The Bears turned the ball over on their first three offensive possessions — two fumbles and an interception. But Lisbon could only capitalize on one of the three miscues.

On the game’s opening drive, Leetonia marched to the Blue Devils’ 15 and elected to go for it on fourth-and-6. Lisbon’s Robert Wilcox scooped up a Leetonia fumble and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown to give the visitors a 7-0 advantage.

While Leetonia continued to move the ball, miscues stalled scoring drives.

The Bears’ punt coverage team picked up the slack with a big play. With Lisbon backed up deep in its own territory and forced to punt, Seth Inboden blocked the punt and Matt Shar pounced on it in the end zone for the score.

The point-after kick failed and Lisbon led 7-6 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Leetonia’s Josh Selway got the offense rolling. He scored from 2 yards out after returning a Lisbon punt 28 yards to the 2 yard line. That touchdown gave the Bears a 12-6 advantage at halftime.

With the exception of one big play, the second half was all Leetonia. Selway, who finished with 155 yards rushing on 19 carries, put the Bears up 18-7 with a 9-yard score.

Lisbon’s Aaron Sweeney responded on the ensuing kickoff, taking it 88 yards for a touchdown to close the gap to 18-13 with 5:33 left in the third quarter.

But Leetonia went to the ground game the rest of the way, using Selway’s agility and the hard-nosed running of full back A.J. Bailey. Bailey, who piled up 76 yards on 14 attempts, scored twice in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach.

“A.J. really did a great job for us tonight,” said Selway. “He was patient and waited for the holes to open up. The line did a nice job opening things up for us tonight.

“We just had to focus a little more in the second half when we got the ball down there. It wasn’t a matter of Xs and Os, we just needed to concentrate more and get it done.”

Leetonia’s defense stymied Lisbon’s offense, limiting the unit to 83 total yards and just four first downs. The Bears also sacked quarterback Matt Metzger three times.

The Blue Devils’ bright spot was the long return by Sweeney, who also added 17 yards rushing. Lisbon did not turn the ball over in the contest.