By Joe Scalzo

After starting 5-0, Boardman has lost three straight. Maybe teams have found a formula.

CANTON — Around 10 p.m. Friday inside Bob Commings Stadium, Boardman junior J.T. Moore squatted about five feet behind his teammates on the sideline and stared blankly into space.

A few teammates came over and patted him on the shoulder pads, but he didn’t notice. Besides, they looked the same way.

Three weeks ago, the Spartans were state championship contenders. Two weeks ago, they were playoff probables. One week ago, they were playoff hopefuls.

After a 21-14 loss to GlenOak, they’re just a team searching for some answers.

“Until you put your foot down in the sand and say, ‘Enough is enough ...,’ ” said Boardman coach D.J. Ogilvie, whose team has lost three straight after starting 5-0. “We’ve got to be able to do that.

“We haven’t been able to do it yet.”

Since blasting Perry 63-21 Sept. 19, Boardman’s offense has sputtered and, consequently, its defense has wore down late in games. Federal League opponents began keying on senior running back Damien Jarrett — the Spartans’ lone home run threat — and forced Boardman to beat them in other ways.

“That was the key,” said Golden Eagles coach Scott Garcia. “We had to stop Jarrett.”

Outside of one play, they did. Trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, Boardman’s Tim Strasik recovered a GlenOak fumble on a punt return to give the Spartans the ball at the Eagles’ 30. Jarrett ripped through GlenOak’s defense for a touchdown on the next play, tying the score at 7.

GlenOak drove 74 yards in nine plays just before the first half ended to make it 14-7. After the Spartans temporarily knocked out starting QB Brandon Martin on a vicious hit, Garcia turned to sophomore Alex Meredith with first-and-goal at the 3.

The Eagles’ first play, a run, lost 4 yards. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to run it against Boardman’s front seven, Garcia called for a fade and Meredith found Zack Hatchett in the left corner with 35 seconds left.

“We were running out of time and we only had one timeout, so we threw him in there and Alex made a great play,” said Garcia. “Everybody had scored big plays on them [Boardman], but once you get in the red zone, it’s tough to get yards.”

Hatchett finished with six catches for 73 yards and three TDs, with two of those coming on fade routes. The third TD came with 1:18 left in the fourth quarter, putting the game away. Boardman added a meaningless touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Rob Boyd to Damien Jarrett with less than a second left to round out the scoring.

“Our defense played great, but we can’t ask them to stop them every time if they’re getting the ball at the 50,” said Ogilvie, whose offense didn’t have a first down in the third quarter. “Our offense sputtered big time.”

With GlenOak’s top two tailbacks out, Garcia relied on junior Collin Daniels-Mitchell (22 carries, 72 yards) and DeWuan Spencer (10 carries, 87 yards) to key the ground game. Martin was 9-of-15 for 123 yards, two TDs and an interception (by Pat McFall) for GlenOak (7-1, 4-1), whose lone loss came against Canton McKinley.

Jarrett had 16 carries for 59 yards, while Boyd was 10-of-20 for 105 yards and an interception for the Spartans (5-3, 2-3), who entered the game ranked 10th in the Division I, Region 1 computer ratings.

“In the Federal League, every game’s a sun of a gun,” said Ogilvie. “Any team can beat anybody.”

scalzo@vindy.com