Spartans make a Federal case

Boardman moves into first with 26-0 win

By JOHN BASSETTI

vindicator sports staff

BOARDMAN — It was an exercise in punt, pass and kick.

In Boardman’s 26-0 Federal League win over Canton GlenOak, kicker Trevor Ragan accounted for more than half of his team’s points and quarterback Rob Boyd completed 14 of 19 passes for 196 yards.

The punting?

How about 12 for 325 yards by Alex Meredith as GlenOak (6-2) repeatedly booted its way out of a hole.

To top it off, the Spartans’ defense held the Eagles to 65 total yards.

“Anytime you shut someone out in the Federal League, it’s a great accomplishment,” Boardman coach D.J. Ogilvie said of Friday’s game that lifted his team (4-1) into a tie atop the league with GlenOak and North Canton Hoover.

“Yeah, but there’s still two weeks left and anything can happen,” Ogilvie said. “It’s still wide-open.”

Ragan made four field goals and two extra points for 14 points. The senior also had a kickoff and punted five times for 177 yards.

The output by the 6-0, 185 kicker’s right foot was a personal best. His field goals covered distances of 25, 32, 43 and 25.

He was asked if a shutout seemed possible prior to the game.

“I don’t know about that but we had a great week of practice and coach did a great job of preparing us for it and we just came out and took care of business,” said Ragan.

Ogilvie addressed his kicker’s night.

“He’s very accurate and has a super-strong leg. He’s the best kicker I’ve ever been around.”

Chase Hammond had five catches for 107 yards, most for key conversions.

“I love the pressure,” the 6-5, 210 senior said of his role. “I love the big-game atmosphere and big players make big plays in big games and I love when they call on me because I’m always here for my team and I’m always going to do what I have to do to better the team.”

As free safety, Hammond was also part of the shutout unit.

“It means a lot. Our defense is really coming together as one of the better defenses around. It feels really good as a team. Every week we preach having the best defense and giving up zero points. We can’t win games without good defense.”

Kenny Jones caught a 26-yard pass from Boyd and Boyd ran 1 yard for another tally for the Spartans (6-2).

“Robbie Boyd has made great decisions these last couple weeks and has utilized all of our receivers very well,” Ogilvie said.”

It was a remarkable performance as Boardman had as 16-2 advantage in first downs.

The Spartans didn’t allow the Eagles to advance beyond midfield but twice.

The field position enabled Boardman’s offense to get a jump on scoring.

“It was huge,” Ogilvie said of the field-position advantage in the second half. “Especially with these [muddy] field conditions, having that really played into our hands.”

Did Ogilvie foresee a shutout?

“No, because they’re really physical. But we played great run-defense against a running football team.”

Besides Ragan, Boyd, Hammond and Jones, Boardman’s multi-faceted team had its contributors.

Joe Markovitch recovered a fumble that set up Jones’ TD and Tyler Blangero’s 24-yard reception helped in the drive that resulted in Ragan’s first field goal.

Down linemen Jabrill Garner and Noah Patoray were key players, too.

With the permission of Ogilvie, they celebrated the win by diving in a mud puddle in front of the Boardman bench.

However, the coach couldn’t escape his own mud bath.

“For the third week in a row, we played under bad field conditions,” Ogilvie said. “So, during practice this week, because of the mud, we were talking about Friday and I said: ‘If we win Friday, I’ll find the biggest puddle with you two guys and we’ll go jump in it.’ Obviously, they held me to it.”

bassetti@vindy.com