Salem vs Campbell

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Salem vs Campbell

Team

Salem

Record	Div.	Conf.
5/4	Div. IV	Northeastern Buckeye Conference

Team

Campbell Memorial

Record	Div.	Conf.
3/7	Div. V	All-American Conference Blue Tier

By GREG GULAS

sports@vindy.com

SALEM

Salem football coach Mike Kopachy had a gut feeling that Quaker wide receiver Zach Penick was due for a break out game.

He was just hoping that it might come on Friday night against Campbell Memorial.

Penick, with the help of quarterback Trent Toothman, who passed for 298 yards and accounted for five Salem scores, caught 10 passes and set a school single-game record with 220 yards as the Quakers knocked off the Red Devils, 43-21 at Reilly Stadium.

“Trent is a great quarterback and I sure am glad that he is on my side,” said Penick. “I just went out tonight wanting to have some fun and that is exactly what I did.

“I had no idea that my yardage set a new school single game record, but I’m the first to admit that I could not have done it without my teammates,” Penick said.

The Red Devils, off to their best start since 1999 when they finished undefeated in the regular season and 10-1 overall, took the opening kickoff and marched 73 yards in six plays to get on the board first when Ja’les Hughes scored from 55 yards.

Hughes, who had a game-high 175 yards rushing, accrued all but 22 of those yards prior to halftime.

The Quakers knotted the game at 7 on their first possession when Toothman scored from 3yards out; the first of his three rushing touchdowns on the night.

“We feel like we can do whatever we want on offense, but if we expect to be there in the end then we’re going to have to stop our opponents defensively,” said Toothman

“That’s exactly what we did tonight after halftime. Our offensive and defensive lines both played a relentless game and give credit to our receivers because they added plenty of yardage tonight after the catch,” Toothman said.

Lester Hughes’ 2-yard run with under two minutes to play in the opening frame gave the Red Devils a 14-7 advantage heading to the second quarter.

Toothman’s 2-yard scamper at 9:24 of the period knotted the game at 14-all and when he added a 31-yard romp at 4:40, the Quakers increased their lead to 20-14 after the failed conversion.

Hughes then directed the Red Devils down the field and when brother Ja’les capped a 13-play, 64-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, Campbell Memorial took a 21-20 lead at the intermission.

“We had our opportunities in the third quarter but could not capitalize,” said Campbell coach Mickey Sikora. “Give credit to Trent [Toothman] for his leadership tonight. There’s a reason he’s going Division I and he showed everyone that reason tonight.”

Toothman connected with Penick on a 21-yard scoring strike on the Quakers’ first possession of the second half and when he added the successful two-point conversion, Salem regained the lead, 28-21.

James Norkus and Mike King then scissored Hughes in the end zone 55 seconds later for a safety, allowing the Quakers to increase their lead to 30-21.

When Penick added his second touchdown of the night at the 2:57 mark of the quarter, this time on the receiving end of a Toothman 59-yard pass, Salem had built a comfortable 37-21 advantage.

Eric Bailey then rounded out the scoring by picking off Hughes with 16 seconds remaining, racing 28 yards for the touchdown and a 43-21 lead.

“We played four good quarters tonight against an excellent football team,” said Kopachy. “I felt like we played with more intensity in the second half but overall, I was proud of our effort on both sides of the ball.

“We’re clicking on all cylinders right now and I’m really proud of our overall effort tonight.”

Salem had 490 yards offensively; 312 coming through the air.

The Red Devils had 364 total offensive yards and between the two schools, amassed 854-yards of total offense in the game.