Team

Western Reserve

Record	Div.	Conf.
8/3	Div. VII	Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference

Team

Wellsville

Record	Div.	Conf.
2/5	Div. VII	Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference

By BRANDON JUDEH

sports@vindy.com

Berlin Center

Another day, another blowout for the Western Reserve Blue Devils, as they defeated the Wellsville Tigers 49-7 on Friday night.

The Blue Devils (8-0, 5-0 ITCL) faced a rare early 7-0 deficit when the Tigers (3-5) quarterback Jake Reed found Seth Bradford in the end-zone to give them the early lead. After that, Western Reserve scored four touchdowns before the first quarter was over.

Leading the way for the Blue Devils was a usual suspect in Donnie Bolton, who again rushed for more than 100 yards. He finished the game with 128 yards and two touchdown runs that included a 34-yarder in the first quarter that put his team up for good.

Senior Thomas Benyo scored three touchdowns, but it was the way he scored them that made it much more special.

He scored his first at the end of the first quarter by intercepting Reed’s pass and returning it 41 yards for the score. He then capped the Blue Devils’ big first half off by catching a 29-yard touchdown pass from fellow senior Jeff Clegg.

But he wasn’t done.

On the opening kickoff of the second half, Benyo returned a squib kick 60 yards for his third touchdown.

“This was my first really big game and it feels great,” said Benyo. “I dedicated this game to my grandfather who was hurt in an auto accident a couple days ago.”

Jeff Clegg also had a nice game by throwing for 136 yards and three touchdowns. One one, Clegg danced around and avoided three defenders, then lobbed a perfect pass into the waiting arms of Benyo to put the Blue Devils up 34-7.

Perhaps most of Western Reserve’s success can be contributed to their offensive line, lead by seniors Tyler Powell and Aaron Halls.

“It’s big for us to contribute and open up holes for Donnie [Bolton] and when he runs the ball we run the ball, but we haven’t met our goals yet. Our major goals are to beat McDonald, win this league, make a run in the playoffs and win state, we have a long way to go,” said Powell.

“We are all pretty close and hang out a lot and we do what is best for the team, we want to win,” said Halls.

Capping the scoring for Western Reserve was Bolton with a 1-yard run to end the third and end all of the scoring for the night.

“It feels great to be 8-0 and I am really proud of this team especially the seniors, they really played hard,” said Western Reserve coach Andy Hake.