By Ryan Buck

sports@vindy.com

COLUMBIANA

For one thrilling two-play drive, at least, the Columbiana Clippers gave defending Inter Tri-County League Tier Two champion Western Reserve all it could handle.

Then reality set in.

A 5-yard Mitch Davidson-to-Dalton Miller touchdown pass brought the Clippers (0-1) within two points (8-6) with 8:39 left in the first quarter before the Blue Devils (1-0) reminded everyone at Firestone Park why they are the reigning conference champions in a 47-12 win.

Western Reserve benefitted from an overturned interception in Columbiana territory preceding first-year quarterback John Clegg’s 20-yard touchdown run that put the Blue Devils ahead for good.

“He’s as good as any first-year quarterback I’m ever gonna have,” said the ever-excitable Western Reserve coach Andy Hake. “I’ve been really blessed to have the (ITCL) offensive players of the year as my last two quarterbacks in his (older) brother Jeff and (last year’s starter) Nick Allison. He has the same ability, he just doesn’t have their experience, but he really did it today.”

Reserve struck quickly on an Evan Nesbitt touchdown run on their opening drive with 9:09 left in the first.

Clippers return man Matt Weidner nearly scored on the ensuing kickoff, returning the ball to the Blue Devils’ 33. Davidson then broke free for a 28-yard run setting up Miller’s score.

“Of course we were nervous — the whole team was nervous — you could feel it,” Clegg said of the game’s opening moments. “But we’d been here before. We knew what to do and we came out here meaning business.”

Columbiana went three plays-and-out on its next drive, giving Clegg — who finished with two touchdown passes and another rushing — and the Blue Devils the ball at their own 37. After an offensive holding penalty, Clegg hit versatile H-back Brian Sunderman over the middle for 25 yards on third-and-16 to save the game-turning drive.

Clegg then picked up two yards on fourth-and-1 from his own 45. He found Greg Brunner down the right sideline for 36 yards on the following play and Nesbitt finished the drive with an 18-yard burst and a 20-6 lead after a failed extra point attempt.

The Blue Devils came away with points on seven of their nine first-half possessions, benefitting from three Columbiana turnovers.

“We had a chance to score two or three times in the first half,” said Columbiana coach Bob Spaite. “Now would we have beat them? I don’t know, but we could have made it a much better game than the score ended up.

“We knew we’d have to out-score them. We knew we were going to have a heck of a time slowing them down.”

After a promising Columbiana drive fizzled on a near-touchdown pass on fourth down from the Reserve 20 and a later Columbiana fumble set them up at the Clippers’ 35, Clegg found 6-foot-6 matchup nightmare Joe Falasca open for an easy touchdown on the drive’s second play for a 34-6 lead.