By Curtis Pulliam

cpulliam@vindy.com

Leetonia

Danny Shultz has no problem sharing the ball with teammates Austin Davis and Jason Thompson.

“We don’t really have starters; we are all starters,” Shultz said. “Whenever it’s my turn, I just have to run hard.”

Run hard Shultz did, gaining 97 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries as the Lisbon Blue Devils defeated the Leetonia Bears 35-6. This is the third year in a row the Blue Devils beat the Bears.

“It’s a confidence boost for us,” Shultz said.

Blue Devils coach Jim Tsilimos had mixed emotions about his team’s performance.

“I was very pleased,” Tsilimos said. “[But] we had too many penalties and turnovers.”

The Blue Devils had seven penalties and two fumbles. Leetonia only scored six points off the miscues.

“If you want to beat good teams, you just can’t do that,” Tsilimos said.

As displeased as Tsilimos was about the mistakes, the Blue Devils had plenty of positives.

The first score of the game came late in the first quarter when Thompson ran it from 15 yards out. The extra point was successful, making it 7-0 Lisbon.

The Blue Devils did not stop there. After a three-and-out by the Bears, Shultz scored his first touchdown from 9 yards out, putting the Blue Devils up 14-0.

At the 7:11 mark of the second quarter, the Blue Devils marched down the field again, this time it was Austin Davis scoring from 11 yards away, putting Lisbon up 21-0.

Davis was excited with the victory.

“We were well prepared,” Davis said, who 82 yards on seven carries. “We put in a lot of work this offseason, so we were ready.”

The running back combination continued to run all over Leetonia in the third quarter.

After an interception by Lisbon’s Austin Rutecki, the Blue Devils drove 66 yards in nine plays. The drive was capped off by an 8 yard run by Shultz.

Shultz credited his offensive line for his success.

“I couldn’t do without them,” Shultz said.

Tsilimos was content with his line’s effort.

“The offensive line, I thought came off the ball and did a nice job,” Tsilimos said.

The Bears connected in the fourth quarter on a 23-yard pass from Drew Turney to Josh Faulkner making it 28-6. The Blue Devils got a 51-yard pass from Josh Liberati to Jared White with 6:40 left in the fourth, putting the game away.

Lisbon’s defense was on top of its game, holding the Bears to 215 yards of total offense and forcing three turnovers.

Leetonia head coach Matt Altomare was not too disappointed with his team’s showing.

“We turned the ball over a few more times than I would have liked,” Altomare said. “I liked our enthusiasm, I liked our effort, we just have to do better execution.”