Flyers use six touchdowns to bury the Mustangs early in the game

By MARK HAZELWOOD

Sandusky Register

NORWALK

Mike Palumbo saw what he wants his program to be Saturday night.

Unfortunately, it was a tough one to watch play out as Mathews took it on the chin in a Division VII, Region 23 quarterfinal against St. Paul in Norwalk.

The Mustangs allowed six touchdowns alone in the first 11 minutes of the game in a 63-2 loss to the state-ranked Flyers.

With the loss, Mathews closes the season with a 7-4 record, while St. Paul (10-1) advances to face Ashland Mapleton (8-3) in a second-round game next week.

“It was a rough one tonight,” Palumbo said. “We’re trying to build something here, and that’s where want to be, is where they are at. I think we have a lot to hang our hat on. We won our league and were one of the lucky 32 to make the playoffs. It was a good successful season.

“St. Paul is a very good team,” he added. “We knew we had to come in here and be physical with them. It’s a tough one to swallow, but our kids will build from it. We’re losing five seniors, but got a lot of young kids some experience in the playoffs, so we’re excited about the future.”

The game started ominously for the Mustangs, as the Flyers returned the opening kickoff 48 yards to the Mathews 29-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Brad Smith, a 1,600-yard back coming in, ran through the Mustang defense for a touchdown on the first play.

Joey Catalano hit the first of nine PATs and the Flyers were off and rolling.

Brad Smith capped a five-play, 42-yard drive three minutes later on a 3-yard scoring run, then after another three-and-out by the Mustangs, the Flyers’ Grant Dilger returned the ensuing punt 55 yards to already make it 21-0 with 6:13 left still in the first quarter.

The Mustangs then fumbled the ball away two plays into the following drive, and two plays later Devin Smith, a 1,200-yard back, went in for a 20-yard scoring run and a 28-0 lead.

Another Mathews fumble at the 31 just two plays into the ensuing drive then set up Devin Smith again, as he went 31 yards untouched for another score and a 35-0 lead.

Finally, the Flyers ended the quarter by getting a 25-yard punt return from Dilger to the Mathews 40. The very next play, quarterback Sam Carper connected with Dilger for a 40-yard touchdown pass and a 42-0 lead with 42 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Complicating matters for the Mustangs was the loss of quarterback Cobie Pratt. He was injured on a kick return, and was believed to have suffered a broken rib and did not return.

“We wanted to chew the clock and kind of struggled with that in the beginning,” Palumbo said. “They got some quick scores and we couldn’t get anything going, and Cobie going down kind of sucked the wind out of our sails a little bit.

“You can’t make the mistakes we did tonight though against a team like that,” he added. “We’ll have a nice nucleus back. Our guys didn’t quit, we just have to build our program and get better, and this is good experience for the guys.”

In the second quarter, Brad Smith capped two scoring drives with touchdown runs of 2 and 8 yards to give the Flyers a 56-0 lead at the half.