PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg amassed 342 yards rushing to hold on for a 28-21 victory over Toledo St. Francis at the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl in both teams’ season opener Friday.

Perrysburg senior quarterback Josh Takats, who last year threw for over 2,000 yards, used his legs instead, running for 163 yards on 21 carries.

Perrysburg senior running back Joseph Seney ran for 70 yards on 10 carries and scored all four touchdowns and runs of six, two, three, and 20 yards.

That was the plan — to use Perrysburg’s offensive line and a contingent of tailbacks to defeat the Knights.

“I’m super proud of our ground game,” Perrysburg coach Dirk Conner said. “That’s where we wanted to win this game.

“We thought our offensive line was pretty good and we knew we could pound the ball a little bit, and that is what we were going to have to do against this particular team.

“It was the plan coming in, so hats off to our offensive linemen and our running backs — hats off to all of our kids. It is such an unselfish group and all we care about is winning, and that is what we teach them as a culture and how proud of our kids that they really bought into that.”

Takats finished with just 52 yards in the air on 4-of-10 passing, but he does not mind one bit.

“Their defense, the way they are structured is cover-zero most of the entire game,” Takats said. “They have really good optics and obviously their gameplan was to simply try and take away the passing game — that is what they are taught, so that is what my job was.

“The offensive line did a great job — we got a lot of plus-ones in the running game. That’s when you really saw my legs going off.

“That’s what we were planning on this past offseason — I’m not a 4.4, 40 (meter) guy, but you know I weigh 210 pounds and being able to not run hesitant, I still have to be able to run and that is something I’m, working on.”

In addition, junior running back Nico Walkosky ran for 61 yards on eight carries, senior Carson Pershing ran for 34 yards on eight carries, sophomore Brady Maxwell had a seven-yard run and senior Iain Hall had a nine-yard carry.

Takats says it doesn’t happen without an offensive line that knows their job.

“They are really working hard, and they are really meshed up as a group,” Takats said. “It’s not really the biggest offensive line that you see with (6-foot-5, 285-pound sophomore) Reed (Gerken), (6-3, 270 senior) Mincho (Stanchev), (6-1, 220 senior) Paulo (Walkosky), (5-11, 278 senior) Eric (Bush), but they are moving well together.

“They gel well together, and they have a feel for each other. They know their assignments on every play.

“Our tailbacks are doing a great job. They are another group that every play it’s what can they do help our team succeed? They knew it was going to be run by committee this year and they are doing a very good job at it,” Takats continued.

However, St. Francis trailed by a touchdown with 5:54 remaining when junior linebacker Beau Thomas stripped Takats off the ball and junior linebacker Demetrius Loggins fell off on, giving Knights possession at their own 19-yard line with a chance for game-tying or game-winning scoring drive. That’s what Conner did not want to see.

“Our last two plays (on that drive) we tried to screw it up pretty bad,” Conner said.

The fact that the game was so close after Perrysburg routed the Knights, 46-8, at Steinecker Stadium, did not surprise Conner. He knew they were a much-improved team under first-year coach Josh Lindke, who came over from Otsego.

“Analyzing the film, this is exactly what we thought it would be,” Conner said. “Obviously, we’d like to clean some things up, but week one you are going to have that.

“They have two, three very dangerous offensive weapons. They got one with their kicking game (92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by senior Drew Tucker, a Northwood resident, to start the second half) and that got them a big shot.”

Takats was not surprised either.

“Oh my gosh, they are so improved,” Takats said. “Coach Lindke is doing a great job over there. That team was disciplined. They have a really good offense.

“Shout out to No. 54 (6-4, 255 junior defensive end Jermaine Polk) and (senior defensive back) Raheem Brown — those guys are doing a really good job over there.

“They are building a tradition and program over there and you can see it improve. It’s a stride for them. They are going to do real good in the conference they are in this year.”

St. Francis’ potential game-winning drive was thwarted when Perrysburg senior linebacker Braxton Mefferd intercepted a throw by senior quarterback Corey Swartz at the Jackets’ 44-yard line with 1:26 remaining.

But Swartz threw for 140 yards on 13-of-20 passing, including a 33-yard strike to Brown with six seconds remaining in the first quarter.

St. Francis other score came on a 10-yard run by junior Eli Beal around the left end with 8:39 remaining in the game to make it a one-score game.

The Knights had 265 total yards, including 115 rushing, but Lindke would prefer to have the win. But he knew his team had its work cut out going against Perrysburg, especially after the Knights’ 1-9 season last year before his arrival.

“Perrysburg, when we talk about this area, there are always going to be six programs that are going to be good year-in, and Perrysburg is one of them, and we just went toe-to-toe with them,” Lindke said.

“I’m real proud of our kids’ effort, the kids battled, but we are also not happy with the result. That is the mentality that we must take now as a program and grow as we go forward.

“You can’t be satisfied with just being so close. You must get over that hump eventually and we’ll get there. It’s just going to take some time. We’ve got some talented kids who play hard and I think we’ve got a group that is really hungry and will continue to get better.”

Conner will take the win, but he, too, wants to see improvement down the road. Next Friday, the Yellow Jackets host Marysville at Steinecker Stadium.

“Like I just told my guys, we’ve got to get so much better, but it’s always better to get better when you are 1-0,” Conner said.

“So, I’m proud of my kids for some perseverance and some resilience. We still have a lot of question marks about some things, but a lot of guys did a very good job tonight. We’re looking forward to cleaning some stuff up and improving.”