PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg rolled up 292 yards of total offense in a 37-0 win over Marysville at Steinecker Stadium Friday, but the defense’s shutout was just as big.

Both of Perrysburg’s second half touchdowns were scored by the defense — a 16-yard pass interception return by senior linebacker Braxton Mefferd and a 27-yard return of a fumble recovery for six points by senior defensive end Paulo Walkosky.

It is Mefferd’s second interception in two games as his Yellow Jackets improved to 2-0 with Friday’s non-league win..

Last week against Toledo St. Francis at the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl, Mefferd had the virtual game-ending interception when the Knights were driving late trying to score the game-winning or game-tying TD. As a result, the Jackets prevailed, 28-21.

This week, he broke past a receiver on a short hitch and had an easy ride into the end zone. Mefferd says despite the importance of his week one interception, scoring the pick-six is always more fun.

“It was definitely better than last week, but they were both really good,” Mefferd said.

It helped during Walkosky’s scoop and score that a loose football bounced into his hands and he, too, had an easy ride untouched into the end zone, although he had to turn on the double burners to beat everyone there.

“It was like a double hand-off or something and I saw that he had it, and he started fumbling it, and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is my chance,’” Walkosky said. “I did what I was taught — I got down, picked it up and I just ran as fast as I could. It was awesome.”

This was the same Marysville program that had multiple NCAA Division I recruits in 2021 while routing the Yellow Jackets, 42-6, in a Division I playoff game. Last year the Jackets had to earn a 17-14 victory over the Mohawks. Both of those games were on the road in Marysville — a two-hour trip for whoever makes it.

This year, it wasn’t just Mefferd and Walkosky — it was a complete defensive effort, holding the Monarchs to 178 total yards.

“It was everything,” Walkosky said. “Our whole defense was just on-point — all the sacks. Braxton’s interception was awesome. It was all great.”

Mefferd added, “Our defense played well. We shut down a great run game. Marysville is a good team. They run the ball great, and they are disciplined. We played great.

“(Senior defensive ends) Spencer (Kies) and Zach (Schroeder) I think played absolutely amazing. (Senior linebacker) Joe (Seney), as usual, played great. I couldn’t be prouder of our guys.”

Perrysburg coach Dirk Conner says the credit goes across the board.

“First of all, let’s just start with the coaching staff for the tremendous gameplan they put together to defend against a completely different animal than what we played against last week, and then we’ve got some really talented kids who can get the job done,” Conner said.

“We are going to have to continue to do that. As the season goes along and progresses, every week is its own little thing, and we just want to keep checking them off one at a time and getting better while we do that. I felt we did that.”

Despite not scoring offensively in the second half, Perrysburg senior quarterback Josh Takats threw three touchdown passes in the first half and junior soccer standout Brayden Heitmeyer booted a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Takats completed a five-yard TD pass to junior J.D. Zeeb and a 16-yard TD strike to senior Dominick Woods in the first quarter. In the second, Woods scored on an 80-yard reception from Takats.

Takats completed 10-of-21 passes for 212 yards with no interceptions, including three to Woods for 110 yards and five to senior Tivan Bennett for 97 yards.

Junior Nico Walkosky led Perrysburg’s multi-pronged rushing attack with 31 yards on six carries, Takats had 19 yards on nine carries, Woods had a carry for 14 yards, and senior Carson Pershing had five carries for 13 yards.

Overall, Conner was pleased with the offense, even though his team failed to produce offensive points in the second half.

“I’m happy with the guys, obviously. We took a step forward, especially in the first half,” Conner said. “We played phenomenal tonight, and they are going to have to continue to play phenomenal. They are a good group over there (Marysville), but we are happy with the win.

“Like I tell the kids, ‘Our goal every week is 1-0, one game at a time,’ so we are going to enjoy this Friday night. But I’m also looking forward to getting into the film room tomorrow morning to clean up a few things. We could have made this a little better than what we did.”

For Marysville, senior quarterback Griffin Scheiderer completed 8-of-11 passes for 47 yards, including two to Landyn Hustead for 14 yards and one to Waylon McDaniel for 10 yards.

McDaniel ran for 56 yards on 10 carries, J.J. Henry ran for 51 yards on 11 carries, and Zack Cooper carried the ball five times for 22 yards. The Mohawks drop to 0-2 on the season.

Next Friday in a cross-divisional non-league matchup between teams from the Northern Lakes League’s Buckeye and Cardinal divisions, Perrysburg hosts Fremont Ross (1-1), who defeated Sandusky 21-14 on Friday.

“I love these guys and so it’s great to be their football coach — it is so fun to be their coach,” Conner said. “I know we are going to get back at it. We are going to be hungry again next week so we can try to push it forward to be better.”