Otsego senior quarterback Mason Roe (9), filling in for the injured Kaidyn Hutton, looks for a receiver while being chased in the backfield by Oak Harbor’s defense. (Photo by Laura Bolander)
By Bryce Hudik
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
TONTOGANY — Oak Harbor held Otsego scoreless on the Knights’ home turf Friday behind a smothering defense that caused three turnovers.
While the Oak Harbor defense was superb, so was their offense which accumulated 422 yards of total offense. It was domination on both sides of the ball from the Rockets.
“I thought overall the defense played pretty well. It’s always hard when you’re trying to defend a disciplined wing-T offense, which they were. But we were happy to get a shutout against really good offense,” said Oak Harbor coach Mike May.
On the very first drive of the game Oak Harbor drove the length of the field with ease. Quarterback Michael LaLonde scored at 10:30 on a quarterback keeper.
In the second quarter Otsego missed a long field goal and Oak Harbor took advantage. Senior running back Carson Ridener split the Knight’s defense from 30 yards out for a touchdown.
On Oak Harbor’s next drive, they fumbled, recovered by Otsego’s Carter Lampe, which gave the Knights solid field position. They were driving in Rocket territory when Otsego threw an interception.
The interception was by none other than LaLonde who then led his team down the field with just 34 seconds left. He got his team into field goal range and kicker Fulton Krupp banged home a 48-yard field goal as time expired, giving Oak Harbor a 17-0 lead at halftime.
Otsego received the ball at half but went three and out.
Oak Harbor took over at the 30-yard line and a LaLonde pass to his favorite target Tyler Thompson put them on the board again. Thompson caught the pass and simply outran the defense for a 50-yard touchdown.
“He’s (LaLonde) a three-year starter and has played a lot of football. He’s a dual threat and Tyler Thompson is one of the top track athletes in the area so we try to get him the ball as much as we can out in space,” said May.
LaLonde went for 197 yards on the night while Thompson caught seven passes for 127 yards.
With 3:30 left in the third Ridener scored his second touchdown, another splitting run up the middle, giving the Rockets a 31-0 lead.
Otsego went on to turn it over two more times — once to end the third quarter and the second time midway through the fourth quarter, both on fumbles.
Otsego ended the night with just 111 yards of total offense and only 31 yards coming through the air. Keeghan Hutton led the Knights’ offense with 38 rushing yards. The Knights were without their starting quarterback, Kaidyn Hutton, who was out due to an injury.
“We’ve had a couple injuries, it’s sad to lose those guys but I think that our guy’s rally around whoever goes in there. I’m proud of the way they support guys,” said Otsego coach Craig Rutherford. “We still think that good things are in store for us going forward.”
Otsego’s record on the year is now a respectable 4-3 (2-2 in Northern Buckeye Conference play). They will look for a rebound win when they travel to Pemberville to take on unbeaten Eastwood next Friday.
Oak Harbor has yet to lose, also, carding an impressive 7-0 record. Their next battle will be against Genoa..
