NEW WASHINGTON — So much for being one-dimensional.
Wynford, known for its big front line and ground-and-pound running attack, opened things up with a passing game here Friday night.
The result was a 35-15 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory over county rival Buckeye Central. The win keeps the string of wins alive over the Bucks since 1995.
“The guys have earned this,” said Royals head coach Cyle Skidmore of the two straight wins posted by his club. Last week Wynford topped Bucyrus, 20-14.
“We’ve been working hard in practice. The seniors took some leadership here and we put some things together.”
Royals junior quarterback Ashton Warren, who entered the game with just 236 passing yards in 6 games, had a career-best throwing for 167 yards for Wynford (2-5, 2-2 N10).
“In practice we emphasize the pass game and trying to get better at it and improve and be more balanced out,” Skidmore said. “Hopefully, going forward we can be more balanced.”
Buckeye Central (3-4, 0-4 N10) was held to minus 15 yards rushing, but quarterback Derex Dean hit on 26-of-40 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
“Our defense has played good all year. We’ve been pretty stout. Obviously, I see things we can improve at for sure.”
Kaiden Blair opened the game with a 26-yard scoring run for the Royals, his first of three trips to the endzone.
BC senior defensive lineman Max Aichholz made a heads-up play to record a safety of Warren after a high snap on a punt attempt with 1:05 left in the first quarter to make it 6-2.
Bucks head coach Chad Jensen said his team was focused on trying to take away the run.
“They saw some weaknesses in our pass coverage. Listen, Wynford is not a bad football team. I get tired of hearing people say, ‘Wynford is down.’ They’re not. They’ve had a really tough schedule.
“Their coaches do a great job and do what every team does. We tried to take the run away from them some and they threw it on us,” Jensen said.
Wynford opened a 20-9 halftime lead after James Rindfuss — who dropped a wide-open pass on the previous possession — hauled in a 59-yard pass over the middle from Warren to go along with Blair’s second run from 4 yards out.
Warren added a 3-yard run in the third quarter to make it 28-9. Blair tacked on an 8-yard run for Wynford and Stephen Sostakowski caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Derex Dean with 8 seconds left in the game.
Skidmore said his club remained on an even keel following last week’s emotional win over rival Bucyrus.
“It’s always focus on the team we’re playing. Don’t make it bigger than what it is. The kids focused on Buckeye. We did a good job in practice all week and that’s why the scoreboard is the way it was,” he said.
Lest anyone think the ground game was absent, look again.
Blair ran for 91 yards and 3 TDs to go along with Anthony Evans’ 108 as the visitors piled up 382 yards in offense, including 215 rushing.
Three games remain for the Royals after an 0-5 start.
“The kids know what’s ahead of us and we can finish the season strong. Good things can happen to us,” Skidmore said.
Jensen said the Bucks “need to do a better job of finishing a little bit.”
He credited Wynford’s defensive front in particular.
“Kalen Skidmore is the best defensive lineman in the N10. At least the best I’ve seen. He’s a fantastic player and he just causes all kinds of problems and makes everyone on their defense better.”
Skidmore and Kobie Naufzinger each had a sack. Skidmore entered the game with 11 tackles for loss.
“They’re big, strong kids on the front line. They took away our running game, so we were able to some things in the passing game,” Jensen said.
Their counterparts for Buckeye Central, Landon Sherwood and Aichholz, each recorded tackles for loss.
“Our focus is we are not the same old Buckeye Central, where we play a team that is quote-unquote better than us, and then we just say good job and we move on,” Jensen said.
“We are not that anymore. We are at the point where we need to step up and start winning some of these games. We’re not at the point where everybody is so much better than us like it used to be in the past, at times.”
Upper Sandusky, Bucyrus and Colonel Crawford are next for the Bucks.
“We need to start making plays and doing things better all the way around because we can compete and we can win games in this league, but we gotta step it up. There’s nothing easy in this league.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Wynford, which hosts Colonel Crawford next Friday and finishes the season at Seneca East and Upper Sandusky.
Buckeye Central saluted veterans with Military Appreciation Night prior to kickoff.
Box score
Score by quarters
Wynford 6 14 8 7 — 35
Buckeye Central 2 7 0 6 — 15
Scoring summary
First quarter
W — Kaiden Blair 26 run (kick blocked), 6:44.
BC — Max Aichholz safety (tackled quarterback in end zone), 1:05.
Second quarter
W — Blair 4 run (Blair run), 9:59.
W — James Rindfuss 59 pass from Ashton Warren (kick blocked), 1:39.
BC — Trevor Kirgis 25 pass from Derex Dean (Dominic Dean kick), :46.
Third quarter
W — Warren 3 run (Sam Collene pass from Warren), 1:55.
Fourth quarter
W — Blair 8 run (Blair kick), 7:52.
BC — Stephen Sostakowski 27 pass from Derex Dean (pass failed), :08.
Individual statistics
Passing
Wynford: Ashton Warren 9-16-1 167; Buckeye Central: Derex Dean 26-40-2 230.
Rushing
Wynford: Anthony Evans 19-108, Kaiden Blair 16-91, Ashton Warren 12-11, Kohan Keith 2-5; Buckeye Central: Manny Mullins 6-(-1), Derex Dean 4-(-14).
Receiving
Wynford: James Rindfuss 1-59, Kaiden Blair 2-41, Kohan Keith 2-38, Sam Collene 3-23, Corey Moone 1-6; Buckeye Central: Trevor Kirgis 5-54, Tyler Sanderson 7-52, Stephen Sostakowski 3-52, Heath Jensen 3-46, Manny Mullins 8-26.
Team statistics
W BC
First downs 22 12
Rushing 50-215 20-(-15)
Passes 9-16-1 26-40-2
Yards passing 167 230
Total yards 382 215
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Punts-Avg 0-00.0 7-30.4
Penalties 3-25 3-40