Anthony Wayne Football Team Manhandles Rossford, 48-0
BY SCOTT CALHOUN — MIRROR SPORTS
Anthony Wayne marched into Rossford’s homecoming game last week and shattered the doghouse 48-0.
The Generals defense completely stunted the Bulldogs, limiting them to just 35 yards of total offense.
Meanwhile, the offense and special teams again stepped up with one big play after another to reprise their production at Northview the previous week.
Senior James Pollex gained over 100 yards for the fifth time this season, rolling up 128 yards on just four carries for an astounding 32-yard-per-rush average while moving closer to a 1,000-yard season.
Pollex also added three touchdowns, increasing his senior year total to 11 en route to a possible Northern Lakes League first-team selection.
“We worked extra hard on building our strength and conditioning this year and it’s paying off,” Pollex said. “The defense has done their job this year, and tonight they got the shutout they’ve deserved.”
AW needed very little time to get the ball rolling. Starting from the Generals 20-yard line on the first possession of the evening, junior wingback Jordan Schwerer broke through the middle chaos and soared free for an 80-yard touchdown jaunt at 11:45.
Sophomore place-kicker Ben Barrett remained super accurate with the point-after to give the Generals a quick 7-0 tilt.
The downward slope got steeper at 3:31 of the opening stanza when senior back David Birsen turned a sweep on the left into a 40-yard touchdown run. The PAT increased the advantage to 14-0.
Pollex provided Anthony Wayne’s third TD run of the quarter, using the last play from scrimmage before the clock expired to weave his way through a seam for a 35-yard score. Barrett’s point-after made it 21-0 AW heading into the second quarter.
The Generals defense stuffed Rossford’s running game time and again in the meantime.
After AW got the ball back on its 27 with 9:45 remaining in the half, senior quarterback Kevin Pindoley located Schwerer charging up the right sideline and hurled the ball to him at about the Bulldogs 28. Schwerer’s defender stayed with him stride for stride and spotted the incoming pass before Schwerer.
The defender leapt up over Schwerer to bring in the interception, but Schwerer keenly made a positioning adjustment and yanked the ball away our of the defender’s hands before breaking free for a 63-yard touchdown reception.
Barrett’s PAT increased the lead to 28-0 at the 8:27 mark.
Pollex added his second score of the night, cruising through defenders and breaking a tackle up the left side for a 68-yard touchdown with 2:43 left before the half.
Barrett stayed perfect in the game with another PAT, and AW led 35-0 at the break.
The Generals amassed 224 yards on the ground in the first half and the team put up 287 in total offense over the first 24 minutes, while the defense limited the Bulldogs’ yardage gain to the teens.
The most interesting stat of the half, though, involved the clock. AW only possessed the ball for 6:47 of the first 24 minutes, while Rossford nearly tripled that at 17:04.
The pattern persisted through the third quarter, during which the Generals only held the ball for 2:54 of it compared to 9:06 for the Bulldogs. Through 36 minutes of football, Anthony Wayne hadn’t even possessed the pigskin for 10:00.
In the meantime, Pollex ran in his third six of the game from 13 yards out at 11:00. Barrett hit the PAT to make it 42-0.
In the fourth quarter, the time of possession tilted heavily in the favor of AW, with Generals keeping the ball for all but 10:53.
Sophomore back Alex Bridges rushed into the end zone from 24 yards out at 7:44, but sophomore backup kicker Troy Thompson missed wide left on his first varsity point-after attempt.
In all, the Generals collected 364 net yards using 11 ball carriers and finished with over 400 yards of offense for the second consecutive week.
In fact, the ground game put together an impressive 784 yards of net gain between Northview and Rossford.
Additionally, the offense piled up 11 touchdowns of 32 yards or more per score in the two games, and nine of those went for 58 yards or better, while outscoring the Wildcats and Bulldogs combined, 107-17.
“We knew we had to step it up after the losses to Central and Southview,” Pollex said, “and we’ve been doing a lot more these past two weeks. We expect to keep it going every week going forward.”
Against Rossford, Birsen finished with 81 yards on seven carries and the TD. Schwerer finished with 63 yards through the air, 80 on kick returns and 29 on the ground.
Anthony Wayne improved to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the NLL. Rossford remained winless at 0-6 and 0-3 in the NLL.
Fifth-Ranked Anthony Wayne Booters Double Up Against Southview, 4-2
BY SCOTT CALHOUN — MIRROR SPORTS
The Anthony Wayne boys soccer team remained unbeaten and on track for at least a share of the Northern Lakes League title following a 4-2 home win over Southview last Tuesday.
The Generals (11-0-3, 4-0-1 Northern Lakes League) controlled the Cougars for the first 67 minutes of the match, outscoring the visitors 4-0 and putting up 24 shots to Southview’s four in that span.
The Cougars (5-5-1, 1-4) worked over the AW defense over the final 13 minutes, with mainly junior varsity and backup defenders and midfielders occupying the positions for AW.
The Generals needed all of 55 seconds to get on the board first. Senior Mike Mangotic capitalized on a lead pass angled right by junior Logan Lipinski and pushed the ball to the back of the net at 39:05 of the first half.
Despite the quick tally and 14 shots with seven on goal in the first half, AW was unable to increase its margin in the first half.
Southview attempted one shot that did not go on frame during the first 40 minutes of play.
At 35:10 of the second half, Lipinski kicked off a hat-trick performance with a header off the crossbar, then off the hands of junior goalie Alex Jurek and in. Senior defender Alex Lohse offered up the assist.
Senior Mike Frank fed Lipinski on a run up the left side and Lipinski angled in toward the near-side goal before driving a low bullet past Jurek at 28:24 to make it 3-0.
Lipinski relied on his dome once again, this time redirecting a perfect cross by freshman Austin Combs into net from the backdoor at 18:52 to complete the hat trick and the Generals’ scoring for the evening.
AW coach Chip Smith went to his reserves with 13:35 to go, and the Cougars attackers took advantage.
Senior defender Kevin McNulty gathered in a loose ball from 25 yards out left and fired past backup keeper Ryan Scheanwald to the right-post net at 4:46.
Just 1:36 later, senior forward Shea Walter found himself on a short breakaway 20 yards out from the right post and soon after beat Scheanwald with a low shot to bring Southview to within 4-2.
AW batted down the hatches from that point on to preserve the victory.
The Generals finished with a 24-6 edge in shots with a 10-2 advantage in shots on goal. Anthony Wayne enjoyed a 5-1 tilt on corner kicks.
The junior varsity Generals defeated the Cougars 6-0.
The Generals followed up with a Saturday afternoon home contest hosting Peninsula Woodrige from Northeast Ohio and worked the Bulldogs 6-0.
Lipinski enjoyed his second consecutive hat trick with three more scores to up his total to 15 on the season, and Mangotic notched his 19th goal of the year while dishing out three assists.
Senior Aaron Armstrong and sophomore Troy Thompson accounted for the other AW tallies.
In the latest Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association poll released on Monday, the Generals moved up three spots to No. 5 in the Division I poll.
Adding outstanding representation for the NLL, Northview remained undefeated and moved into the top spot. The only blemish for the Wildcats this season has been the 0-0 tie against the Generals at Northview on September 16.
Lady Generals Place Fourth In NLL Girls Tennis
BY SCOTT CALHOUN — MIRROR SPORTS
The Anthony Wayne girls tennis team enjoyed a pair of third-place finishes and three fourth places in the Northern Lakes League Championships at Bowling Green State University last week.
After finishing fifth during the regular season with a 3-4 league head-to-head mark, the Lady Generals flipped places with Bowling Green by defeating Lady Bobcats on four occasions during tourney play.
“We lost to BG in the regular season, so it was great to take them out four times in the tournament to move ahead of them,” said first-year AW coach Jamie Redway.
While none of the girls were able to advance to the championship match at any of the five positions, all seven advanced to the consolation title match for third/fourth place.
The three seniors on the team – third singles player Amanda Keeton and No. 2 doubles tandem Justine Kaseman and Emily Dellinger – all enjoyed third-place finishes.
“It was nice to come back on the second day with all five positions still playing,” Redway said. “The highlight had to be the three seniors all winning on the final day.”
At No. 1 singles, junior Kendall Krieg opened up her tourney performance with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rossford’s Hanan Saleh.
Krieg lost in the championship semifinals 6-0, 6-0 to eventual runner-up Sara Haidar of Southview, then bounced back with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Vickio of BG. She finished up in fourth after falling 6-3, 6-1 to Sweta Rao of Northview.
Junior Maureen McCormick also placed fourth at No. 2 singles. She beat competitors from Maumee and Rossford, but lost to Perrysburg’s April Weaver 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals and 6-2, 6-3 to Zehernovskiy in the consolation finals.
Keeton tumbled 6-3, 6-1 in the first round at No. 3 singles, but bounced back to make the consolation finals, where she defeated Gilbert of Southview 6-4, 6-1.
Junior Caroline Smith and freshman Courtney Krieg won twice and lost twice at first doubles to finish fourth. The pair lost to Perrysburg’s Gilmore and Hayes in the consolation finals by a 6-1, 6-3 count.
Redway thought the most dramatic and defining match for her team in the league tournament came in the second doubles consolation finals.
There Kaseman and Dellinger squared off with Maloney and Romberger of Northview, and got off to a great start with a 6-2 first set victory.
The Lady Kats bounced back, however, to seize set two 6-4 and then took a commanding 5-1 lead in the decisive third set.
Their final NLL match and the team’s finishing position on the line, Kaseman and Dellinger roared back to win the set 7-6 for a thrilling third-place finish that clinched fourth place for AW in the league.
“It’s really great that the girls didn’t give up and came back after being down 5-1 like that,” Redway said.
Perrysburg defended its league supremacy with 14 tourney points to finish with 42 overall. Southview took runner-up with 33 points, Northview third with 28, AW fourth with 21 and BG fifth with 20.
Springfield captured fifth with 11.5, Rossford seventh with 7.5 and Maumee eighth with five.
First-team all-NLL selections included AW’s Kendall Krieg, Julia Metzger and April Weaver of Perrysburg, Northview’s Rao, Sara Haidar, Anjali Naik and Ann Kamenny of Southview and Saleh of Rossford.
Kreig was the only AW player to make the all-NLL teams.
