Bulldogs go up in a hurry, blow out rival Eagles

Sep. 23—The excitement was there before kickoff. It was Meadville's homecoming, it was military appreciation night complete with a Howitzer that fired several times throughout the evening and it was the meeting of two Crawford County rivals.

Once Meadville and Conneaut took the field at Bender Field, the game was very one-sided. The Bulldogs scored 32 points in the first quarter and won 57-0 in the Region 4 showdown.

On the third play of the game, Meadville junior Bradyn Miller broke free for a 60-yard rushing touchdown. Just three plays later, Brighton Anderson intercepted a pass and returned it 40 yards for a score.

After forcing a three-and-out, Meadville quarterback Tate Reichel found a wide-open Anderson in the middle of the field for a 38-yard touchdown. The 'Dogs led 20-0 less than five minutes into the game.

Jacoby Thompson scored on the ground from two yards out later in the quarter and after a Ryan Elverton interception, Reichel found Miller on a 35-yard touchdown strike.

It's not often Meadville's offense attacks through the air consistently, but Meadville head coach Ray Collins liked what he saw in the secondary.

"We watched the way they were aligned and we thought with the position of the safety they had in the field we could take advantage of that first one we threw down the middle. Then we put the corner in conflict on the second one. He came up on a short route and we threw over his head," Collins said. "It was a matter of taking what the defense was giving us. I thought we came out and executed really well on offense."

Defensively, Meadville was aggressive and didn't allow a first down until late in the second quarter. The Bulldogs had two interceptions and a fumble recovery, which gave the offense short fields to work with.

"I thought the defense was really strong tonight and did a good job," Collins said. "(Ben) Easler is a dangerous quarterback if you let him get in a rhythm and I thought we did a good job of keeping him off rhythm all night."

Jordan Lawrence scored on the ground from 53 yards out and Anderson added a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Meadville led 45-0 at the halfway point.

"A lot of things went wrong, but we did it to ourselves. We talked all week about not having mental focus. Everyone wants to get 'rah rah let's beat Meadville', but are you gonna do the work? Quite frankly, I wasn't happy with the effort this week from our kids in practice," Conneaut head coach Josh Blood said. "I told them this is exactly what happens when we don't have that focus. We're on to Titusville and we have to have that focus going into next week."

Meadville added a touchdown in the third quarter before putting the junior varsity unit, which added a touchdown in the fourth quarter. A.J. Feleppa passed to Amarri Grenaway for a 13-yard touchdown late in the final stanza.

It was a tough outing for Conneaut, but the Eagles are 2-3 with a lot of football left this season. The Eagles will host Titusville on Friday.

"I'm taking away that they fought toward the end. We were outmatched in a variety of ways and didn't follow through with our game plan, but at no point did I see kids giving up or taking breaks," Blood said. "Playing physical will get us in the right place."

Conneaut and Meadville are now tied 7-7 in the series dating back to 2013.

"I talk about small communities like ours, everyone is out to watch these games," Blood said. "Even though we didn't give them a good game today, there is hope we do in the future and we keep football rolling in this area."

Collins acknowledged the large crowd and referenced former Conneaut head coach Pat Gould.

"You don't have to look around long to realize how big this rivalry is between the two communities. We had a capacity crowd tonight and they came out for this game. There is a lot of excitement between these communities, the schools, the students and the fan base really turned out tonight," Collins said. "Like I've said all along, it goes back to when Pat Gould was coaching out there. He and I both agreed this game, this rivalry, is really good for high school football locally. We enjoy it, they enjoy it, I think it's a great thing."

Meadville was led by Miller on the ground with 136 yards. Lawrence had 87 and Anderson added 28. In the air, Reichel was 2-2 for 73 yards and two touchdowns.

One issue in an otherwise stellar outing was penalties. Meadville was flagged 13 times on the night.

"I addressed it after the game with the group. We had too many holding penalties, that was the big thing. That's a 10-yard hit every time you get it. We have to fix that this week," Collins said. "Far too many penalties, which is a lack of disciple on our part."

Meadville is 4-1 overall and 2-0 in Region 4. The Bulldogs will host Oil City next Saturday at 7 p.m.

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Conneaut 0 0 0 0 — 0

Meadville 32 13 6 6 — 57

First Quarter

M — Bradyn Miller 60-yard run (Xp failed).

M — Brighton Anderson 40-yard interception return (XP Geovani Vincik).

M — Tate Reichel 38-yard pass to Anderson (Xp Vincik).

M — Jacoby Thompson 2-yard run (Xp failed).

M — Tate Reichel 35-yard pass to Miller (Xp failed).

Second Quarter

M — Jordan Lawrence 53-yard run (Xp Vincik).

M — Anderson 1-yard run (Xp failed).

Third Quarter

M — Anderson 14-yard run (Xp failed).

Fourth Quarter

M — AJ Feleppa 13-yard pass to Amarri Grenaway (2-point failed).

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: C — Groover 10(-14), Easler 6-(-8), Getz 1-10, Blood 4-1; M — Thompson 3-16, Lawrence 8-87, Miller 6-136, Anderson 5-28, McClure 1-3, Phillips 3-39, Grenaway 4-33, Elverton 2-12, Howe 2-5.

PASSING: C — Easler 1-8 (-2 yards) 2 ints; M — T. Reichel 2-2 73 yards 2 tds, Thompson 2-4 30 yards 1 int, Feleppa 1-1 13 yards 1 td.

RECEIVING: C — Getz 1-(-2); M — Anderson 1-38, Miller 1-35, Williams 1-21, R. Reichel 1-9, Grenaway 1-13.

Records: Meadville 4-1, Conneaut 2-3.

Alex Topor can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at atopor@meadvilletribune.com.