By Cort Reynolds
It was a pleasant night weather-wise but not otherwise for Paulding football as they came to Bluffton’s Harmon Field Friday night for a first round Div. VI, Region 22 playoff bout against their former Northwest Conference foe and got defeated soundly.
Host Bluffton scored on all seven of its first-half possessions and went on to crush the Panthers 63-6 on an unseasonably warm 70-degree evening.
Bluffton improved to 10-1 with the lopsided victory.
The #2 seed Pirates will next host 10th-seeded Bucyrus Wynford in the regional quarterfinals next Friday. Wynford rallied to upset Defiance Tinora 31-28 on the road in overtime Friday.
Fifteen seed Paulding finishes its season 6-5 after the convincing defeat.
“Our offense did a great job of extending drives and executing at a high level,” said Pirate head coach Jeff Richards. “Defensively, we did a good job of communicating and swarming to the football.”
SCOREBOARD
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
PAU |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
BLU |
21 |
28 |
14 |
0 |
63 |