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.”

The biggest Panther play of the first half was a 25-yard Colten Hunt pass on third and 11. But an interception ended the drive, and the Pirates took over at the Paulding 40.

Junior running back Landen Worcester quickly ran for eight yards, followed by a 16-yard aerial from Garret Bogart to Griffin Stackhouse. 

Bogart then delivered a left screen to Gavin Bogart, who picked up a nice kick-out block from wideout Braeden Jordan and waltzed untouched to paydirt for a 16-yard touchdown reception.

The first of nine Kyle Basil point-after kicks was good to give the hosts a 7-0 lead exactly four minutes into the contest. The march covered 40 yards on four plays.

Basil boomed another kick for a touchback, and Paulding took over at its own 20. On third and two linebacker ace Worcester stuffed Kobe Foor for no gain to force a punt that bounced out of bounds at the Pirate 37.

Consecutive runs of 13 and 11 yards by Worcester ignited the ensuing drive. Gavin Bogart ran right for nine more yards. On third and inches, Worcester weaved his way left and scurried down the sideline for 35 big yards.

On first and goal at the six, Gavin Bogart picked up four yards. Worcester then took it into the end zone from two yards out off right tackle to cap the 63-yard, seven-play drive. 

Basil’s PAT kick made it 14-0 with 4:02 left in the first period.

The tough Pirate defense forced a three-and-out series, and Bluffton took possession at its own 44 after the Panther punt.

Stackhouse quickly sped around left end 15 yards to start the drive. Worcester later scampered 15 yards around right end to the Panther 20. Noah Bricker ran right for nine more yards. 

Hayden Dearth then swept around the left end and dove into the front left pylon to just cross the goal line for an 11-yard TD run. The 56-yard, six-play march took just 88 seconds to score.

Basil’s third extra point kick extended the lead to 21-0 with 1:40 still left in the opening stanza.

Paulding started on its own 17 after the kickoff, but a holding penalty pinned them deep. Under a heavy rush, southpaw Panther quarterback Hunt barely got an incomplete pass off as he was taken down just inside the goal line to avoid a safety yet necessitate yet another punt.

The Pirates gained possession with good field position again at the Paulding 49. Worcester authored a 15-yard run to start the second quarter. 

Garret Bogart then lofted a pass to a wide-open Dearth on the right side near the goal line for a 31-yard TD reception with 11:39 left in the half.

Basil’s fourth PAT kick stretched the margin to 28-0 as the 51-yard drive took just three plays and 39 seconds.

Paulding’s next possession quickly flamed out. On third and 11, a backpedaling Best threw an ill-advised pass that junior defensive back Brody Anderson picked off to give Bluffton the ball at midfield. 

On third and six, Worcester broke a tackle and burst through the Panther defensive line. He then outran the trailing Paulding defense into the left corner of the end zone for a 46-yard TD rumble. 

The 50-yard march took just 59 ticks and three plays to balloon the lead to 35-0 with 9:39 left before intermission.

The Panthers put together their best drive but still came up well short on the next possession. The visitors picked up three first downs, including a 20-yard Best aerial, before stalling.

Pirates Eli Jones and Brody Sommers combined for a sack and a nine-yard loss. Jacob Granger and Sommers then sacked Best again for a loss of six. 

On third and 25, a long Best pass to the front right corner of the end zone resulted in a jump ball into double coverage that Paulding almost caught but ultimately dropped.

After yet another Paulding punt, the Pirates took over at their own 20. Bricker ran for 12 yards, followed by a 17-yard pass from Bogart to Dearth. 

Bricker then sprang open off right tackle, bounced to the outside and rambled 41 yards down the sideline to paydirt to tally another TD. The 80-yard scoring march took 2:04 on five plays. 

Basil’s PAT made it 42-0 with 2:03 left in the half.

Paulding gained a first down on a Best 18-yard pass on their next possession, but again their drive died. Jones sacked Best for a loss of seven. Jordan returned the inevitable Panther punt 29 yards to the Paulding 46 with 58.2 seconds left in the half.

A short middle screen to Dearth picked up 16 yards to the 30. On third and 10, Worcester scampered 16 yards to move the chains. QB Bogart then rolled right and connected with Dearth on a 14-yard TD pass to the right, which he hauled in just in front of the end zone with 19.4 seconds left in the half.

Basil’s point after kick capped the 46-yard drive and gave Bluffton a commanding 49-0 cushion at intermission.

Worcester ran for 152 yards and two scores on 10 carries in the first half. Bricker ran for one long TD, and Gavin Bogart scored on a screen pass from Garret Bogart.

The Pirate QB completed seven of 11 passes for 109 yards and three TDs before halftime as Bluffton moved the ball at will. The stingy Pirate defense forced a punt on six of the first eight Panther possessions, with the other two drives ending in interceptions.

Dearth caught TD passes of 31 and 14 yards in the first half, and ran for an 11-yard score.

Relentless Bluffton scored again on the first play of the second half. Tayte Giesige returned the third period kickoff all the way to the end zone, and Basil’s boot made it 56-0.

The Pirates scored again in the third stanza as backup QB Giesige connected with Avery Sprunger on a TD aerial. Basil thumped his ninth straight successful PAT to provide a 63-0 margin.

The Panthers avoided a shutout with a 15-yard touchdown pass as time expired in the fourth period, but they missed the extra point to keep the final margin at 63-6.

Thus the rugged Bluffton defense narrowly missed posting its eighth shutout in the last nine games.

It was the first meeting between Bluffton and Paulding since October 2, 2020. The Pirates won that matchup 27-24 at the Panthers, who were in their final season as a member of the NWC.

The Pirates have outscored their opponents by a margin of 446-48 this season (40.5-4.4 ppg). 

Their next playoff opponent, the Wynford Royals, have won six of their last seven games to rebound from a 1-3 start. The explosive Royals average 35.9 ppg, and allow 24.2 ppg.

“Wynford is a solid team who has played very good competition,” said Richards. “We will need to continue to improve moving into that game.”