The Rossford High School football team returned to Northern Buckeye Conference action last Friday traveling to Eastwood to face a top-ranked team. Despite going toe to toe, the Bulldogs came up short, falling 37-19.

In addition to battling the Eagles, the Bulldogs also had to deal with Mother Nature. About midway through the second quarter, a thunderstorm rolled in delaying the game due to lightning for more than two hours before it resumed at 10:20 p.m. The final whistle blew close to midnight.

In the early going, it looked like the Eagles were going to run away with the game as they moved the ball at will against a lackluster Bulldog defense. They scored on their first possession to go up 7-0.

The Bulldog offense struggled to gain yardage on their first series. On third and three, a bad snap got past quarterback Alex Williams. He managed to recover on the Rossford eight yard line, and the Bulldogs had to punt on fourth and long.

The Eagles took over on a short field and immediately moved deep into Rossford territory on a run by Brice Koprowski-Kistner. This was followed by a pass by quarterback Lake Boos downfield for a first down at the Rossford six. Two plays later, Koprowski-Kistner scored from the one to put the Eagles up 14-0.

Again, the Rossford drive stalled and they were forced to punt as the first quarter came to a halt.

Three plays into the second quarter, Boos, unable to find a receiver, scrambled away from Rossford defenders. He appeared ready to score, but fumbled the ball out of bounds in the end zone before crossing the goal line. The result was a touchback that gave possession to Rossford.

The Bulldogs started on their own 20. Williams immediately connected on a short pass to Ben Morrison and then ran it on a keeper for a first down.

However, with 8:56 remaining in the first half–and the Bulldogs finally on the move–the sky lit up, and officials delayed the game. The stadium had to be emptied. All spectators and both teams left the premises. Many fans sat in their cars, but most eventually left before the game continued.

When the game did resume, the Bulldogs looked like a completely different team.

Head Coach Todd Drusback acknowledged, “Like in several of our games this year, we came out slow for whatever reason. The timing of the storm was ideal. We had made a big play right before it, and it gave us a chance to make adjustments.”

And make adjustments they did. A pass downfield to Trenton Bachmayer resulted in a first down at the Eastwood 31.

The drive stalled momentarily, but on fourth and 14, Williams found Nevan Hanthorn over the middle, and the junior receiver weaved through defenders into the end zone. The point after was no good, but the Bulldogs were on the board and trailing 14-6.

The Bulldog defense stepped up on the next series. On a critical third down play, Lester McManaway blocked an Eastwood pass and the Eagles were forced to punt.

The next Rossford series was highlighted by a pass to Holden Martens for a first down to keep the drive alive.

Williams scrambled to his left and connected downfield with Jake Morrison for another first down at the Eastwood 19.

Two plays later, the quarterback found Ben Morrison for an 18-yard scoring strike. Rossford’s two-point attempt failed, but the lead had been cut to 14-12.

This time the Eagles responded, mounting a drive that began at their own 35. Four plays later, Boos scored on a quarterback keeper to give the Eagles a 21-12 lead.

Rossford tried one last drive before the end of the first half. After Williams carried for six yards, he connected on a deep route to Jake Morrison.

RHS had the ball on the Eastwood 35 with 17 seconds remaining. A pass over the middle to Justin Hire moved the ball to the Eagle 18. Williams took three straight shots at the end zone but all fell incomplete as the second quarter ended.

Rossford started the second half with a big run back on the kickoff by Christian Brown.

Williams carried for modest gains, but a pass to Hanthorn resulted in a big gainer to the Eastwood 15. After a false start by the Bulldogs, Williams completed a pass to Kaiden Kirkman to give RHS a first and goal.

Two plays later, Williams sneaked in from the one for the TD. Michael Nawrocki added the point after and the gap narrowed to just two points, 21-19.

The Eagles on the next drive reached the Rossford 43, but Boos fumbled the ball and Rossford’s Hanthorn recovered.

The ensuing Rossford drive struggled and on fourth and one, Williams came up short of the marker on a keeper play.

Eastwood took over on downs. Three plays later, Boos threw downfield for a touchdown and a 28-19 lead.

A Rossford penalty on the kick return put the ball on the RHS nine. Three incomplete passes followed.

With Williams back to punt, a bad snap squirted past him and out of the end zone for a safety.

Now leading 30-19, Eastwood took over after the free kick at the 50. They drove to the Rossford 22 before the drive stalled and the Bulldogs took over on downs.

After another RHS drive ended as a turnover on downs, the Eagles took the ball at their own 47. They ground out a nine-play drive ending with a one-yard touchdown run by Koprowski-Kistner to effectively put the game out of reach.

Trailing 37-19, Rossford continued to fight. Consecutive passes over the middle– first to Bachmayer, then to Hanthorn and finally back to Bachmayer–all resulted in Bulldog first downs.

From there, the drive threatened to stall, but Williams threw downfield on fourth and six. Martens came back for the ball and snared it for a first down on the Eastwood four.

Even though they were knocking on the door, Rossford could not cross the goal line one more time.

Williams was sacked twice in the next four downs, and Eastwood claimed the victory.

Drusback liked how his team came out after the weather delay.

“I thought we were able to attack and get back into the game,” he said, but added, “We have continued to give up some big plays. We definitely put ourselves in a position to win that ball game, but we were just unable to make a few plays when we needed to.”

The Eastwood offense was led by the brother-to-brother connection of Lake Boos to Case Boos. Lake completed 11 of 13 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns; and Case caught six passes for 103 yards.

Koprowski-Kistner added 64 yards rushing and scored two TDs.

The Bulldogs were led offensively by Williams, who completed 22 of 37 passes for 345 yards and two scores.

Hanthorn caught four passes for 106 yards and one touchdown. Junior Jake Morrison added two catches for 80 yards.

On the defensive side of the ball, Gavin Linkous led the Bulldogs with 9 total tackles, including seven solos and one tackle for loss.

After the loss, Rossford drops to 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the league. They return to the field traveling to Lake tomorrow night at 7 p.m.