Announcement
From The GAZETTE, by Adam Ferrise, Special to The Gazette
LaGRANGE — Cory Reisner scored five touchdowns, set Buckeye’s alltime record for points in a season and lifted his football team to a Patriot Athletic Conference title Friday. Reisner rushed 17 times for 171 yards - 156 in the second half - and scored two 70-yard plus touchdowns in the game-changing third quarter to lead the Bucks to a 39-19 win over Keystone.
It is Buckeye’s second consecutive PAC title and its third in four seasons. Reisner also moved into third place in Medina County history in career points after his schoolrecord tying 32-point perf ormance. He added a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.
“That’s been a goal since my freshman season,” Reisner said. “Every time I touch the ball, I’m thinking about the end zone.” It was his third career five-touchdown game, which also tied a school record. After the first half, it didn’t look like the Bucks (5-4, 4-1) or Reisner would accomplish anything.
Keystone (3-6, 2-4) held Reisner to 15 first-half rushing yards and went into intermission tied 6-6. “They were playing good hard tough physical football,” Buckeye coach Billy Burke said. “It was their senior night, they wanted to go out winners. First half we matched it, second half we took over a little bit.”
In the third quarter, however, Reisner and the Bucks took control, though they only ran six plays from scrimmage. After Keystone took the lead 12-6 on a Ryan Clement 19-yard rush, Reisner took the ensuing kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown.
The ball was kicked low, which Keystone coach Rob Clarico said was to keep the ball out of Reisner’s hands. The ball ricocheted off three Buckeye players, until it found Reisner, who broke four tackles on his way to the end zone. The Wildcats punted after three plays.
On the Bucks’ third play of the following drive, Reisner dashed 73 yards for a touchdown, giving Buckeye its first lead of the night with 4:59 remaining in the third. The teams traded 42-yard TD passes, from Keystone quarterback Tyler Minnich to Matt Herb and Buckeye’s Mike Kelly to Darren Boulton, which gave the Bucks a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Reisner added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He also scored the Bucks’ first TD. “We knew that their quarterback or Reisner was going to take it off-tackle,” Clarico said. “Whenever they meshed, we had our linebackers go off tackle and we had them covered. That worked in the first half and then they started running in between the tackles, that’s what started to hurt us a little bit.”
Keystone jumped out to a 6-0 lead after a fumble by Buckeye’s Shawn Cordes gave the Wildcats the ball at the Bucks’ 28. Kyle Smith found the end zone on fourth and goal from the 2. Callari eluded to the fact that Keystone was playing with heavy hearts after Molly Weber, a junior at Keystone, was killed in a car accident Tuesday.
Callari said there were a handful of players on his team that were close to Weber. Donations were taken for the Weber family at the game, which raised over $3,000. “One of the reasons they played so hard was that everybody wanted to step up for them,” Clarico said. “It’s a tough situation for anyone to go through at any age and I think they’ve learned that there are things more important than football.” Ferrise may be reached at sports@ohio.net.
