ST. XAVIER –
Gabriel Dubois returned one of his two interceptions 41 yards for a touchdown to highlight the St. Xavier defense's dominant performance in a 49-13 win over Walnut Hills in the opening round of the OHSAA Division I, Region IV playoffs. After spotting an early 6-0 lead 35 seconds in, Dubois and the Long Blue Line defense limited Walnut Hills to 83 yards of offense in the first half.
"We talked all week long about taking care of the games that you should win," said St. Xavier head coach
Steve Specht. "We've been in a grind the first six weeks of the season. Walnut Hills came out and punched us in the mouth. Our kids had to wake up quick."
The Bombers set the tone on their first offensive possession, using 13 plays to march 80 yards, Terrel McFarlin broke a tackle on a short pass from
Ryan Nolan and bounced outside for a 17-yard catch and run to the end zone.
Mason Rohmiller's point-after gave them a 7-6 lead.
Specht said, "We wanted to go fast. Coach (Andrew) Coverdale wanted to get the ball moving as fast as possible. We tired them out. We're getting better and improving every day."
After forcing Walnut Hills to punt,
Liam Clifford's 15-yard catch of a Nolan pass in the corner of the end zone made it 14-6. For Clifford, it was his school-record 23rd career touchdown reception.
Midway through the second quarter, Dubois' pickoff and sprint up the far sideline made it a 21-6 advantage.
After
Jack Wildfeuer recovered the ensuing onside kickoff, Nolan fired a 30-yard strike to
Jalen Patterson on the next play to extend the advantage to 28-6.
Nolan finished the first half, completing 12-of-13 passes for 143 yards and three touchdowns.
On the Eagles' ensuing possession, Dubois recorded his second interception at midfield. The versatile senior and came two yards shy of his second touchdown return, going 48 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the 2 yard line.
"We have tried to move Gabe around quite a bit this year. We're playing him in a lot of different positions; he's such a playmaker. Coach
Jake Brodbeck has done a nice job of putting Gabe in position to be a playmaker."
For Dubois it marked his second game in three weeks with two interceptions. His six interceptions this season are second-most in St. Xavier history. Dubois' nine career pickoffs equal the school record of Brad Brookbank.
Charles Kellom's plunge off tackle, stretched the St. Xavier lead to 35-6 with 3:31 to play in the half. Kellom finished with 58 yards on nine carries.
After
Graham Smith recovered another Bombers' onside kick,
Luke Vrsansky's nine-yard cutback to pay dirt gave them a 42-6 lead. Vrsansky collected 55 yards on 10 rushes – all in the first half.
With a running clock in the second half, St. Xavier consumed more than 11 minutes before
Chase Eary's five-yard run extended the margin to 49-6. Eary led the winning side with 68 yards on nine carries.
Rohmiller finished 7-of-7 on PAT kicks to remain perfect, at 31-of-31 on the season. He also extended his streak to 38-consecutive dating back to last season.
Once again, linebacker
Matthew Devine led the defense with a team-high eight tackles.
Giovanni Albanese added four stops and a blocked point-after kick.
Michael Whitehouse added the lone quarterback sack.
Isaiah Birl, notched both Walnut Hills scores on runs of 60 and 55 yards. Birl totaled a game-high 137 yards on seven carries.
"We need to come in tomorrow and watch the game film. Our coaching staff will start to prepare for Moeller. We will get a good gameplan together for next week."
The Bombers return to action next week when they host Moeller on Friday, Oct. 16. Kickoff in the rematch of GCL South foes is set for 7 p.m.
