Kreais, Berrier lead Chieftains

By LONNIE McMILLAN

Sports editor

BASCOM — As long as the offensive line could do its part, Hopewell-Loudon was confident its skill players could do theirs.

Both answered the call, allowing quarterback Evan Kreais and skill players Blake Berrier and Braylon Martinez to shine in a 36-19 victory against Carey on Friday night in Bascom.

Last season, the Blue Devils got to Kreais too quickly and too often, and they routed the Chieftains 37-8. Not sacked a single time, Kreais threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns, including three of them to Berrier, who had 193 yards and 14 catches.

“We’ve been telling our team about it, if we can just block them a little,” Hopewell-Loudon coach Brian Colatruglio said. “Last year we didn’t block them at all. If we can just block them a little, then our skill guys and our receivers can get open, and our quarterback is one of the best in the state of Ohio, and he showed it tonight. I’m proud of our offensive line.”

At one point, Kreais completed 17 passes in a row.

“Some of the times, I’m amazed because we had really good coverage and they made pinpoint throws with pinpoint catches,” Carey coach Jonathon Mershman said. “Those skill guys are some of the best skill guys I’ve seen in a long time — catching some sliding catches; they knew how to settle into the zones. I can’t give them enough credit because they picked us apart tonight. Caught the contested balls; they caught everything.”

Kreais’ only incompletion in 16 first-half throws was an interception by Conner Norden on the opening drive. Carey then turned that into points, converting a fourth-and-9 with a 19-yard run by quarterback Alex Putnam before scoring on an 18-yard run by Carter Smiley.

But from then on, the connection between Kreais and Berrier, with a little bit of Martinez mixed in on the ground and through the air, was nearly unstoppable.

“We’ve got a veteran team, our quarterback has seen a lot of football, our receivers have played a lot,” Colatruglio said. “We weren’t going to get rattled and we didn’t.”

Hopewell-Loudon answered Carey’s score with a 12-play drive that required just one third-down conversion before Martinez scored on a 3-yard run on third-and-goal with 41 seconds left in the first quarter. The conversion pass failed, leaving the Blue Devils in front 7-6.

Two plays after a Putnam fumble, Kreais hit Berrier for a 45-yard touchdown pass. The conversion pass to Martinez made it 14-7.

The Chieftains got more points off of a turnover after Martinez intercepted Putnam. That led to a 9-yard touchdown pass from Kreais to Berrier, and Martinez’s conversion run made it 22-7.

Putnam came back quickly with a 50-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage after that, but Kreais had completions of 29 yards to Berrier, 34 yards to Jack Colatruglio and then a 24-yard touchdown pass to Martinez. A two-point conversion pass to Berrier put the score at 30-13 with 3:46 remaining.

Carey’s final drive of the first half ended up being stopped 2 yards shy of the end zone. Putnam hit Smiley for a 29-yard gain to the 10-yard line in the closing seconds of the half. The clock ran to 0 despite it being a first down, and the officials ruled there should be a second left.

The Blue Devils opted to go for a touchdown rather than kicking a field goal. A pass interference call moved the ball to the 5 and gave them yet another play, but Smiley was brought down shy of the goal line on a rushing attempt on an untimed down.

“I left some points out there, but like I said before to the guys, like everyone knows, I’m going to gamble on some of this stuff, and … I don’t think three points would have done it,” Mershman said. “Yeah, the momentum and all that happy jazz, but the momentum for us would have been putting it in for seven and then going in at half time. That would have been a game changer for us.”

Berrier’s third touchdown catch, a 3-yard reception on fourth-and-goal with 2:49 left in the third quarter, made it 36-13.

Nathan Brodman had a 45-yard catch for Carey that set up Austin Niederkohr’s 16-yard touchdown run, but the conversion run failed again, leaving it a three-score game.

The Blue Devils’ final possession ended with a Berrier interception of Putnam in the red zone.

After going 0-for-3 with an interception to start the game, Putnam ended up 7-of-12 passing for 138 yards and added 96 yards on 12 rushing attempts.

“He just needed the reps and as he got the reps he got better,” Mershman said. “I think our guys made some plays too, but we just didn’t make enough of them.”

Martinez was a workhorse for the Chieftains, especially in the second half, finishing the game with 32 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown while also making four receptions for 82 yards and a score. Jack Colatruglio had four catches for 59 yards.

“Their front seven is awesome, and the whole key was could we block them long enough to be able to throw and catch the ball, and we did,” coach Colatruglio said. “If we protect, I’ll take our skill guys against anybody’s secondary and tonight I think we got it done.”

Carey has seen mixed results against Hopewell-Loudon since it began opening its season against the Chieftains, but one thing is sure, playing them makes the Blue Devils better for the rest of the year.

“They’re a fantastic team, a great test for us, and If we want to be where we want to be, we need to get a lot better,” Mershman said.

The Blue Devils play at 7 p.m. Friday at Galion.

Score by quarters

Carey                          7                                  6                                  6                                  0                                  — 19

Hopewell-Loudon       6                                  24                                6                                  0                                  — 36

First quarter

C — Smiley 18-yard run (Cole kick) 7:36.

HL — Martinez 3-yard run (pass failed) 0:41.

Second quarter

HL — E. Kreais 45-yard pass to Berrier (E. Kreais pass to Martinez) 11:02.

HL — E. Kreais 9-yard pass to Berrier (Martinez run) 6:04.

C — A. Putnam 50-yard run (run failed) 5:52.

HL — E. Kreais 24-yard pass to Martinez (E. Kreais pass to Berrier) 3:46.

Third quarter

HL — E. Kreais 3-yard pass to Berrier (pass failed) 2:49.

C — Niederkohr 15-yard run (run failed) 0:57.

Individual statistics

Passing

Carey: A. Putnam 7-12, 138 yards, 2 INTs.

Hopewell-Loudon: E. Kreais 25-29, 365 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT.

Rushing

Carey: A. Putnam 12-96, 1 TD; Smiley 2-21, 1 TD; Niederkohr 1-15, 1 TD; Steen 6-13; Norden 3-8; Brodman 1-3.

Hopewell-Loudon: Martinez 32-68, 1 TD; Reinhart 2-2; E. Kreais 1-1.

Receiving

Carey: Brodman 3-33; Niederkohr 2-68; Smiley 2-37.

Hopewell-Loudon: Berrier 14-193, 3 TDs; Martinez 4-82, 1 TD; Colatruglio 4-59; Wyman 2-18; Crow 1-13.

Team statistics

                               C                                 HL

First downs            13                                21

Passes                  7-12                             25-29

Yards passing       138                              365

Rushing                 25-156                         35-71

Passes intercepted                                   2                                  1

Fumbles-lost          2-0                               0-0

Punts                     1-29.0                          0-0.0

Penalties               2-15                             5-30