Watterson uses strong defense with a dash of offense to defeat Bellefontaine 19-13

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

David Burnworth | November 18, 2023

(Note: Watterson does not have a complete roster online with numbers included, so I pieced their players together the best I could.) I hope everything is correct. cbcsportsonline.com not only has the full Bellefontaine roster on it, it has every team in the league on it.

In a much-anticipated matchup between the stout Watterson defense and the Ohio State verbal commit Tavien St. Clair, a decent but not overly large crowd was treated to a hard-hitting, clean contest that left many in awe of the outcome, while others, mostly the Watterson crowd, expected

Right away, it would be the Watterson defense making a statement when John Spencer made a nice hit on Riley Neer, plastering him for a loss of nearly five yards. Tommy Haley would make an even bigger statement when he picked off a St. Clair pass at 10:27 in the opening quarter. Going into this game, St. Clair had thrown just two picks.

The Chieftains defense was no slouch this season either, and on the ensuing Eagles drive, that was shown in a large way when talented runningback Ben Uhlenhake was stuffed short on fourth and one.

The Eagles defense would come up huge again at the 4:07 mark of the quarter when Drew Bellisari picked off St. Clair. On the Eagles ensuing drive, a long catch by Christopher Bair helped set up a 23-yard field goal from strong leg kicker Rudy Kessinger to give the Eagles the 3-0 lead with forty-seven seconds left on the clock.

Ben Uhlenhake made a nice catch and run on a pass throw by Miami, Ohio, baseball commit AJ McAninch for a gain of 35 yards. Uhlenhake then had a run down to the Chieftains 12-yard line to set up a first and ten. The Chieftains defense would hold Watterson to a 27-yard field goal, making the score 6-0 with 4:27 left in the half.

Bellefontaine would get a nice 22-yard catch from CJ Wilson with 4:10 left on the clock, but the Watterson defense would not allow any points as the half ended.

Bellefontaine would strike first in the second half, but it would be its defense that had the honor of lighting up the scoreboard when Neer returned an interception for 60 yards for the score. After Alex Carbill connected on his point after kick, a stunned Watterson crowd was quiet as their team trailed 7-6. The Chieftains sold way more tickets, so even though they were the lower seed, they requested and were granted the home side, which was no surprise.

CJ Wilson would get a pick to give the Chieftains the ball back then on offense, he made a 54-yard catch to keep the larger Bellefontaine crowd in the game. After Tommy Haley stopped St. Clair for a short loss, the talented quarterback calmly dropped back and found Wison for the 11-yard touchdown to make this a 13-6 game, as the point after kick was blocked with 5:26 left in the fast-moving third quarter.

With 3:01 left in the quarter, I was reminded how old I am when Jake Uhlenhake picked up close to 20 yards on a catch and run. I watched both of Uhlenhake’s father, Jeff, play high school football for the Newark Catholic Greenwave. Jeff also went to Ohio State and had a nice 8-year NFL career playing with the Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, and Washington Redskins, starting 112 out of 119 games. Zack Weber ended the drive with a 35-yard touchdown run to lock the game up at 13-13 with 2:30 left on the clock.

A 29-yard catch by Jake Uhlenhake got things going for Watterson just nine seconds into the final frame. Cal Mangini would keep the drive moving forward with a 4-yard catch. Tommy Haley picked up 21 yards with a catch with 9:37 left. Then, with 8:56 left in the game, Jake Uhlenhake made the final touchdown catch of the game from 11 yards out to make this a 19-13 game, which also turned out to be the final score.

Before the clock hit triple zeros, Weber would tack on a 14-yard gut run. on a play where his O-Line was nasty good, and then to help close things out with 2:06 left, he added another 14-yard run to give the Eagles a first down.

My Stats

Eagles

61 plays

342 yards

Passing, 14-25 1 TD, 2 INT’s

Chieftans

38 plays

136 yards

Passing, 17-24 1 TD, 2 INT’s

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