ONTARIO - It was the perfect setting for Ontario.
Senior night, rain coming down, cold air blowing constantly...
"This is football weather," senior Cam Powers said. "Bad for offenses, great for the defense. We love any conditions we can play football in."
The Warriors seemed unfazed by the weather in a 23-6 win over Highland in Week 9.
"We went out and got the job done," Powers said. "Everybody was on at all levels, we stopped the run and it wasn't just me, the whole defensive team had a great night tonight."
Defense starred throughout the contest holding the Fighting Scots to just 157 yards and one touchdown on a fluke blown coverage play. Powers snagged two interceptions and the game-sealing safety with 2:25 to go tripping up Army-commit Kane Stover in the back of the end zone after a botched snap.
"Cam's played a lot of football here," Ontario coach Aaron Eckert said. "He has been a guy that played since sophomore year and done a nice job for us ... and it's great when things like that work out for people.
"Cam came up huge when they were on a 70-yard drive and capped it off on fourth down with the pick, he got another huge pick to get it back to midfield and then we scored, then the safety when we've been struggling all night to tackle that guy and we raked at his legs and got him on the ground."
It was a total team effort on the defensive side as the Warriors completely took away the pass game from Highland and forced them to run the ball in bad conditions which led to several fumbled snaps and penalties. And they capitalized on them holding the Scots to just three possessions in the first half with punt, interception, punt as the results.
And — aside from Stover hitting Hudson Howell for 53 yards plays into the second half — did much of the same in the third and fourth quarters forcing the Scots to punt twice, turn the ball over on fourth down once, then another interception and the safety. Stover finished with 27 carries for 85 yards and the touchdown pass.
"It was huge for us," Eckert said about bouncing back after the Shelby loss in Week 8. "I think anytime you get a game of that magnitude and it doesn't go your way, you've gotta figure out a way to get back on track. We got banged up quite a bit, but I'm proud of the way our guys battled tonight. I thought we were pretty resilient and we did a good job of whenever something bad happened to us, we came back and punched back.
"Highland's a tough football team and coach Stover does a great job getting those guys ready to play. And obviously they have Kane Stover who is a stud at linebacker and their defensive front does a nice job. It was great to be able to come out and get some things going when we didn't hurt ourselves with penalties."
After both teams struggled to get much going in the first half due to a combination of penalties and weather, Ontario's defense held pat late in the second quarter forcing Highland to punt. And after a great return from Trindon Flenoury down to the Scots' 27, Sean Tanner hit him for a nine-yard gain then floated one to Cardae Brown in the end zone from 18 yards out with 30 seconds until halftime.
Right after Highland's score to open the second half, Tanner hit Jermel Powell on a 44-yard reception to set up back-to-back runs from Gavin Miller for the Warriors' second touchdown. And in the fourth quarter Tanner heaved one into a crowd that was tipped and landed right into the hands of Brown who was in the right place at the right time, he proceeded to sprint to the end zone for the 55-yard score.
Tanner finished 16-of-24 for 199 yards and two touchdowns, Brown caught both as part of a five-reception, 90-yard night. Powell had two catches for 54 yards, Miller finished with 14 carries for 52 yards and a score, Max Ciroli logged seven carries for 34 yards, Powers added two catches for 12 yards to go with his two interceptions and safety.
"Sean did a really nice job of throwing the ball in the rain tonight, that's not an easy thing to do," Eckert said. "And the receivers did a nice job catching the ball, especially in the first half when we needed to get the ball going.
"I thought they did a good job when opportunity presented itself. We're a little banged up up front and we had some guys step in and do a decent job at the point of attack opening up holes for those guys. Gavin Miller and Max Ciroli, we've rode those guys to different spots this year, Cardae Brown had a big night for us offensively ... it's one of those things where when we needed guys to step up, guys stepped up."
Per Joe Eitel, the win clinched a top eight spot in Region 10 for the Division III Warriors who are now 8-1 on the season. They are currently third and should be able to secure a bye in Week 11 with a win next week at River Valley.
"We know we're better than that," Powers said of the loss to Shelby. "We knew what we had to prove and we came out and showed it tonight."
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Defense leads to offense for Ontario in bounce-back win over Highland