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Quakers extend streak

Salem’s Jax Booth celebrates a touchdown against East Liverpool on Friday night at Patterson Field. (Photo by Jimmy Joe Savage) 

EAST LIVERPOOL — You could sense the rich history when longtime Columbiana County rivals Salem and East Liverpool collided at historic Patterson Field here Friday night. The two schools have one of the longest concurrent football rivalries in Ohio high school history, dating back more than100 years.

Salem, which has won six straight football meetings in the series with the Potters, continued its recent success against East Liverpool, posting a 20-14 triumph in a hotly-contested finish.

“I’m just so proud of my kids for being as resilient as they were,” said Salem head coach Ron Johnson afterward.

With the win, the Quakers remained unbeaten at 3-0 overall, while East Liverpool is now 1-2. Salem has won 12 consecutive non-league games, dating back three seasons.

East Liverpool head coach Josh Ludwig said his kids played extremely hard and it was tough to lose a close game a second week in a row (the Potters lost to Indian Creek last week).

“It’s just really tough to be on that end of the game,” said Ludwig. “We didn’t quit and fought to the last whistle.”

After East Liverpool closed within six points (20-14) of the Quakers early in the fourth quarter, Salem took over at its own 17-yard-line and used nine minutes off the clock while driving to the Potters’ two.

Even though the drive ended there, the Potters had to use all their timeouts and took possession of the ball at their own two with 1:47 left. The Potters drove to the Salem 41 but Salem sealed the win when

Quaker Niko Walter picked off a fourth down pass in closing seconds and the Quakers ran out the clock.

It appeared as though East Liverpool got five downs (a spiked ball was apparently missed) on its last drive.

“You can’t have that (a missed down) at this level of football because it’s too important to these kids,” bristled Johnson. “They play too hard to have that mistake and it should never happen.”

Walter, the Quakers’ quarterback, accounted for 347 yards of offense.

“It (the win) is absolutely not on me, it’s on my teammates,” said Walter. “We did this together. It was a great game and fun to be a part of.”

Johnson said it was great to win such a great, historic rivalry against a very good East Liverpool team.

“We just ran it most of the second half and our kids work so incredibly hard,” said the Salem coach. “The mental toughness we have and the physical toughness we have is strong and we can take a game and keep pounding it and pounding it and see where we are at the end.”

“We just have to find a way to win these tough games at the end,” said Ludwig. “We haven’t got that done yet and we’re going to work on that starting right now.”

East Liverpool had its scoring chances twice in the first half, as the Potters drove inside the Salem red zone on two occasions but the Quakers turned the hosts away at their 19-yard line in the first quarter and at the Salem 13 with 11:14 showing in the first half.

Salem, which started slowly in the first quarter and had just 35 yards offense after the opening period, really got its offense going in the second quarter, thanks to Walter who accounted for 185 of the Quakers’ 215 yards offense in the first half, including 91 on the ground and 95 through the airways.

The Quakers scored the only touchdown on the first half on an impressive 87-yard march. Walter capped the drive when he took a shotgun snap, took a step forward, then backpeddled and lofted a 26-yard scoring pass to Salem receiver Jax Booth who was wide open in the middle of the end zone. Walter and Booth hooked up again on the two-point conversion pass when Walter hit Booth who had circled back over the middle, giving the visitors an 8-0 lead at the 8:35 mark of the second quarter. A key play in the scoring drive was a 34-yard scamper by Walter to the Potters’ 30.

The Quakers also had two additional drives deep into East Liverpool territory in the first half, but the Potters stopped those marches at the East Liverpool 20 and 21, the second coming when Potter defensive back Braidyn Wright intercepted Walter in the East Liverpool end zone to end the first half.

At halftime, Salem led in total offense, 215-76, with 71 of those yards coming through the air by Potter quarterback Nate Davis.

Salem defensive lineman Zach Murray had a first-half sack for the Quakers.

East Liverpool took the second-half kickoff and impressively drove 56 yards to score when running back Derek Carter scooted two yards around right end. The Quakers stopped the conversion run when a swarm of

Salem defenders stopped Carter after taking the conversion handoff on a running play. But with 7:50 showing in the third quarter the Potters pulled within 8-6.

Salem answered right back on its ensuing possession when after a long punt return into East Liverpool territory. Walter found Booth with a 40-yard scoring strike, giving Salem a 14-8 lead with 6:22 left in the third quarter.

But East Liverpool tied things at 14-14 when Davis hit receiver Tim Neal with a 23-yard scoring pass. Nick Woodyard added the two-point conversion run around left end to tie things at 14-14 with 5:01 left in the third quarter.

Salem answered the score minutes later when Walter scrambled 9 yards around the right side to score. The Quakers were stopped short on the conversion run but led 20-14 with six seconds left on the third-quarter clock and the Quakers made it stand for the win.

NOTES

• Salem won last year’s meeting with the Potters by a 28-14 decision at Reilly Stadium (now Sebo Stadium).

• East Liverpool’s last win in the series occurred in 2013 when the Potters, who finished 5-5 that season, defeated the Quakers, 20-14 at Patterson Field.

• Next Friday Salem begins Eastern Buckeye Conference action when it travels to Carrollton to meet the Warriors at Community Field.

• East Liverpool also plays next Friday as the Potters travel to arch-rival Beaver Local for a Buckeye 8 North game against the Beavers.

SALEM: 0-8-12-0–20

E. LIVERPOOL: 0-0- 14-0– 14

SCORING

S– Jax Booth, 26 pass from Niko Walter, 8:35 2nd (Jax Booth pass

from Niko Walter)

E — Derek Carter, 2 run, 7:50 3rd (run failed)

S– Jax Booth, 40 pass from Niko Walter, 6:22 3rd (Pass failed)

E — Tim Neal, 23 pass from Nate Davis, 5:01 3rd (Nick Woodyard run)

S — Niko Walter, 9 run, :06 3rd (Run failed)

S EL

First downs 24 18

Total Yards 436 308

Rushes-yards 44-240 30-84

Passing 201 204

Comp-Att-Int 11-19-1 18-31-1

Punts 3-40 3-30

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 4-45 5-45

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Salem, Cade Campolito 23-94 , Niko Walter, 21-146; East Liverpool, Derek Carter, 17-60, Nick Woodyard, 6-24

PASSING–Salem, Niko Walter, 11-19-201-2-1; East Liverpool, Nate Davis, 17-29-180-1-0

RECEIVING–Salem, Jax Booth, 5-116, Brock Young 2-21, Anthony DiMuzio 2-59, Cade Campolito 2-5; East Liverpool, Nick Woodyard 10-118, Tim Neal , 4-56

INTERCEPTIONS–Salem, Niko Walter; East Liverpool, Braidyn Wright

FUMBLE RECOVERIES–Salem, none East Liverpool, none

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