East Palestine’s Zach Schelle is pulled down by Lisbon’s Grant Minor on Friday. (Photo by Ron Firth)

EAST PALESTINE — Both the Lisbon Blue Devils and East Palestine Bulldog football teams boast several of the top offensive players in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference. So, the matchup between the two teams on Friday night at Reid Memorial Stadium in East Palestine promised to be an offensive explosion.

And that is exactly what fans got as the Bulldogs outlasted the Devils 50-34 to stay unbeaten on the 2025 season at 4-0 while moving to 1-0 in league play. The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 2-2 on the year and 0-1 in conference action.

“We have started conference play 1-0, and that is the goal,” Bulldogs head coach Michael Demster said. “But technically, we are 1-0 in our minds.”

“We’re sitting at 2 and 2 with a lot of football to play,” Blue Devils head coach Bill Meek said. “But this game should have been a lot closer than what it was.”

The two teams combined for 84 points and 965 total yards in the contest. The Devils accumulated 484 yards, 202 rushing and 282 passing, while the Bulldogs amassed 481 yards, with 268 coming on the ground and another 213 through the air.

The Bulldogs’ Zach Schnelle rushed for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns, while the Devils’ Ashton Hinchliffe 157 yards in receiving on just 4 receptions and two touchdowns.

“It has been one of our strengths,” Demster said on the Bulldogs’ balanced attack. “Honestly, that is what has carried us to 4-0. Teams can’t really pick just one guy.”

The fireworks started when the Bulldogs scored on their second offensive possession when quarterback Clark Rutledge raced in from 2 yards out to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead. That score came at the 5:30 mark of the first quarter.

Following a Blue Devil fumble on the ensuing kickoff, the Bulldogs struck again. This time, it was a 26-yard pass from Rutledge to Tanner Morrow to make it 14-0 with 4:15 remaining in the opening frame.

“Credit to them, that quarterback (Rutledge) that they have, he throws and they catch it. And we couldn’t stop them,” Meek said. “I told Coach Demster that he is doing a great job here at East Palestine.”

After a Schnelle 5-yard run made it 21-0 in favor of the Bulldogs, Lisbon came up with the first of four explosive offensive strikes as quarterback Grant Minor scored on a 47-yard run with 8:03 remaining in the first half. That cut the deficit to 21-7.

But the Bulldogs answered with a 31-yard pass from Rutledge to Kealin Simon to push their advantage back to 21 points at 28-7. The touchdown came with 5:13 left in the first half.

For the Blue Devils, a key moment came right at the end of the half when Minor tried scoring from just a yard out twice, with the officials ruling him short on both attempts. However, Meek felt that his quarterback had crossed the plane of the goal on both tries.

The Devils mounted a tremendous second-half comeback attempt as they scored four times, with three coming on big passing catches and runs by their running back, Ashton Hinchliffe. He took a short screen pass on their opening possession of the second half, and race 68 yards to make it a 28-14 contest.

“I told them at halftime that they have to come and battle. If we don’t, then we are in trouble,” Meek remarked.

The Bulldogs answered with a big play of their own as Morrow got behind the Blue Devils’ defense for a 69-yard scoring pass from Rutledge to make it 35-14 with 7:02 left in the third quarter.

Sandwiched between a 25-yard run by Schnelle, Hinchcliffe scored a 59-yard screen pass and run at the 6:46 mark of the quarter, and a 46-yard short pass and run with just 1:15 remaining in the period. That made it a 43-26 game in favor of the Bulldogs at the close of the third quarter.

“I was a little frustrated in the second half. Just the defensive breakdowns,” Demster remarked. “We talked about it at halftime. When we have ten guys doing what they are supposed to, and one not, that is what happens. But we will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week.”

The Bulldogs essentially ended the Devils’ threat with a 59-yard drive that ate up seven minutes off the fourth quarter clock. The drive closed with Rutledge plowing into the endzone from just a yard out to make it 50-26.

The Blue Devils battled to the end, however, as they scored the final points on the night when Wyatt Newbold hauled in a 20-yard pass from Minor to reach the 50-34 final score. That touchdown came with just 2:18 remaining in the contest.

“I’m very proud of the way that we played in the second half. But we are making a lot of mistakes that you can’t make and expect to win a football game,” Meek remarked. “We are starting slow, and with making a ton of mistakes, you can’t win football games.”

The Blue Devils will return to action next Friday when they host the United Eagles. The Bulldogs will make the trip to Salineville to take on the Southern Indians next Friday.

LI: 0-7-19-8–34

EP: 21-7-15-7–50

SCORING

EP – Clark Rutlegde 2 run (Brad Bartels Kick)

EP – Tanner Morrow 26 pass from Rutledge (Bartels Kick)

EP – Zach Schnelle 5 run (Bartels Kick)

LI – Grant Minor 47 run (Baylen Jackson Kick)

EP – Kealin Simon 31 pass from Rutledge (Bartels Kick)

LI – Ashton Hinchliffe 68 pass from Minor (Jackson Kick)

EP – Morrow 69 pass from Rutledge (Bartels Kick)

LI – Hinchliffe 59 pass from Minor (Pass Failed)

EP -Schnelle 25 run (Anthony Ottaviani from Rutledge)

LI – Hinchliffe 46 pass from Minor (Pass Failed)

EP – Rutledge 1 run (Bartels Kick)

LI – Wyatt Newbold 20 pass from Minor (Hinchliffe run)

——

L E

First downs 17 21

Total Yards 484 481

Rushes-yards 24-202 36-228

Passing 282 255

Comp-Att-Int 14-26-0 15-21-0

Punts 4-32.03 1-32

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 10-89 8-85

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–LISBON, Grant Minor 16-104, Ashton Hinchliffe 8-98; EAST PALESTINE, Zach Schnelle 28-186, Clark Rutledge 13-27

PASSING–LISBON, Grant Minor 14-26-282-3-0; EAST PALESTINE, Clark Rutledge 15-21-255-3-0

RECEIVING–LISBON, Ashton Hinchliffe 4-157, Wyatt Newbold 4-79; EAST PALESTINE, Tanner Morrow 4-154, Braydon Plum 4-38, Kealin Simon 2-36, Zach Schnelle 2-35

INTERCEPTIONS – LISBON, NONE; EAST PALESTINE, NONE

FUMBLES – LISBON, Marc Moore; EAST PALESTINE, Calvin Hoffer