Local Sports

Quakers set up EBC title showdown

SALEM -- The stage is now set for the ultimate Week 10 showdown.

Salem warmed up for one of its biggest games in many years vs. arch-rival West Branch by topping Carrollton 28-14 in an Eastern Buckeye Conference Week 9 contest at rain-swept Sebo Stadium Friday night.

"We finished up the regular season 8-1," said Salem head coach Ron Johnson. "It's a great regular season and we're very happy and very proud of that, and now it's the West Branch season, and it's critical that we put all of our efforts into that and be 1-0 next week."

With the latest win, the Quakers are 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the EBC. Salem will have a chance to grab a piece of the Eastern Buckeye Conference crown Friday night if it wins at West Branch (8-1 overall, 5-0 in the EBC). The Warriors locked up at least a share of a seventh straight conference championship Friday night with a 29-0 win over Alliance.

With rain pounding the Sebo Stadium turf for nearly all of Friday's battle with Carrollton, the Quakers unleashed their powerful running attack which accounted for 250 of the Quakers' 349 total yards.

Junior standout receiver-quarterback Bairon Exline put the Quakers on his back and rushed for a game-high 127 yards and three touchdowns, including two rushing and one through the airways.

"I would say putting the team first," said Exline of what he considers a top priority in every game. "It's just trust, we've got to trust what everyone does -- the linemen, the running backs and the quarterback -- everyone just does their assignment and you've got to have trust in your team."

"Here's the thing, in (driving rain) conditions like this, it's a tough night, you don't worry about calling great plays -- you get the ball to your best player (Exline) over and over and over again, and he's the best player on the field every week," said Johnson. "We just had to get the ball in his hands and let it go."

"It feels great, it feels good to be able to bounce back after a rough loss last week at Howland," said Exline. "A lot of preparation in practice really got us to this point."

Complementing Exline in the Quakers' rushing onslaught was Zander Kinsey who added 102 yards on 18 carries.

Salem quarterback Adrian Gelonese finished the night completing six-of-11 passes for 89 yards and three touchdowns.

With the loss, Carrollton, which leaves the Eastern Buckeye Conference after next season for the new Northeast Senate League, is 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the EBC.

"It's a shame, we keep saying our kids keep practicing hard and playing hard, but we just can't come out with a victory here," said Carrollton head coach Storm Hill.

Salem, which has already secured a Division III Region 9 playoff spot, leads the all-time series with Carrollton, 11-8 and has won the last two games against the Warriors, including last year's 48-20 Quaker triumph at Community Field.

"It was a great response to last week," said Johnson of the Quakers' win after an upset loss at Howland. "It wasn't easy -- these conditions never make it easy and we know how well coached Carrollton is, how game they are and they're a physical team."

In a driving rain, Salem scored the game's only touchdown of the first quarter when Exline took a fourth-down pass from Gelonese and raced 31 yards to score.The PAT kick failed and the Quakers took a 6-0 lead at the 6:05 mark of the quarter.

But Carrollton answered with a 58-yard drive, capped by a three-yard run by quarterback Ja'Seon Gerber. The PAT kick failed and the game was tied at 6-6.

Carrollton executed a successful onside kick against the Quakers and took over at the Salem 49. With momentum, the Warriors drove 49 yards and took the lead when Gerber crossed the stripe from two yards out. The Warriors were also successful on the two-point conversion on a Ryan Barnett run to go up 14-6 at the 6:12 mark of the second quarter.

But Salem tied things up just before the break after marching 91 yards to find the end zone on a 14-yard scoring strike across the middle from Gelonese to wideout Jaxson Douglas with just two seconds left in the half. Salem set up for a PAT kick, but CHS was flagged for offsides. It gave the Quakers a chance to go for two and they converted when Kinsey bulled his way up the middle for the two-pointer, tying things at 14-14 at half.

Salem led in total offense 181-118 at the break. Gelonese completed five of 10 passes in the first half for 84 yards and two touchdowns and finished with three aerial scores for the game. Carrollton running back Levi Kiko led the Warriors in the opening half with 17 carries for 84 yards.

Starting the second half, Salem's defense stopped Carrollton on downs at the Quakers' 24, and the Salem offense went to work.

The Quakers marched 76 yards to take the lead on a seven-yard quarterback keeper by Exline around left end. The PAT snap failed in the driving rain and the conversion run was stopped but Salem led 20-14 at the 2:35 mark of the third quarter.

The Quakers' defense stood tall and pitched a second-half shutout while turning the Warriors away on several occasions.

"I can't say enough about our defense, holding them to four rushing yards the entire second half," said Johnson. "And we got pressure on the quarterback."

"Obviously we had good success in the first half there but we felt like to be able to win the game we had to be able to throw the ball a little bit," said Hill, "and with the rain obviously it kind of limited what we could do offensively and that was a big thing."

Salem iced the game away when Exline raced 18 yards around right end to score with 1:39 left in the game. He also added the two-point conversion on a pass from Gelonese to close out the 28-14 triumph.

"We're down three offensive linemen, we started three sophomores and they played their tails off," said Johnson. "We rushed it for 250 yards and had over 300 yards of offense. It was just a great job of guys stepping up."

NOTES

-- The Quakers finished a perfect 5-0 in regular-season home games at Sebo Stadium. The last time Salem did that was during the 2019 campaign.

-- As noted, the Quakers travel to arch-rival West Branch Friday to play the Warriors in what is expected to be a packed house at 5,200-season Clinton Heacock Stadium.

-- Carrollton is also back in action Friday, hosting arch-rival Minerva at Community Field.

SCORING

CA:0-14-0-0--14

SA:6-8-6-8-- 28

SCORING

S -- Bairon Exline, 31 pass from Adrian Gelonese, (Kick failed)

C -- Ja'Seon Gerber, 3 run (Kick failed)

C -- Ja'Seon Gerber, 2 run (Brian Barnett run)

S -- Jaxson Douglas, 14 pass From Adrian Gelonese (Zander Kinsey run)

S -- Bairon Exline, 7 run (Run failed)

S -- Bairon Exline, 18 run (Bairon Exline pass from Adrian Gelonese)

TEAM STATS

Carrollton

First downs: 12; Total yards: 219; Rushes-yards: 40-179; Passing: 40; Comp-Att-Int. 4-12-0; Punts 5-40; Fumbles-Lost 0-0; Penalties-Yards 6-40

Salem

First downs: 23, Total yards 349, Rushes-yards 44-250, Passing 89 Comp-Att-Int. 6-11-0, Punts 4-36, Fumbles-Lost 5-2, Penalties-Yards 10-70