Tribune Sports Editor

COAL GROVE — Two early turnovers turned the game.

The Coal Grove Hornets forced two early turnovers that they converted into touchdowns as they went on to rout the Meigs Marauders 43-7 Friday.

Coal Grove took the opening kickoff 88 yards in six plays with quarterback Alex Bare keeping the ball and running 65 yards for the touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

Meigs came right back as Dillon Boyer ran for 26 yards and Charlie Barrett 10 more on the first two plays. But the Hornets forced a fumble and Austin Clark recovered at the Coal Grove 29.

Five plays later Bare found Bryan Steele open for a 33-yard touchdown pass. Bare ran the conversion and it was 14-0.

Meigs put together another deep drive after the ensuing kickoff, but Steele picked off a pass at the Hornets’ 26-yard line and Coal Grove went on a 74-yard, 11-play march capped by Greg Bender’s 9-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter.

T.J. Barrett’s conversion kick put the lead at 21-0.

A short Meigs’ punt gave the Hornets the ball at the Marauders’ 33 and on the next play Bare hit Steele with a touchdown pass and a 28-0 lead.

However, Meigs kept coming as Boyer ran 53 yards to the Coal Grove 9-yard line and three plays later hit Blake Crow with a 5-yard scoring pass and it was 28-7 with 7:38 left in the half.

Coal Grove put the game out of reach on its next possession on a 5-yard run by Bare with just 1:14 left in the half.

The score remained unchanged until Garrett Schultz ran 1 yard for the Hornets with 4:19 to play. Mason Nance added the conversion run to set the final score.

Bare led the Hornets’ ground game with 102 yards on eight carries while Jordan Beals rushed seven times for 72 yards.

Coal Grove racked up 310 yards on the ground while Bare was 4 of 7 passing for 138 yards. Steele had three catches for 101 yards to go with his interception.

Hogsten had eight tackles while Bender and Kyle Estep had seven each to lead the Hornets’ defense.

Meigs 0 7 0 0 = 7

Coal Grove 14 21 0 8 = 43

First Quarter

CG — Alex Bare 65 run (kick failed) 8:49

CG — Bryan Steele 33 pass from Alex Bare (Bare run) 5:25

Second Quarter

CG — Greg Bender 9 run (T.J. Barrett kick) 11:54

CG — Bryan Steele 43 pass from Alex Bare (T.J. Barrett kick) 10:01

Me — Blake Crow 5 pass from Dillon Boyer (Charlie Barrett kick) 7:38

CG — Alex Bare 5 run (T.J. Barrett kick) 1:14

Fourth Quarter

CG — Garrett Schultz 1 run (Mason Nance run) 4:19

Me CG

First downs 9 17

Yards rushing 26-168 50-310

Yards passing 52 138

Total yards 220 448

Cmp-Att-Int 3-9-1 4-7-0

Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-50 11-60

Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Meigs: Dilon Boyer 5-80, Jeffrey Roush 8-53, Charlie Barrett 5-27, Michael Davis 2-7, Cole Turner 1-3, Zach Sayre 2-3, Andrew Burt 2-0, Jordan Hutton 1-minus 2; Coal Grove: Alex Bare 8-102, Jordan Beals 7-72, Isaiah Gunther 11-46, Garrett Schultz 5-34, Greg Bender 8-25, Kyle Estep 3-11, Brandon Hogsten 1-4, Austin Ruggles 2-3, Nathan Webb 1-3, Ian McFarland 2-1.

PASSING—Meigs: Dillon Boyer 3-9-1 52; Coal Grove: Alex Bare 4-7-0 138.

RECEIVING—Meigs: Jeffrey Roush 1-42, Blake Crow 1-5, Charlie Barrett 1-5; Coal Grove: Bryan Steele 3-101, Steve Breeding 1-37.

DEFENSE—Coal Grove: Brandon Hogsten 8 tackles 1-fumble recovery; Greg Bender 7 tackles, 1 sack, 1force fumble; Kyle Estep 7 tackles; Seth Jewell 5 tackles; Bryan Steele 4 tackles, interception; Jordan Beals 2 tackles, 2 pass breakups.