Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

COAL GROVE — The Coal Grove Hornets ran right over their first-round playoff opponent, Grandview Heights out of Columbus, 57-6.
The Hornets played old school, smash mouth football from start to finish.
Their rushing attack was led by Malachai Wheeler and Austin Stapleton who rushed for just over 200 yards combined and four touchdowns.
The Bobcats couldn’t stop the run or physicality of the Hornets. Meanwhile, the Coal Grove defense held the Grandview offense to just 17 rushing yards.
The Hornets’ offense also used a secret weapon for speed as Morgan Shultz busted two sweeps around the edge for touchdowns.
One touchdown was from 76 yards out, and the other from 31.
Coal Grove (4-2) even showed off their future as freshman running back, Steven Simpson, found his way into the end zone twice for Hornet scores.
Head coach Jay Lucas was proud of his guys and had a lot to say about their performance and what’s keeping them going moving forward,
“I felt like our kids played solid on both sides of the ball and special teams. Our backs ran extremely hard and our line did a very nice job opening holes,” said Lucas. “We feel very blessed to have the opportunity to move on in the playoffs. Each game is a new challenge and we have to focus each day on getting better and improving.
“Our seniors are a fantastic group of young men. We knew this could be their last home game and our team really rallied around them tonight.”
Coal Grove advances to the second round of the Division 6 Ohio High School football playoffs.
Grandview Heights fell to 0-7.
The Hornets will travel to play at Sarahsville Shenandoah on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.
Grandview Hts. 0 0 0 6 = 6
Coal Grove 21 14 14 8 = 57
RUSHING — GH: Logan Baker 6-minus 8, Mikael Black 4-4, Kellen Dowdy 3-4, Harvey Pierce 1-minus 2, Mason Gastesi 2-7 TD, Connor McCormick 3-12; CG: Austin Stapleton 13-90 3TD, Malachai Wheeler 10-111 1TD, Morgan Shultz 2-107 2TD, Steven Simpson 4-31 TD, Trey Hunt 1-22, Clay Ferguson 1-5.
PASSING — GH: Logan Baker 8-16 64, Connor McCormick 0-1 0; CG: Clay Ferguson 2-2 21, Whyatt Mannon 2-2 63 TD.
RECEIVING — GH: Maddox Baker 4-4, Connor McCormick 1-41, Jake Leach 1-10, Mikael Black 1-4, Jake Troiano 1-5; CG: Morgan Shultz 1-10, Perry Kingery 1-11, Steven Simpson 1-54 1TD, Jeffery Sparks 1-9.