TIFFIN — Ontario head football coach Aaron Eckert hugged each one of his players and made sure to tell each one of them individually just how proud he was of them.
The Warriors had just lost to Perkins 28-21 in the Division IV Region 14 championship game bringing and end to a historic season that saw the Warriors (12-2) break the program’s single-season wins record and tie for the second-most wins in a season by a Richland County football team. They put the first regional football trophy in the case and even though it was runner-up silver, it doesn’t take away what the Warriors accomplished.
“This team came in hungry to prove a point,” Eckert said. “We heard all week how Perkins was getting ready to play Glenville in a state semifinal and no one was giving us a chance. We came out, put our pads on and played Ontario football with grit and toughness. I couldn’t be any more proud of the guys for approaching the game of football in practice and withstanding the elements, how they got down, and how they kept fighting. I am proud to be the Ontario football coach.”
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The Warriors dug themselves a hole right from the start. After Perkins forced and recovered a fumble on Ontario’s first offensive play of the night finishing a short field off with a touchdown less than two minutes into the game. After Ontario’s second drive went 3-and-out and a punt traveled eight yards into a stiff wind, Perkins took a 14-0 lead with 8:17 left in the first quarter and that hole was enough to make things difficult for Ontario.
And yet, they climbed out. Senior quarterback Bodpegn Miller scored on a 10-yard run to cut Perkins’ lead in half at the end of the first quarter and the score stayed 14-7 into the intermission thanks to a better defensive and offensive effort by the Warriors.
Perkins scored on the opening drive of the second half to make it 21-7 at the end of the third before the Warriors scored on a 1-yard run by Miller to open up the fourth quarter making it 21-13 after a blocked point-after attempt. Ontario then caught Perkins napping as the Warriors recovered a surprise on-side kick and marched down the field watching as freshman Kooper Kilgore weaved his way into the end zone for an 18-yard TD. Miller added the two-point conversion run to tie the game up at 21-21 with 8:45 remaining in the game.
“I am just so proud of the kids,” Eckert said. “There are a lot of teams that fold when they are down 14-0 in the first three minutes of the game and I think you saw our character from a program standpoint. The guys showed grit, belief and confidence that they could do this. We were a play or two away. But I am proud of the way they handled themselves all season through the ups and the downs. The way they carried themselves as men is inspirational.”
The Warrior defense stood tall forcing a Perkins punt which traveled more than 60 yards thanks to help from a stiff wind and went out of bounds at the Ontario 3-yard line. The Warriors built some room thanks to a huge fourth-down conversion at their own 12-yard line, but the Pirates ended up forcing a punt later in the drive taking over with 3:14 left on their own 40-yard line and finished off the drive with an 8-yard TD with 39 seconds remaining and it was all they needed to put a cap on a 28-21 victory.
“There were points in the game where we had opportunities to make plays but that slow start hurt us,” Eckert said. “When you give a really good team 14 points in the first three minutes of the game, it is hard to come back from but I am so proud of these boys. They came back, tied the game at 21 and we had the ball with a chance to go win it. Unfortunately for us, Perkins made a nice play on third down, forced us to punt and finished off a drive to score.”
The Warriors put up 280 yards of total offense against one of the best defenses in all of Division IV. Miller finished going 9-for-20 for 92 yards passing while adding 66 yards rushing on 20 carries and two TDs. His 10-yard touchdown in the first quarter gave him enough yards to become the all-time career rushing yards leader in program history topping Jordan Campbell’s record set in 2012. Unofficially, Miller finishes his career with 3,597 rushing yards. He unofficially ended the season with 1,975 yards for the season, a program record.
Noah Poole was the leading receiver with three catches for 39 yards while Kilgore put up a huge game with 63 rushing yards on nine carries and a score all in the second half.
“Koop has been great,” Eckert said. “We are banged up at running back and it was next man up. He has been a guy who has been fantastic at the lower levels this season and he came in fresh in the second half and showed what he could do. He did a great job when we called his number.”
The Ontario defense allowed 281 yards with 193 coming on the ground.
Ontario graduates 14 seniors from this year’s team including Miller, Mason Vantilburg, who ran for 51 yards, Beau Hefner, James Mahon, Alan O’Blisk, Austin Pence, Landon Sowards, Ryder Hensley, Rayvon Skelton, Austin Mullins, Grady Taylor, Sam Crawford and Grant Lewis. The seniors ended their careers with 35 wins in four years, the second most in a four-year span in program history.
“This group has been great and successful all the way through,” Eckert said. “But more important than the success is the way they carried themselves. They didn’t complain about summer workouts or how hard we tried to make things. They set the culture. We asked those guys what they wanted to do in the weight room and how often they wanted to lift and they wanted to go as many days as necessary. To set that culture, it creates a path for the Ontario football program moving forward. It is tough to play football and now, the standard is to compete in big games.”
The Warriors’ tied the 2021 and 2022 Crestview teams, the 2018 Clear Fork and 2019 Lucas teams for the second-most wins in a single season for a Richland County team and just one game shy of the 2017 Shelby and 2019 Mansfield Senior teams for the Richland County record for wins in a season (13). The Warriors won three playoff games after never winning more than one in a single postseason and put a regional runner-up trophy in the case. They accomplished a lot but it is something they won’t fully comprehend until maybe next week when the sting wears off.
“As you go through a season, you don’t realize what you are doing in the moment,” Eckert said. “It is always such a week-to-week mentality and in the playoffs, it is survive and advance. It is great we won 12 games, but my brain doesn’t know how to quantify it right now because I was looking forward to the next game. Some day, I’ll think about it, but right now, I am just proud of the way the kids played the football game tonight.”
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ontario Warriors lost to Perkins Pirates in Division IV Region 14 finals football
