March 28, 2024

Tiger defense stuffs Eagles, 34-6

Kick return only scoring play for East Union

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AFTON — Lenox had its best defensive effort of the season in a 34-6 road victory at East Union Friday night.

East Union was held to zero net yards rushing and 9 of 30 passing for 106 yards in falling to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in 8-Player District 6.

Derek Venteicher rushed for 84 yards and two touchdowns for the Tigers, now 3-3 overall and 2-1 in district play.

Colton Gordon added 34 yards on the ground, including two touchdowns, and caught four passes for 57 yards. Aaron Schmitz had four receptions for 98 yards as quarterback Carter Still was 11 of 16 for 182 yards and no interceptions.

Schmitz also had a huge defensive game with nine solo tackles, six assisted tackles and four tackles for losses. Also with 10 or more tackles were Brenden Christensen and Drew Venteicher.

East Union’s only scoring play was a 73-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Matthew Wittstock, which cut Lenox’s lead to 22-6 in the second quarter. Wittstock was limited to 1 net yard rushing in 10 carries. Quarterback Sanden Cheers had negative yardage in 12 attempts.

“What an amazing defensive performance,” Lenox coach Matt Malausky said. “Our defensive tackles — Kyler Christensen and Dillon Mendez — were great, taking on double-teams and letting our linebackers roam free. The stats of our linebackers (Schmitz and Brenden Christensen) show that. Our defensive ends, Derek and Drew Venteicher, kept funneling everything into the middle, or making outside stretch plays go to the sideline, where our linebackers or cornerbacks (Colton Gordon and Carter Still) could clean things up. Our corners not only had great run support, but they were excellent in coverage, and each got an interception.”

Colton Abell had nine punts for the Eagles, an indication of the difficulty in sustaining drives. Senior lineman Braydon Martinez’s absence with an ankle injury from the Baxter game hampered the Eagles on both sides. He’s hopeful for a return this week.

“We couldn’t get the offense going,” East Union co-coach James Hardy said. “Their defense played well. They came hard with a nice blitz and we had some dropped passes. They bottled us up.”

A key sequence occurred three minutes into the second half. Trailing 22-6, East Union took the ball to the Lenox 5-yard line, but Wittstock was swarmed for a loss on fourth-and-goal.

“We needed that to put a little pressure back on them and look within striking distance,” Hardy said. “We know our offense can strike pretty quickly once it gets going. Tonight, we didn’t get it going.”

Lenox scored twice in the second half on runs by Still and Gordon while continuing to keep the East Union offense out of the end zone.

“We just couldn’t get the momentum going,” said East Union co-coach Craig Ditzler. “Even when we stopped them four or five times in a row, we just couldn’t get the ball moving on the offensive end.”

Joshua Hardy led the Eagle defense with 12.5 total tackles. Cheers finished with 8.0.

UP NEXT — Lenox, which played a week zero game, is idle this week while East Union’s stretch of tough games continues with a trip to district leader Stanton (3-0, 5-1 overall) before returning home to play Bedford (2-0, 3-2).

Lenox 34, East Union 6

Lenox 8 14 6 6 - 34

EU 0 6 0 0 - 6

1st quarter

L — Derek Venteicher 7 run (Venteicher pass from Carter Still), 8:08.

2nd quarter

L — Venteicher 6 run (Venteicher run), 11:06.

L — Colton Gordon 2 run (pass failed), 8:57.

EU — Matthew Wittstock 73 kickoff return (run failed), 8:43.

3rd quarter

L — Still 25 run (run failed), 1:52.

4th quarter

L — Gordon 4 run (pass failed), 5:48.

Individual leaders

Rushing: L - Derek Venteicher 16-84, Colton Gordon 15-34, Carter Still 9-18, Brad Larson 1-8, Cullen Wood 2-7, Trey Whipple 1-2. EU - Kole Seales 2-3, Matthew Wittstock 10-1, Alex Carrigan 1-1, Kanyon Huntington 2-1, Jarryn Stephens 1-1, Evan Collins 1-(-1), Sanden Cheers 12-(-6).

Passing: L - Still 11-16-0 for 182 yards. EU - Cheers 9-29-1 for 106 yards, Evan Collins 0-1-1.

Receiving: Aaron Schmitz 4-98, Gordon 4-57, Derek Venteicher 2-22, Brenden Christensen 1-5. EU - Matt McGuire 2-63, Dillon Weis 6-37, Levi Parrott 1-6.

Tackles (solo-assists): L - Schmitz 9-6, B. Christensen 6-5, Derek Venteicher 3-4, Drew Venteicher 2-8, Still 3-4, Gordon 4-2, Trey Whipple 0-4, Dillon Mendez 1-2, Kyler Christensen 0-2, Keegan Christensen 0-2. EU - Joshua Hardy 9-7, Cheers 5-6, Weis 5-4, Seales 6-3, Wittstock 4-4, Garret Skarda 3-3, Colton Abell 3-3, Tate Kerrigan 1-2.

Tackles for loss: L - Schmitz 4, Drew Venteicher 3, Derek Venteicher 2, Whipple 1, Mendez 1, K. Christensen 1. EU - Abell 2, Seales 1.

Interceptions: L - Gordon 1, Still 1.

Fumble recoveries: EU - Abell 1, Skarda 1.