By Derek Kramer
For The Herald Bulletin
ELWOOD, Ind. —
Elwood leaned heavily on the shoulders of their do-it-all running back, Trevor Ozenbaugh, and defeated Alexandria 33-17.
Ozenbaugh kicked extra points, made tackles, picked off a pass, threw a pass and most importantly ran the ball 39 times for 302 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s a player,” said Elwood head coach Marty Wells as he chuckled. “I don’t know what it takes to become the Army’s Iron Man of the Week Award. He’s been nominated two weeks in a row and will get nominated this week, so we’ll figure out what it takes to win it.”
“He’s a real nice football player,” said Alexandria head coach Pete Gast. “He’s one of the toughest backs that we’ll see. I give him credit, but they have a heck of a front.”
The Iron Man of the Week award is for players who play both sides of the ball. Ozenbaugh leads the conference in rushing.
Alexandria started off the game by dominating the field position battle. Ozenbaugh fumbled early and Austin Dauenhauer’s first pass attempt was intercepted by Alex’s Josh Blanton.
The Tiger’s took advantage of the turnovers and got out to an early 10-0 lead via a 19-yard pass connection between quarterback Nik Parkison and receiver Randi Kirkland and a 37-yard field goal by Michael McFerran.
“They play hard,” said Wells of Alexandria. “That’s what it’s all about: effort and attitude.”
But after the early lead, Ozenbaugh began to take over as the Panthers scored 33 straight points over the final three quarters.
On 18 of the last 21 plays for Elwood in the second quarter, Ozenbaugh carried the ball. He scored touchdowns from five and ten yards out and finished the half with 150 yards on 24 carries giving the Panthers a 13-10 halftime lead.
The third quarter saw Elwood’s only completed pass attempt on the night go for a 9-yard touchdown from Dauenhauer to Brandon Leisure.
Wells noticed in the formation the Tiger’s defense had kept inching closer and closer to stop the run and called the bubble screen a couple times on the drive and capitalized on the score.
Execution was an issue for Alexandria as they struggled to find any rhythm on offense despite having good field position all night.
“They were up in our face challenging us to throw the football,” said Gast, “but we just couldn’t connect. We just got to execute.”
Defensively, Gast didn’t see his team executing well either.
“Our technique is a little sloppy,” said Gast. “Our focus is off. Our eyes aren’t where they need to be.”
After having to punt on one drive, Ozenbaugh had an 80-yard touchdown run that put the game out of reach early in the fourth. He added another 9-yard touchdown later in the quarter.
Alexandria had only 163 yards total on offense. Jon Blanton led the team in rushing with 30 yards on 8 attempts.
Brandon Bennet scored a touchdown late for the Tigers on an 11-yard run.
Sammy Mireles added 90 yards rushing for the Panthers on 13 carries, including a big 45-yard run.
