Badin Shrugs Off Rocky Start, Rolls To 46-13 Win At Hartley And Moves To 4-0

By Rick Cassano

COLUMBUS – Badin High School’s football journey is expected to start getting more arduous very soon.

The Rams went on the road and remained unbeaten Friday night by overpowering Columbus Hartley 46-13 at Jack Ryan Field, fashioning their fourth straight rout to improve to 4-0.

Next up for Badin is an intriguing home game next Friday against La Salle (2-2). They’re both in Division II, Region 8 and the Lancers are perennial high-level performers in D-II, but these programs haven’t clashed since 1992.

“I think probably it means more for the fans and other people involved, but we have to treat it and we will treat it as just another game,” Rams coach Nick Yordy said. “It’s a quality opponent, but we’ve played a lot of quality opponents this year and over the years. It’ll be a playoff-type atmosphere with a crowd, so it’ll be fun.”

The bigger concern for Yordy was the fact that Badin may have been too strong for Hartley (1-3), but the Rams weren’t especially sharp early in the game.

Junior Cooper Clay returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in the first quarter to give the visitors the jolt of adrenaline they needed to start handling the Hawks.

Clay said he just got moved back to a deep kickoff-return spot this week in practice by special teams coordinator Jeff Smith Jr.

“It felt pretty good all week,” Clay said. “Coach Smith was just saying, ‘Trust the process, it’ll be there,’ and I trusted it and it was there. I was definitely a little bit nervous, but I was pretty confident. I showed them what I could do.”

Yordy said there was no question that Clay provided the spark that Badin needed.

“I felt like we came out and were a little flat,” Yordy said. “I don’t know if it was the bus ride up here or whatever, but we didn’t play up to our expectations at the beginning.

“From here on out, we told the kids we’re playing a (Greater Catholic League) schedule. Technically the GCL started tonight with these guys, so we’ve got to clean some things up and come out with a little more fire in our belly. And I think we will.”

Davis Martin overcame a rocky start to throw for 99 yards and connected with Hudson Heid for a 31-yard touchdown in the second period for the Rams. Camden Caldwell picked off two Martin passes in the first 10 minutes – one of those interceptions came on the first BHS play from scrimmage.

Badin’s Chase Even ran for a pair of touchdowns and 65 yards, while Mario Wisdom added a scoring run. Gabe Miyahara contributed a 35-yard field goal at the first-half gun and four extra points.

“Badin is as advertised,” Hartley coach Matt Melle said. “They have really, really good players and a great balance of offense and defense. Scheme-wise, they’re really tough to stop.

“Obviously their overall physical strength and aggression were tough for us to deal with for the duration of the game. That was magnified again by our errors on special teams and losing our quarterback, which really hurt.”

Oden Mertz wasn’t expected to play quarterback Friday because of an Achilles issue, but Melle said the senior expressed a strong desire to be in the starting lineup and got his wish.

Mertz got knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury with 1:08 remaining in the opening stanza, though he did hit Isaac King for an 18-yard touchdown to get the Hawks within 8-6 about a minute earlier.

Hartley ended up using three QBs – Mertz, Javeir Napier and Danilo Giardino.

“Oden could barely move,” Melle said. “But he’s such a tough kid, and with us only having nine games on our schedule and four home games, he talked to me during the week and said, ‘I’m just going to play. I’m going to do the best I can.’

“For him to hurt his shoulder, I feel very badly about that. I guess I will kind of second-guess that decision, but I don’t think his two injuries were related. We were trying to give ourselves the best chance to win and honestly, to attack Badin, you have to throw the ball in my opinion.”

The Rams’ first-string defense was stout and got stuck with a bad situation created by the offense on Hartley’s first touchdown. The Hawks’ second TD, an 80-yard bomb from Giardino to King, came in the last seven minutes when they were staring down the barrel of a 46-6 deficit.

The Rams led 39-6 at the break, so the entire second half was played with a running clock and featured lots of Badin backups.

“Give Hartley some credit for coming right out and making a couple big plays early in the game,” Yordy said. “We just had to settle down, but we also had to wake up a little bit. I thought our defense played really well. I thought they tackled a lot better than in previous weeks.”

BHS grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening three minutes when a swarm of players – including Balin Wong, Cruz Fox, Jackson Turner, Joey Geltz and Vince Otto — tackled Hartley’s Justin Jenkins in the end zone for a safety.

Clay then took the ensuing free kick back for a 62-yard touchdown. The conversion kick failed, but just like that, it was 8-0.

The Rams looked ready to score again late in the first quarter when Caldwell intercepted a Martin aerial at the goal line and took off for an 82-yard return to the 18. Mertz hit King for a touchdown on the next play, though the Hawks couldn’t tie the game after Geltz picked off the conversion pass attempt.

Clay then struck again with a kickoff return, ripping off an 85-yard scoring run to smother Hartley’s momentum.

“I was free most of the way on the first one. There were some really good blocks on that one,” said Clay, who also played some safety and cornerback. “The second one, I made a few cuts to get loose, so that was good.”

Melle said that sequence was a snapshot of the Hawks’ season thus far.

“We need some good things to happen for us,” Melle said. “It’s been a tough stretch, I’m not going to lie. When we had that play go in our favor and the stadium lit up a little bit, that was really, really good. Then unfortunately we threw it all away on the kickoff coverage on the next play. To quote my good friend Bruce Springsteen, we take one step up and two steps back. That’s where we’re at.”

Hartley managed just 3 rushing yards in the contest. Ends Aiden Kramer and Rylan Ostenberger recovered fumbles for the Rams.

“Our defense had really good plays, really good tackles, and talked to each other. We communicated well,” said Wong, a junior tackle. “We did our job. I think we had control for almost the whole game. We locked in and executed.”

Wong credited defensive line coach Tony Mattia for his work with the guys up front. Yordy said he rotates numerous guys through the line to keep everybody fresh.

“Coach Mattia is probably the best coach I’ve ever had,” Wong said. “Every day, it’s always abnormal effort. I know I’m an undersized D-lineman. You can’t do it without heart.”

Melle said he knew it would be difficult for the Hawks to move the ball consistently on the ground.

“They’re so aggressive and play their edges so physically,” Melle said. “They’re not real big inside, but they’ve got so much pop getting off the ball that it’s hard for us to deal with. We tried to do some things reducing our splits and trying to get hands on them because we felt we were a little bigger, but they’re just so good with their technique that they make it hard for you inside.”

Martin played the first half at quarterback for Badin, then Jimmy Gajewski took over after the break. It was the first start of the season for Martin after missing Week 1 due to illness.

The Rams are off to their sixth 4-0 start in the last seven years. They have five straight wins over the Hawks and own an 8-2 lead in their series.

“I love these boys,” Clay said. “I think we’re a good team. As long as we keep sticking it out and playing together, I think we’ll be in good shape.”

Hartley will host Delaware Buckeye Valley for homecoming next Friday.

Badin 15-24-0-7 — 46

Hartley 6-0-0-7 — 13

B: Safety, Hartley’s Justin Jenkins tackled in end zone

B: Cooper Clay 62 kickoff return (Kick failed)

H: Isaac King 18 pass from Oden Mertz (Pass failed)

B: Clay 85 kickoff return (Gabe Miyahara kick)

B: Chase Even 1 run (Miyahara kick)

B: Hudson Heid 31 pass from Davis Martin (Miyahara kick)

B: Even 4 run (Miyahara kick)

B: Miyahara 35 field goal

B: Mario Wisdom 4 run (Jack Zboril kick)

H: King 80 pass from Danilo Giardino (Brady Newsome kick)

Records: B 4-0, H 1-3

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