Cards clobber T-Birds

PIQUA - The rotating Midwest Athletic Conference scheduling bye kept New Bremen and Marion Local apart during the regular season.

But thanks to an impressive 42-14 victory over Perry Saturday at Piqua, the Cardinals earned a crack at the Flyers next Saturday in the Division VII, Region 28 finals at Harmon Field in Wapakoneta.

New Bremen dominated the Commodores in the first half, jumping out to a 42-0 lead at intermission. Marion Local punched its ticket to the regional finals with an overtime win over Fort Loramie.

The Cardinals put the game away early, racking up 339 yards of offense in the first half, while limiting Perry to just 13 plays from scrimmage.

"Obviously being able to establish the running game was huge," New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt said. "And then our defense played really well. We didn't let some of their playmakers get loose and make big plays."

New Bremen scored on its first two possessions of the first quarter without ever seeing a third down, and then took advantage of some Perry turnovers to put 28 points on the board in the second quarter.

Most of the Cardinal starters watched he second half from the sidelines.

"We shot ourselves in the foot a handful of different ways," Perry coach Dan Baker said. "We had two interceptions, a fumble and a kickoff that we didn't field... I think we only had four possessions on offense in that first half, and we're down 42 to nothing. You can't get into your game plan too much when you're only on the field for 13 plays."

New Bremen quarterback/safety Mitchell Hays turned in an impressive and versatile first half. The junior threw for 105 yards and a touchdown; ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns; caught a pass; and he intercepted two passes, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

"He's one of our playmakers, and we look to him to make plays within the context of the offense and the defense," Schmidt said. "He did a great job tonight leading, and everybody else kind of followed along making plays as well. It is fun when you see a lot of different kids making plays. It was a good night."

Running back Zach Bertke got the Cardinals started with all four carries on a four-play 60-yard scoring drive to start the game. Bertke scored on a 15-yard run and Owen Gable, who was 6-for-6 on the night, added the PAT kick less than two minutes into the game.

Hays scored on runs of seven and 15 yards to give New Bremen a 21-0 lead with 11 minutes left in the half.

The Cardinals then jumped on a short kick-off that the Commodores were unable to field. Six plays later, Hays found Patrick Wells open in the endzone from 15 yards out for a 28-0 lead.

A Hays interception set up a Bertke 14-yard touchdown run with 2:10 left in the half.

On Perry's next possession, Hays stepped in front of another pass, this time returning it 37 yards for a 42-0 lead with 1:19 left in the half.

The Commodores got both their touchdowns in the final 66 seconds of the game.

Perry quarterback Ryan Yingst tossed a seven-yard touchdown pass to Terry Riley. Then, following a successful onside kick, Yingst hit Devares Glenn from 16 yards out for a touchdown with six seconds left on the clock.

Yingst finished with 224 yards passing, most of which came in the second half. The Commodores were limited to just 2 yards rushing.

Bertke paced the Cardinals on the ground with 110 yards on seven carries.

New Bremen improves to 9-3 and will be looking for the school's first trip to the state semis since the playoffs were expanded.

"These kids have done a lot, and they are going to be able to put a banner up in the school," Schmidt said. "Now it's just a matter of what it's going to say on the banner - regional runner-up, regional champion, state runner-up or state champion - all that's out in front of us. We just got to make sure we take it day-by-day and keep working to get better."