DELPHOS — Whatever Jefferson head football coach Damon Ulm and his coaching staff told their team at halftime Friday night, they should bottle it and sell it. The host Wildcats — trailing 7-0 — exploded for 28 points in the third period and rolled up a 31-7 Northwest Conference victory over Paulding at Stadium Park.
“I don’t feel we played hard the first half. We had way too many penalties,” Ulm explained. “All we asked the team at the half was ‘how bad do you want it?’ We made our adjustments as necessary but it came down to the players.”
That it did.
The offensive line began to open hopes for running backs such as Tim Sanders, who toted the pigskin 15 times for 203 yards.
He scored twice in the third period.
Derek “Bubba” Shivley (15 rushes, 64 yards) scored first on a 10-yard run at the 7:52 mark and Matthew Antalis tied it at 7 with 8:45 showing.
Then Sanders got in on the act. First, he put the Red and Black ahead to stay with a 5-yard run — set up by a Paulding bobble — and Antalis made it 14-7 with 5:16 on the third-period clock.
Sanders then started a drive with a long punt return and finished it off with a 15-yard scoring jaunt. Antalis put the lead at 21-7 with 1:36 left in the period.
Eric Short then used every last second of the quarter to race in from 37 yards out with no time on the clock. Antalis punctuated the 28-point explosion.
The defense also did its job, holding an explosive Paulding crew under 100 yards rushing for the night and 262 for the game.
In turn, the hosts ran the ball 43 times for 404 yards, amassing 441 yards of total offense.
Antalis closed the scoring in the fourth period with a 29-yard field goal with 4:30 left.
The visiting Panthers (1-1, 0-1 NWC) scored first in the second period as Corbin Rhonehouse scampered in from three yards out. Derek Schlatter added the kick for a 7-0 lead with 7:52 left in the half.
Jefferson did have its share of injuries, though, a concern as they hit the road for the first time in 2008 next Friday. They invade Bluffton for another NWC contest.
