It was a one-sided affair in the 110th meeting between Ludlow and Bellevue.
The Panthers, playing on their bright red turf at James Rigney Stadium, dominated pretty much from start to finish in a 43-0 victory.
Ludlow racked up 431 yards of offense in a balanced attack, held Bellevue to 69 yards and got the game to a running clock in the early stages of the fourth quarter as the Homecoming home crowd went home happy.
“Two proud communities, those guys battled,” Panthers coach Woody McMillen said. “Football is so important to this community. School is the centerpiece to this community and you see it. Everyone comes out, we have the parade, one of the last of the Mohicans with homecoming floats.”
Ludlow’s two-headed attack at quarterback between Jackson Mays and Miller Reed helps keep the defense honest. At times they’re tossing a pitch to one for a trick pass or even a pass back to the tosser, evidenced by a 22-yard gain from Mays to Reed in the first quarter. The two combined for 182 yards passing and three touchdowns.
“We really don’t feel like we have a starter there,” McMillen said. “We don’t say, ‘well this guy is starting’. Mays can do a lot of things and plays a lot of different positions for us. Very pleased with how he played on both sides of the ball. Reed’s still learning, he’s a freshman, but did some really good things tonight.”
The Panthers scored on all four of their second half possessions to pull away after a 14-0 halftime advantage. Dameyn Anness found the end zone twice on runs of nine and 17 yards, Reed throwing for one touchdown to Spencer Brandenburg, Mays for two, both to Carson Evans.
Jaylen Stone put the finishing touches on the shutout victory with a touchdown run in the closing seconds. All in all, eight different Panthers recorded a carry, four different receivers hauling in a pass. Ludlow didn’t punt on the evening, scoring on six of eight possessions.
“We definitely want to make it hard on the opponent,” Mays said. “If they toss it to me, I can run it, I can throw it and it keeps the defense on their feet. Coach can put me at any spot and I’ll perform to the max and try my best.”
With a 7-0 lead in the early part of the second quarter, it was a nine-play, 57-yard drive that ended with an Anness touchdown that set the tone for the rest of the game. He may not have found the end zone, but Aiden Smith-Baxley churned out some tough inside the tackle yards on the drive, ripping off five carries for 33 yards.
“You do that and a team starts to get tired and weak,” Smith-Baxley said. “Hard earned yards can deflate a team and I felt like that’s where we separated tonight. That set the tone.”
Smith-Baxley, playing with a broken thumb on his right hand and a big cast, has had to adjust on the fly in being a two-way player.
“It definitely hinders things, but good players are able to be versatile and change,” Smith-Baxley said. “I’m right-handed and like to carry the ball in that hand, so I have to just change the way I play a little bit.”
Smith-Baxley’s toughness is just what the Panthers exude, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
“Coach Barth does an outstanding job with the defense and they just fly to the football,” McMillan said. “He’s put some aggressive packages in there combined with base stuff.”
The Tigers struggled to move it the majority of the night, whether if it was the Panthers pass rush or “flying to the ball”, Bellevue never threatened to the Panthers red zone. They continuously played behind the chains with penalties and quarterback Stephen Specht running for his life.
“Offensively we just couldn’t get it done up front and stop them off the edge,” Tigers coach Chad Montgomery said. “We knew they were going to be a physical team and we didn’t match that tonight. They whipped our tails tonight.”
The Tigers were without top playmaker Jordan Pendleton in the contest, a “team matter that doesn’t need to be discussed” as Montgomery put it.
Ludlow will start district action next week when they host Trimble County on Thursday.
Bellevue gets its district slate started off with rival Dayton in “The Battle for the Paddle” on Oct. 11.
With Ludlow’s win, Bellevue now leads the all-time series 67-38-5.
A photo slideshow provided through the lens of Charles Bolton below:
PANTHERS 43, TIGERS 0
BELLEVUE — 0-0-0-0 — 00
LUDLOW — 7-7-14-15 — 43
Scoring Plays
1st Quarter
(L) Reed 5-yard pass to Brandenburg (6:22) McMillan kick
2nd Quarter
(L) Anness 9-yard run (6:08) McMillan kick
3rd Quarter
(L) Mays 59-yard pass to Evans (10:03) McMillan kick
(L) Mays 20-yard pass to Evans (3:41) McMillan kick
4th Quarter
(L) Anness 17-yard run (11:53) Reed pass to Clary
(L) Stone 17-yard run (:18) McMillan kick
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Bellevue 38 (Specht 8-12, INT, Gramer 0-1), Ludlow 183 (Reed 8-11, 82 yds, TD, Mays 3-5, 101 yds, 2 TD)
Rushing Yards: Bellevue 31 (Lear 10-34, Sizemore 1-9, Gramer 2-5, Woodyard 3-4, Castrucci 1-3, Specht 9-(minus)24), Ludlow 248 (Anness 10-69, Smith-Baxley 9-57, Brandenburg 5-44, Englemon 1-31, Stone 2-29, Conley 3-7, Mays 1-6, Reed 3-5)
Receiving: Bellevue (Sizemore 2-14, Woodyard 3-11, Stokes 1-10, Trimnell 1-3, Lear 1-0) Ludlow (Evans 4-98, Anness 3-32, Brandenburg 3-31, Reed 1-22)
Turnovers: Bellevue 1, Ludlow 0
Penalties: Bellevue 6-30, Ludlow 7-85
Records: Bellevue 3-2, Ludlow 4-2