ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans hosted the Dixie Greyhouds in a Saturday night opening round OHSAA football playoff matchup and advanced with a 57-39 win with most of the points coming in the second half. The Trojans dented the scoreboard for 40 second half points while the Greyhounds were adding 32 second half points.
“It just felt like that second half lasted forever,” said Arcanum coach Jason Schondelmyer. “I almost felt like it was a Big 12 game like Oklahoma and Texas – a high scoring affair.”
“We struggled at times defensively to just really put them away and finish the game, but we are young,”
Schondelmyer added, “We have a lot of young guys so sometimes that comes with that as well.”
Arcanum used a 21 yard TD pass from Bryce Schondelmyer to Ian Baker at 2:13 in the opening quarter to put the home team up 7-0 with a Joe Beck PAT kick splitting the uprights where the score would stand after one quarter of play.
A Logan Grubb 2 yard TD run and a good Dixie PAT kick evened the score at 7-7 with 9:07 on the second period clock.
The Greyhouds stopped an Arcanum drive setting up a 41 yard Joe Beck field goal with 6:45 showing to give the Trojans a 10-7 advantage.
Baker and Schondelmyer hooked up for their second of three touchdown passes on the night with 0:03 showing on the second half clock. The 24 yard TD pass and Beck PAT kick had Arcanum leading 17-7 with the teams heading to the halftime break after a Brennen Troutwine interception closed out first half play.
“Ian is doing a phenominal job catching the ball,” said Coach Schondelmyer.
Dixie made it a 17-14 score with a 14 yard TD run and PAT kick at 7:42 in the third period only to have Schondelmyer hit Brennen Troutwine with a 67 yard touchdown pass down the left side of the field at 5:56 in the third giving the Trojans a 24-14 advantage with the Beck PAT kick splitting the uprights.
Garrett Garno intercepted a Greyhound pass at 5:40 in the thrid setting up a 39 yard touchdown pass from Schondelmyer to Troutwine at 5:24 giving Arcanum a 31-14.
Dixie answered with a 15 yard TD run to cut Arcanum’a lead to 31-21 with 4:07 showing on the third period clolck.
Arcanum came right back with 62 yard TD strike from Schondelmyer to Troutwine to give the Trojans a 37-21 advantage at 3:17 in the third.
On the defensive side, Schondelmyer intercepted a Dixie pass at 2:24 in the third setting up 25 yard Schondelmyer to Baker TD pass giving Arcanum a 43-21 lead.
Dixie answered with a 60 yard Jordan Butt kickoff return good for a Greyhounds TD with 0:45 left in the third period making a 43-21 score.
Arcanum took advantage of a 35 yard Schondelmyer to Troutwine TD pass and a good Beck PAT kick to lead 50-33 with 3:35 showing on the game clock.
“ Troutwine does a great job attacking the middle of the field,” Coach Schondelmyer stated. “He has some top-end speed that this team needs. We need him to take the top off the coverage and Troutwine allows us to do that.”
“Ian (Baker) is kind of like that sure-handed guy,” continued Schondelmyer. “Ian and Bryce have some really good chemestry there. They know where each other is going and that’s really a credit to both of them.
Schondelmyer intercepted his second Dixie pass of the night setting up a 10 yard Schondelmyer TD run to give the Trojans a comfortable 57-33 lead with time winding down.
The Greyhounds had one more score left on the night, a 28 yard TD pass for a final 57-39 score with the Trojans advancing in 2020 playoff action.
Schondelmyer was an impressive 21-31 passing good for 425 Arcanum yards and 7 touchdowns. The arcanum sophomore quarterback led the Trojans ground game with 75 yards rushing on 15 carries including a touchdown.
Troutwine paced Arcanum with 10 receptions good for 276 yards and 4 touchdowns. Baker added 6 receptions for 111 yards and 3 touchdowns. Garno 2/23 and Z Shank 3/15 pass receiving rounded out the Trojans’ passing game.
Arcanum sophomore quarterback Bryce Schondelmyer set a new Arcanum passing record, eclipsing Mustin Miller’s 2,566 career passing mark.
“Bryce is one of the greatest competitors I have ever coached – and I have coached a lot of them,” Coach Schondelmyer said of his son when asked. “I have been fortunate enough to coach some guys that have gone on and played big time football and he is the greatest competitor I have ever had. He’s the most knowlegable player I have ever had, so just having another guy, another set of eyes out there really adds.”
“We had him play a little defense tonght. He kind of gets a feel for where the ball is going and just makes a play on the ball,” Coach Schondelmyer said of the 2 Schondelmyer interceptions. “Credit to the kid though. Bryce works all the time on that. He always works on football. We have a net in our back yard. Even if nobody is around to throw, he brings a net out, he throws, he visualises certain situations to be in. He’s a film junkie so credit to Bryce, he does a phenomenal job.”
