http://athensmessenger.com/articles/2009/10/03/sports/high_schools/doc4ac6f9310894d911954740.txtNo distractions in Buckeyes' win
By JASON ARKLEY
Messenger staff writer
Published: Saturday, October 3, 2009 3:15 AM EDT
NELSONVILLE — In Buckeye land there are no such things as distractions.
Nelsonville-York shook off the dismissal of a key player this week, and promptly routed visiting Belpre 49-6 Friday night at fog-drenched Boston Field.
The Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division) saw starting tight end/defensive end Conner Bunting dismissed from the team on Monday — days after a sideline flareup at Meigs. Bunting, the team’s leading receiver, was on the field Friday night but only as a member of the N-Y marching band and an attendant for the Homecoming court.
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, didn’t miss a beat. Nelsonville-York head coach Dave Boston wouldn’t specifically discuss Bunting’s absence, but was pleased his team focused on the task at hand.
“This is Nelsonville-York football. Whatever happens, whatever distractions there are — and I’d rather not talk about what happened this week to be honest with you — we’ve got to move forward,†Boston said. “And that’s what we did.â€
The Buckeyes did that and then some. The Golden Eagles (0-6, 0-3 TVC-Ohio) played the part of patsy as the Buckeyes rolled up and down the field.
N-Y senior tailback Derek Arnold piled up 259 yards and four touchdowns, and averaged 11.2 yards per carry, en route to his third-straight season of eclipsing 1,000 rushing yards. His first carry of the night resulted in a 37-yard burst off right tackle to emphatically set the tone. Arnold scored on a 10-yard gain around the left end three plays later and the Buckeyes never looked back.
Nelsonville-York piled up 514 total yards, including 435 on the ground. Of Arnold’s 23 carries, 12 went for at least 10 yards.
“We knew what we had to do and we just played football,†said Buckeye senior center/inside linebacker Todd Dennis. “We were coordinated, we talked a lot. We got the job done with all the different combinations of blocks.â€
The Buckeyes, like the heavy fog bank that covered the field for most of the game, swamped the Eagles entirely. Belpre finished with just 118 total yards, and gained only a two net yards on 21 rushes. N-Y racked up 23 first downs to the Eagles’ 3.
The Buckeyes never punted, led 34-0 at halftime, and pushed the margin to 41-0 early in the third when Arnold capped his night with a 51-yard touchdown burst that went straight up the middle.
“These young men right now are playing hard and they’re reaching the top of their game. It’s time for that,†Boston said. “Our offensive line right now is really performing well. Everybody knows Derek is a great back and he runs hard. We got it done tonight up front.â€
Arnold’s first score gave N-Y a 7-0 lead less than two minutes in. Justin Cunningham added a 12-yard scoring jaunt, and Dustin Young plowed in from one yard out to give the Buckeyes a 20-0 lead with 11:20 left in the half.
Arnold scored again, on a one-yard power run, to make it 27-0 with 6:40 left in the half. After Belpre fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Arnold scored again three plays later on an 18-yard effort that pushed the lead to 34-0.
Arnold’s 51-yard burst up the middle capped a three-play, 85-yard scoring ‘march’ early in the third to make it 41-0.
The Eagles’ only bright spot came a minute after Arnold’s final score. After escaping pressure in the pocket, Belpre quarterback Clay Ullman lofted a pass to Erik Waderker behind the N-Y defense. Waderker hauled in the aerial and scored the 60-yard pass play. The play accounted for more than half of Belpre’s offense for the entire game.
Freshman Clayton Reed finished the scoring with a 59-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
Ullman finished 7-of-17 for 116 yards and an interception for the Eagles. Tyler Watkins had four catches for 40 yards and picked up eight yards on the ground. Waderker had the big pass play, and led Belpre with 12 yards on six carries.
Arnold shouldered most of the load for N-Y, but quarterback Nathan Dean hit on 6-of-17 passes for 79 yards with an interception. Jared Dexter (three catches for 28 yards) and Jay Stump (two for 45 yards) were his favorite targets.
Fullback Cunningham added 60 yards on the ground for Nelsonville-York, which held a 307-to-20 edge in total yards in the first half.
The game was the 40th all-time meeting between the two schools, with the Buckeyes holding a 25-15 edge. The 49 points were the most scored by N-Y in the series, which will be put on hiatus next year when Belpre moves to the TVC-Hocking Division.
The Golden Eagles are the last team to beat the Buckeyes on the field in TVC-Ohio play, and are the only team to win a league championship in the last six years in the TVC-Ohio other than N-Y.
Two years ago, the Eagles stunned N-Y with a 10-6 win at Boston Field. Dennis said the Buckeyes thought more about that than Homecoming or any other distractions this week.
“We just kind of kept pressing forward and focusing on football. We put everything else off to the side and focused on the game,†he said.
The Buckeyes now enter their toughest three-game stretch of the season. Over the next three weeks, Nelsonville-York will travel to Alexander, to Athens and to Ironton. Those three teams have a combined 15-3 record.
“It’s a great stretch of games. It’s what we look for here at Nelsonville-York,†Boston said. “We like great competition. I’d rather coach in those kinds of games and our young men would rather play in those types of games.
“We look forward to each challenge and hope to come out on top. But we’ll have to work hard to get there.â€
Whoo-hoo! My stats I posted on here made it into the article!!!! 
