High School Football: Upper Arlington blows past Big Walnut 41-14
Friday, August 25, 2023
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Upper Arlington quarterback Kyle Cox looks to throw against Big Walnut during the Golden Bears’ win in Sunbury Aug. 25. Photo: Kevin Lam
Looking to build momentum for what it expects to be a huge Week-3 matchup, the Upper Arlington football team can put a checkmark beside that goal based on what happened Friday at Big Walnut.
The Golden Bears took a big first-half lead and had answers every time Big Walnut tried to rally on their way to a 41-14 victory.
Next up for UA is a meeting Sept. 1 at Pickerington North, which will feature a pair of 2-0 teams with high expectations.
“(Big Walnut was) kind of pushing us down the field early, but we were forcing turnovers, got some stops and got off the field,” Bears junior defensive back Zach Corna said. “There’s some mistakes we made, but we’ll fix that up. We’ve got a big week against Pick North and we’ve got to be clean for them.”
Big Walnut, which dropped to 0-2 and travels Sept. 1 to Franklin, committed three first-half turnovers on its way to a four-touchdown deficit.
“We got off to a great start,” Bears coach Justin Buttermore said. “We got a couple turnovers that got us short fields. We made a few errors, but the offense came back and answered when that happened. We put ourselves in holes a couple times early but were able to execute on third down, which is huge.”
UA, which opened with a 35-6 win over Reynoldsburg on Aug. 18 and has lost just four games since the beginning of the 2021 season, took a 7-0 lead with 5 minutes, 49 seconds left when junior quarterback Kyle cox hit senior wide receiver Sam Tongol for a 9-yard touchdown.
Upper Arlington running back Jack Ubert is gang tackled by the Big Walnut defense during their game Aug. 25. Photo: Kevin Lam
Setting up the score was a 41-yard run on the third play of that drive by senior running back Connor McClellan, which was a sign of things to come on the ground for the Bears.
UA made it 14-0 with 40 seconds to go in the opening quarter when Cox connected with junior wide receiver Wally Swiney for a 31-yard touchdown.
Big Walnut fumbled it away on its second possession to set up the Bears’ second score and then committed another turnover on its next possession when Corna intercepted a pass from senior quarterback Jake Nier.
UA then made it 21-0 on a 7-yard run by McClellan and 27-0 on a 7-yard run by senior quarterback Tommy Janowicz with 5:18 to go before halftime.
On the ensuing possession, Nier found sophomore wide receiver Brody Hatfield for a 58-yard touchdown that cut it to 27-7.
The Golden Eagles had an opportunity to cut the deficit to two scores late in the first half after partially blocking a punt to give them the ball at the UA 25, but Nier was intercepted by sophomore defensive back Jake Braun with 57 seconds to go before halftime.
“How many turnovers did we have?” Big Walnut coach Curtis Crager said. “How many holding penalties? How many false starts? You’re playing a quality team like UA and you can’t make those mistakes. We have some really key people but we’re green in a lot of spots. We have to grow up in a hurry, but we don’t have time to do that. We have to stay together, keep the distractions out and prepare for Franklin.”
Upper Arlington’s Connor McClellan dives into the end zone during the Golden Bears’ win at Big Walnut Aug. 25. Photo: Kevin Lam
Big Walnut cut it to 27-14 on a 39-yard run by Nier with 2:48 to go in the third quarter, but UA responded with a six-play, 74-yard drive that was capped by a 2-yard run by senior running back Jack Ubert. Janowicz connected with Swiney for a 37-yard pass on the second play of the drive and McClellan added a 21-yard run on the next play.
McClellan completed the scoring with a 63-yard run with 10:21 remaining.
“All the credit goes to the offensive line and them having incredible blocks,” McClellan said. “On that last one I had, you could have driven a dump truck through that hole. We came to play and we made sure to keep the lead and make sure we were in charge.”
McClellan finished with 197 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries and Ubert added 51 yards and one score on 12 rushes to lead the Bears.
Big Walnut senior running back Nate Severs, an Air Force commit, was held to 49 yards on 16 carries. Nier rushed for 98 yards and passed for 99 yards.
“Our two running backs are really good,” Buttermore said. “Honestly we’ve had games where (Ubert) has had the hot hand, and tonight Connor had the hot hand. They both run incredibly hard, but (McClellan’s) more of a bruiser and (Ubert) is more of a slasher. It’s nice this day and age to have a fresh tailback.
“I thought our defensive line with Steven Ye and Cole Compton controlled the game and didn’t let Severs get out, and we’ve got a sophomore, Owen Ross, who played well. We still had way too many errors. Defensively we made some progress, but we’ve got to eliminate big plays against Pick North because that’s going to be a whole different animal.”