Wayne got off on the right foot Friday with a win after the dismantling of Crooked Oak, 50-6.

Junior Eli Stottlemyre had a fantastic night in his first outing as Wayne’s QB1.

He had 74 yards rushing on 13 carries and two touchdowns. He was 4-5 for 59 yards through the air with a touchdown. He also returned a kickoff 60 yards for another score.

“Eli did a really good job,” Wayne head coach Brandon Sharp said. “He ran the ball well and did a good job throwing the ball, hitting receivers. I felt like he had a really good first start.”

Wayne scored three times in the first half.

Stottlemyre got things going with a three-yard run and Jeremiah Peterson scored another TD on a three-yarder.

Stottlemyre struck again on a 60-yard kickoff return for a score.

Ryli Taylor scored in the second quarter on a one-yard run and Stottlemyre found Max McGlory in the end zone on a 10-yard pass.

Stottlemyre scored again in the second quarter.

Wayne punched in their final TD in the third quarter wen Taylor ran it in from 10 yards out.

“We played well on offense,” Sharp said. “We had a few little busts and our running backs needed to be a little more patient. They were hitting holes a little fast, but still picking up yards.

“We need to keep it to the gap we were supposed to, but overall our execution was decent. All of those things can be fixed.”

The Wayne offense had 35 rushes for 236 yards in the game.

“I felt pretty good about the run game,” Sharp said. “Our O-line had kids getting down field, continuing to block.”

Peterson had 12 carries for 66 yards and the touchdown.

Taylor had four carries for 53 yards and two scores.

Stout defense

Defensively, the Bulldogs only allowed 34 total yards of rushing in the game, 19 in the first half. Crooked Oak had another 50 yards in the air.

“We played lights out on defense, except for one play,” Sharp said.

The play was in the first quarter when the Ruf-Nex completed a 46-yard reception for their lone score.

“We just took a bad angle on it,” Sharp said. We had a lot of young guys out there.”

The coach felt his team played defense with great gap responsibility.

“We’ve been preaching gap responsibility and having great effort,” Sharp said. “I felt like they gave us everything they had and it showed.

“And when you do that you cause turnovers.”

Wayne forced two fumbles and came up with two interceptions. Taylor and Jude Tanquary both grabbed interceptions and Stottlemyre and Logan Idleman recovered the fumbles, both of which were caused by Stottlemyre.

“Coach (Shane) Collins has been harping on takeaways and getting the ball back to our offense and we did it,” Sharp said.

Sharp said the defensive line did a good job of getting penetration in the game, especially Joel Rojas, who occupied two or three blockers on plays.

“He allowed our linebackers to run and make plays,” Sharp said. “Our attitudes were great and so was our effort.”

Taylor and Logan Simpson  finished with five tackles and Stottlemyre had three.

Rojas had three stops.

“We had a great offseason and we’re getting better every day,” Sharp said.”

Stratford

Wayne takes the show on the road against Stratford this week. They are two teams who know each other well.

“We know what each other will be doing,” Sharp said. We’ve been playing each other for 20 years and coach (Michael) Blackburn does a great job.”

Stratford quarterback Lincoln Hall will be a problem for the Wayne defense.

“He’s probably the best quarterback we will face,” Sharp said. “He’s hard to tackle in the open field and will want to get to the boundary. He can throw it too.”

Hall is complemented by a good running back and Sharp thinks their line will be extremely physical.

“They’re big up front,” he said.

Defensively they run the same defense as Wayne, a 3-3- stack.

“They will blitz and bring pressure and they have talent all over the field,” Sharp said. “We’ll have to play well.”

Notes

Head coach Brandon Sharp’s Offensive Player of the Week was Eli Stottlemyre. His Defensive Player of the Week nominee was Ryli Taylor. The Offensive Lineman nominee was Lane Canfield, who graded out at 82%.

The Defensive Lineman nominee was Joel Rojas.