After his team suffered a lopsided loss at Mohawk in their second football game of the 2024 season, Cardington head coach Ryan Goetzman felt his players needed to be more physical.

In rainy conditions Friday night, their first test after that contest proved to be a big success. Cardington ran the ball with success against visiting Bucyrus, tallying over 400 yards on the ground in picking up a 46-8 win over their opponents to finish the non-conference part of their season with a 2-1 record.

“We didn’t attempt a pass tonight,” said Goetzman. “Our challenge this week to our kids was to take a step physically. Last week, we didn’t answer the bell to Mohawk. I told the guys we have to take a step physically. We’ve got to get ready to go. Fredericktown’s a great team next week and if we don’t take that step physically, we’re going to be behind. The kids answered, they rushed for over 420 yards tonight…just shy of 430 actually.”

Wyatt Denney ran for 176 yards and three scores in the game, while Kalin Briggs added 90 and two touchdowns and Warren Garrison tallied 56 and a score. Also, Journey Williamson (43) and Denton Garrison (31) had over 30 rushing yards.

The Pirates rode the legs of those backs, as well as a stingy defense, to a 24-0 lead after the first quarter of play. After forcing a quick Redmen punt on their first possession, the Pirates went 58 yards in six plays. The quarterback, Williamson, had a big 26-yard run to set up a one-yard dive by Denney for the touchdown. Williamson added a two-point run to give Cardington an 8-0 lead with 7:36 to play in the first period.

It wouldn’t take long for them to add to that lead, as they immediately forced a fumble and pounced on the ball to set up a 45-yard scoring run by Warren Garrison. Denton Garrison followed with a two-point run and it was 16-0 with only 25 additional seconds of the clock.

The Cardington defense then forced another three-and-out and the offense would quickly put more points on the board. With the ball on the Redmen 42-yard line, Denney ran for 23 yards and Briggs followed with a 19-yard scoring run. Josh Goers would run for two points and the score was 24-0.

While the Cardington defense wouldn’t give Bucyrus much in the way of offense, the wet conditions led to sloppy play for much of the remainder of the first half by the team’s offense. The Pirates fumbled the ball away three consecutive drives in the first half, with the second miscue returned for a long touchdown by Demaris Munn-Page. Bucyrus would add a two-point conversion to cut their deficit to 24-8 with 8:55 remaining in the half.

However, after the third fumble, Cardington would right the ship and force a quick punt that set up a 62-yard scoring run by Briggs that, after a Williamson two-point run, made it a 32-8 game. The score would remain that going into the half after the Pirates were able to prevent their opponents from converting a fourth-down attempt from the Cardington 15.

The Pirates wouldn’t waste any time in the third quarter, getting touchdown on their first two drives to effectively put the game out of reach. On their half-opening possession, they recovered an onside kick attempt by the Redmen and went 51 yards in five plays with Denney scoring on a 16-yard run and Williamson adding a two-point conversion.

With the game now being played under a running clock, Evan Stover got the ball back for Cardington with an interception. One play later, Denney was back in the end zone after bursting free for a 53-yard touchdown run to make it a 46-8 game, which is how the contest ended.

Goetzman gave a lot of credit to his senior class for how the team bounced back from the Mohawk game.

“This group’s been special,” he said. “They’ve been working hard and doing stuff the right way. We knew they were going to answer and I’m glad they did. This group’s been resilient, they’ve been hard-working, they’ve been everything you want a group to be. We’re trying to turn a program around. When you’re trying to do that, a group like this is so important. They’ve done a great job, we’ve just got to get back to work.”

That work now moves into the KMAC portion of the schedule. While Cardington was winless in league play last year, Goetzman feels the positive momentum they’ve obtained so far this season could make a difference.

“Starting 2-1 is a big step,” he said. “Now we have the belief of the kids that we can do this. We switched our offensive system and it was important to start 2-1 because when you switch something up like that, it’s a big deal. These guys have bought in and they’ve done a great job and I’m proud of them for that. Now the grind starts. Our league is no slouch. Top to bottom, anybody can beat anybody any week and I love that about our league. We’ve just got to continue to get better.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS