Upper Arlington’s Jason Milo wraps up Newark’s Kolton Peterson during a come from behind win to advance. UA will face Olentangy Orange in Week 2 action. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
Leaning on a punishing three-headed ground game and its always reliable defense, Upper Arlington dug out of an early hole and disposed of upset-minded Newark in a first-round playoff game.
Upper Arlington, OH – There was never any panic among Upper Arlington’s players and coaches after Newark shell-shocked the Golden Bears early with two long touchdown strikes.
“Maybe we just came out with a little bit of jitters at the beginning, but we knew that the mistakes we made were fixable,” senior defensive back Zach Corna said. “We just had to start playing our game, our brand of football, and we knew we’d be fine.”
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After falling into a 12-0 hole, fifth-seeded Upper Arlington righted the ship, relying on its rock-solid defense and three-headed, clock-chewing ground game to overtake 12th-seeded Newark 27-15 in a Division I, Region 3 playoff game that turned out to be much more competitive than most expected.
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“We talked all week in practice about how their quarterback and receivers could make plays, but we had a lapse in discipline, took bad angles to the ball and paid the price,” UA coach Justin Buttermore said. “You can’t get away with mistakes like that in the playoffs. We were a little stunned, for sure, because that’s not like us. Fortunately, we were able to finally relax and just play our game.”
On the fifth play of the game, Newark quarterback Bodie Smith hit all-state receiver Drayson Peterson in stride on a 67-yard bomb for a TD. On the Wildcats’ next series, Smith capped a 10-play drive with a 43-yard TD connection over the middle to Daniel Cutliff. It was 12-0 before UA had even picked up a first down.
Daniel Cutliff and his upset-minded Wildcats struck first, taking a 12-0 advantage over Upper Arlington to start the game.
A pair of defensive stops by the Golden Bears in the second quarter flipped field position and momentum rather dramatically.
A 16-yard punt set UA up at the Newark 40, and the Bears scored in eight plays as Drew Theado scored from the 7 on a third-and-5 run.
On Newark’s next series, an errant snap resulted in a 2-yard punt, giving UA the ball at the Wildcats 26. Alek Diller capped a short drive with a 3-yard TD run just with 1:49 left in the half for a 14-12 lead.
“Field position is so critical to playing both good offense and good defense,” Buttermore said. UA came in allowing opponents just 11.2 points pert game.
Newark regained the lead 15-14 on a 36-yard field goal by Sean Brechbill at the 4:08 mark of the third quarter.
“We were right there,” Wildcats coach Bill Franks said. “But we knew how fundamentally sound and tough Upper Arlington is.”
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The Bears answered swiftly as Theado broke free on a 53-yard run to the 2, where Diller scored his second TD.
“We watched a lot of their film and we thought we thought our offensive linemen could help get us to the second level,” Theado said. “It was just a matter of sticking with what was working and pounding it at them. We didn’t underestimate them at all, but we felt like we could run on them and our defense could control things on their end.”
Newark’s Achilles heel all season has been a run defense that came in yielding 183.2 yards per game.
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Early in the fourth quarter – amid a flurry of punishing runs by Theado, Diller and Jayden Chindavong – quarterback Kyle Cox hit Wally Swiney for a 33-yard TD that secured the win for the Golden Bears (9-2), who will travel to fourth-seeded Olentangy Orange (9-2) Friday for a regional quarterfinal pitting Ohio Capital Conference Central Division rivals. Orange won the first meeting 28-20.
Nick Ardelea gets around a Newark defender during the Bears’ comeback win.
Theado (11 rushes for 113 yards) led a UA ground game that amassed 210 yards – 158 of which came after halftime.
UA made the proper adjustments in the second half to stymie Newark’s passing game. After Smith started 7 for 8 for 153 yards on the two touchdown drives, he completed only 8 of 21 passes for 74 yards after that.
“Being able to run the ball downhill there in the second half kept the clock running and kept it out of their hands,” Buttermore said. “Once we got up two scores, I was confident that our defense would buckle down.”
Michigan State-bound defensive end Cal Thrush led the charge up front with two tackles for loss while Corna (a Bucknell commit), Jake Braun and Noah Gehlert (an Ohio State lacrosse commit), who had a fourth quarter interception, anchored the back end that did a fine job bracketing Newark’s receivers.
Even in defeat, Newark (7-4) fans can celebrate the resurgence of a long-struggling program. Winner of only eight games from 2017-2023, the Wildcats hadn’t enjoyed this many wins since 2005. Newark still has never won a playoff game in program history.
“That was a big-time game against a traditional powerhouse there and while we’re disappointed that we lost, we told the kids that they had accomplished a lot and they should be proud,” Franks said.
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