Anna’s Nick Marino addresses his team following a 28-8 win at Northeastern, another leave-no-doubt playoff triumph at a higher seed’s home field (PressPros Feature Photos by Sheri Hooley).
Don’t be fooled by its three losses or No. 6 seed, Anna is halfway home to its second state football championship after cruising past Northeastern to set up a regional final against a familiar foe.
Springfield, OH – It’s not that Northeastern lacked an ingenious plan to stop Anna quarterback Logan Ziegenbusch on Friday in the Division VI, Region 24 semifinals.
“If we could have just had 12 guys out there on defense, it really would have been helpful,” Northeastern coach Jake Buchholtz said. “That would have really been great, just to have an extra guy out there.”
Although, there are no guarantees that would have worked, either.
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Operating Anna’s multi-dimensional attack flawlessly, Ziegenbusch passed for one touchdown and ran for three to power the sixth-seeded Rockets to a 28-8 victory that really wasn’t that close.
Northeastern (10-2) gained its No. 2 seed via a dominant run game that averaged 43 points all season. The Jets were held under 32 points only once and never scored fewer than 27.
But in another case of MAC-on-Ohio Heritage Conference crime, Northeastern suffered the same home-field humbling as Mechanicsburg – a 46-12 loser to Anna (9-3) last week in Round Two.
Northeastern’s only touchdown came with Anna’s defense watching from the sideline, via Jackson Jones’ 84-yard kickoff return with 5:03 to play after Anna had bumped its lead to four scores.
“We’re seeing playoff teams every single week in the MAC,” Ziegenbusch said. “That develops great habits and forces us to work hard in practice every single week. If you don’t, you won’t survive.”
Always the first name atop every scouting report, Ziegenbusch has a skilled arsenal around him that may have surprised the Rockets’ last two opponents.
But there’s zero chance that will apply Friday, when fifth-seeded Coldwater awaits after flexing more MAC muscle with a 48-29 win in the other Region 24 semifinal at No. 1 and previously unbeaten Tri-Village.
“It should be a great game,” Anna coach Nick Marino said. “We know they’ve gotten better and we think we’ve gotten better, too. It’s going to be a heck of a football game. We’re excited for it.”
T.J. Roberts found freedom on short passes into the flat to help power Anna’s offense, while also contributing tough yards on the ground.
The Rockets drove 94 yards in 11 plays to score the game-winning touchdown in a 14-7 slugfest when Coldwater visited Anna on Sept. 12. It’s hard to envision the rematch being as low-scoring, given the roll both offenses are riding in the post-season.
Coldwater has put up 134 points and Anna 128 over the last three weeks, forging an all-MAC regional final despite neither team getting a first-round bye.
“It’s a different brand of football that we play,” said Rockets junior running back T.J. Roberts, who hurt Northeastern both rushing and receiving. “We like coming out and showing it to other teams we don’t usually play.”
For the second straight week, Anna had this one all but salted away by halftime, leading 21-0 after scoring on three of four possessions.
Ziegenbusch broke the Jets’ hearts on the game’s first series, finding Zeb Pleiman on fourth-and-nine from the 20 to not only gain the first down, but put the Rockets on top.
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Eluding pressure in the pocket, Ziegenbusch rolled right and stopped short of the line of scrimmage to find his teammate all alone at the 10 for a walk-in TD.
“My only thought was, ‘Make a play,’ “ Ziegenbusch said. “I rolled out and kept my eyes downfield. When Zeb is that open, I’m going to get him the ball.”
Northeastern coach Jake Buchholtz lost this plea for a fumble recovery by his defense on a play that officials ruled an incompletion.
Roberts contributed to that game-opening 67-yard march with catches of 16 and 14 yards on short flips into the flat…a scheme that worked well all night.
Anna’s defense held Northeastern short on a fourth-and-one at the Rockets’ 46 on its attempt to drive and tie the score, then Ziegenbusch ended the Jets’ next possession with an interception and 20-yard return.
That put Marino’s offense in business at the Northeastern 34, and Ziegenbusch went right back to Roberts to overcome a third-and-10 challenge from that spot.
Roberts gained eight yards on a toss into the right flat and then, on fourth-and-two, gained six on the same play to the other side of the field.
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“We like to use that play a lot,” Ziegenbusch said. “That’s our bread and butter…It takes a lot of pressure off me to have so many guys around me who can make plays. It’s nice, knowing I have playmakers all around me.”
Ziegenbusch ran it in on the next snap to double the Rockets’ lead to 14-0.
Northeastern’s best chance to reduce that deficit only ended in more frustration and a turnover on downs at the Anna 32.
Jets’ quarterback Diezel Taylor went for it all and had receiver Jacoby Newman beyond the Rockets’ secondary, but Newman couldn’t corral an over-the-head, backward-looking catch and the ball fell incomplete in the end zone.
That opening left Ziegenbusch 2:53 before halftime and that proved 44 seconds longer than he would need.
Again, it was the short flip into the flat that came up big, with Pleiman gaining seven yards and Roberts 10 to start the march.
Once in the Red Zone, Roberts powered for seven yards up the middle and Pleiman took that same short toss 11 yards down the right sideline to set up Ziegenbusch’s two-yard score.
Grant Beckman denied Northeastern’s advance with the third-quarter kickoff by stopping Newman short of first-down yardage on a catch into the left flat at the Rockets’ 41.
Jackson Jones and Northeastern’s typically-potent ground game couldn’t sustain drives against an Anna defense that did not allow a touchdown.
The Jets’ next try ended with Anna’s second turnover, courtesy of a leaping interception at the Rockets’ 31 from linebacker Austin Steinke.
“He was rolling out and I just read his eyes,” Steinke said. “We knew they had a really good run game. We practiced all week for that. We thought if we could get them into passing situations, we’d be able to handle it.”
Ziegenbusch’s seven-yard run with 5:17 left completed his four-touchdown performance.
“He played really good football and made a lot of big plays for us,” Marino said. “He’s been a really great leader, too. Being a sophomore, stepping up and playing the kind of football he has, he’s been exceptional.”
Buchholtz had no quarrel with that, marveling at not just Anna’s performance, but the sophomore who directed much of it.
“They do so many unique things that really give you fits, both offensively and defensively,” Buchholtz said. “We knew it was really going to be challenge because they have the ability to say, ‘Hey, if you stop X, we’re going to go to Y.’
“That’s true on both offense and defense. That No. 4 (Pleiman) was really special. Obviously, that quarterback is a dude and they have other guys up and down that roster that are going to be really good players. I wouldn’t want to see them next year or in two years.”
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Marino, of course, has more immediate things on his mind after only a special teams’ breakdown cost the Rockets their first shutout since the season-opener.
“Our defense played really well” he said. “We gave up one ball behind us that they dropped, but overall they carried us tonight. The offense did what it had to, but we have to play a little better, especially in the second half, but I’m really proud of this team. These guys have fought and grinded all year and they grinded this one out tonight.”
Logan Zeigenbusch drags defenders into the end zone for his second touchdown.
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