Jonathan Alder’s Big Plays Bury Bloom-Carroll

With a passing game headlined by quarterback Drew Hughes and wideout Trey Bentley, the Pioneers seized control with a big quarter and cruised to a 35-14 victory.

Carroll, OH – Trey Bentley used the word “little” to describe one of the plays that has been a staple in Jonathan Alder’s offensive arsenal the last two seasons, but it has felt like anything but that to his team’s opponents. 

On Friday at Bloom-Carroll, Pioneers sophomore quarterback Drew Hughes pitched the ball forward on a counter to Bentley shortly after the snap time and again to burn Bloom-Carroll. 

Now a junior coming off a season in which he had 117 receptions—including many in the same vein—Bentley finished with 220 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns to lead Jonathan Alder to a 35-14 victory.

Included in his performance was a long scoring reception that occurred on only one shoe.

“We have a little sweep pass where we bring our running back (the opposite direction), and I come back right behind him,” Bentley said. “We cut it back there every time and it works every time. Coach (Brett) Glass is a genius. He’s done it for years I guess. It wasn’t as effective last year, but this year we’ve figured it out and it works well.” 

Jonathan Alder, which is 3-0 heading into a matchup Sept. 11 at home against North Union, lost four of five against the Bulldogs from 2018-24 before winning a close matchup between the programs 14-10 a year ago. 

The latest meeting was scoreless after the first period before the Pioneers seized control with a series of game-changing second-quarter plays.

 Bloom-Carroll, which dropped to 1-2 but has posted 11 consecutive winning seasons and went 8-4 a year ago, had each of its first two possessions end by turning it over on downs in the opening quarter. The Bulldogs reached the Jonathan Alder 28 on the second of those drives.

 The Pioneers went for it on fourth-and-10 from the Bloom-Carroll 29 with 10 minutes, 8 seconds left in the second period, with Hughes avoiding a sack and finding tight end Austin Kyle open on the left side of the field. Kyle sprinted in to give his team a 7-0 lead. 

Bloom-Carroll reached the Jonathan Alder 32 on its ensuing drive but was stopped on fourth-and-7. 

On the fifth play of the Pioneers’ next possession, Hughes picked up a bad snap, scrambled, and found Bentley deep down field for a play that went for 53 yards. Jonathan Alder was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct to put it at the Bloom-Carroll 17, but four plays later, junior running back Christian Amann ran in from 3 yards for a 14-0 lead.

Hughes is the younger brother of Brock Hughes, a 2026 graduate who threw for 2,681 yards and 26 touchdowns while starting at quarterback for the Pioneers a year ago.

“I was ‘QB-2’ last year, but I never threw one pass,” Drew Hughes said. “I got in just to run the clock out. He can probably throw it a little better than me, but I’ve got the legs, so we even out. … There were the two plays I had tonight where the pocket collapsed a little bit but I found a way to connect with our receivers.” 

With 1:21 left in the first half, Bentley caught a short swing pass from Drew Hughes and sprinted down the right sideline for a 73-yard touchdown despite losing a shoe along the way as the Pioneers led 21-0 at the half. 

Hughes again hooked up with Bentley with 7:50 remaining in the third period, this time for a 62-yard touchdown that gave Jonathan Alder a 28-0 lead. 

“It’s a counter that we pitch, and it’s a good play,” Glass said, laughing at the understatement. “I actually got it from a guy when I was coaching (at Dublin) Jerome. Last year we didn’t run it as much and not as good.

 “(Bentley) is a good runner, and he has really good vision for a guy that’s not a running back. He’s a receiver and sees the cuts really well, and obviously he has God-given speed and agility and moves really well. He had 117 catches last year, and there were a lot of shuffle passes, a lot of jets, and he caught it down the middle, too.”

Bentley’s twin brother, junior Danny Bentley, got in on the action with 1:13 left in the third quarter when he caught a pass from Hughes and sprinted 82 yards for a touchdown. 

With a 35-0 lead, the game went into a running clock until Bloom-Carroll quarterback Caiden Schooley connected with Kyson Cline for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 4:29 remaining. 

Cline rushed for 70 yards and had five catches for 69 yards to lead the Bulldogs, who have a new coach in Steve Daulton.  

In last year’s meeting, Trey Bentley scored the game-winning touchdown during the final minute of play. 

“It’s their bread and butter, the power off tackle, and when they hand it off to (Trey Bentley), they’re able to insert the tailback as an additional lead blocker,” Daulton said. “That’s not a scheme thing—that’s a personnel thing, and that kid is a phenomenal player. You can know when it’s coming and you can see it and attack it, and he’s a special player. He has great vision, and for as big as he is, he still has that little bit of elusiveness. We were fortunate to stop it a few times, but obviously not enough.

“We definitely felt good offensively. It was one of our better games between the 30s with not nearly as many 3-and-outs, but it gets to the point where if you can’t block and tackle, when you get into those shorter distances and shorter end of the field, you’ve got to be more balanced, and we’re not very balanced right now.”

While Hughes completed nine of 16 passes for 317 yards and four touchdowns, a defense led by Trey Bentley in the secondary and junior Ben Petzinger at linebacker shined for the third consecutive week. 

“Our defensive line and linebackers are really strong,” Petzinger said. “Our defense is rolling right now. We work a lot and do a lot of tackling circuit. It says a lot about our togetherness and discipline.”