Kenton Ridge Snaps 10-Game Losing Streak to Bellefontaine

Kenton Ridge routed Bellefontaine to gain some revenge and set up what the Cougars hope is much better October than last season.

Springfield, OH — The first half wasn’t perfect for Kenton Ridge against visiting Bellefontaine on Friday night. 

The Cougars did punt once. 

They also missed an extra-point kick. 

A few passes weren’t caught, and the Cougars failed to fit a gap against a run once or twice, but that’s really picking nits. 

It was 34-0 at halftime, after all. 

Then Brody Runkle, the CBC’s leading rusher, came out of the locker room at halftime and wasted no time putting the finishing touches on a cathartic win for the hosts. 

The senior running back took a handoff to his left, weaved in and out of some traffic then sprinted free down the home sideline for a 71-yard touchdown on the first play of the third quarter to remove any doubt about whose night it was at Kenton Ridge High School. 

For the first time since 2015, the Cougars topped the Chieftains, but they have more on their minds than that 41-7 triumph. 

After playing at Tecumseh next week, the Cougars (5-1) finish with the three top teams in the CBC Kenton Trail Division: Urbana, at Jonathan Alder and London. 

“Our kids want the smoke right now, and it’s not because we think we’re great or any of those things,” sixth-year Kenton Ridge coach Jon Daniels said. “Our kids know that our standards matter. We we want to go out and be at our best, we’ve got to continue getting tested if we’re going to go make any noise in our region. 

“We’ve got three — four, really, great opportunities with Tecumseh being, quite frankly, I think a team that’s starting to peak at the right time in the Kenton Trail (division), where they’re playing better football,” Daniels said. “I haven’t seen what’s happened tonight, but we’re going to have them next week, and I expect them to be a really physical, tough game. And then we’re going to play three juggernauts in our conference in Urbana, London, JA (Jonathan Alder), and it’s awesome, wonderful.”

No doubt this was an important win in the symbolism department. 

Not only had Bellefontaine won 10 in a row in the series, they also started a tailspin for the Cougars last season. 

As was the case this year, Kenton Ridge entered their Week 6 game with Bellefontaine 4-1. 

They had the same four opponents left on the schedule. 

Last year, they lost a two-point game to the Chieftains, beat Tecumseh then dropped all three against the Big 3. 

That left an impression on the returning players according to senior linebacker Levi Harper. They learned not to let one mistake snowball on them. 

“I would say not getting down ourselves in hard moments,” Harper said. “If they score or we make a bad play on offense and turn the ball over, Coach Daniels says it a lot. Hit the ‘Eff It’ button. Just hit your chest and move on to the next play.” 

This year, Daniels says the playoffs have already started. 

Kenton Ridge entered the night sixth in the playoff points in Division IV, Region 16, but he expressed concern for how many points they will get from the teams they’ve already beaten. 

Of course, many points are there to be had via beating the Hillclimbers, Pioneers and/or Red Raiders. 

“We dropped the first one to a good Graham team because we turned the ball over and made too many mistakes,” Daniels said. “We’re in the playoffs now. It’s one and zero every week in order for us to crack the top 12 in our region. I don’t know that the teams we’ve played have gotten enough wins to make it happen for us, so we got to go these next four weeks and understand we’re in the playoffs right now.”

As for restoring the roar to KR football, the kids on this team know no other goal. 

It’s been a long process, and they are happy to have the opportunity to be the ones who get the Cougars over the hump after they finished 5-5 last season — but there is still much work to do. 

“Man, it’s awesome to be part of it because from freshman year we’ve been learning from the older guys that didn’t have the best records but always had leadership,” Runkle said. “I think we really just took the leadership part and skill and just built this thing brick by brick, so it’s awesome to be a part of it.” 

Bryndyn Parsons got the scoring started with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mykah Wortham in the first quarter. 

Then Runkle got involved, gliding by two defenders near the line of scrimmage and racing down the sideline for an 18-yard touchdown with 9:21 left in the second quarter. 

Next it was the defense’s turn. Linebacker Zyler Lucas stepped in front of a Bellefontaine pass near midfield and went untouched the other way for a touchdown that really seemed to take the wind out of the Chieftains’ sails. 

They went three-and-out on the next drive, then Kenton Ridge responded with a quick four-play, 54-yard drive that featured a 27-yard pass from Parsons to Brennan Shaffer and concluded with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Parsons to Mason Mcdermott. 

Runkle tacked on a 26-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds left to make it 34-0 and finished with 204 yards on 14 carries. He also ran his season total for touchdowns to 15. 

Parsons completed 10 of 14 passes for 155 yards while Mcdermott had 91 yards on four catches. 

“It was like going back to practice all week,” Parsons said of attacking the Chieftains defense. “We prepped for it, and I feel like everything went pretty well. We had a couple mistakes that we’re going to clean up on next week, and just keep stacking days to build for the next four teams we play. 

“When I hand the ball off to (Runkle), I know he’s gonna break one loose eventually and go make a big play. That opens up the whole offense for me and for the pass game and all that. I feel all the linebackers just go with Brody, and it just opens up everything. And he’s nothing more than a blessing to hand off to.” 

A rough season continued for Bellefontaine, a team that has been decimated by injuries at quarterback and lost its fifth game in a row to drop to 1-5. 

Aven Caudill, who entered the night as the team’s leading tackler, took the reins and acquitted himself well. 

The neck roll sticking out of his No. 30 jersey left little doubt the starting linebacker was moonlighting at a new position, but Caudill was a respectable 8 for 17 passing threw a nice deep ball when asked. 

It was an uphill climb for him and the offense as a whole, which probably goes without saying. 

He still manned his position in the middle of the Chieftain defense, too, but this was just not BHS’ night despite 122 yards on 16 carries for Bryant Carter, who got the visitors on the board with an 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. 

Next up the Chieftains will travel to London so things won’t be getting any easier.