August 26, 2000

The Tornadoes terrorize the Redman

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

FOSTORIA &emdash; By its very nature, the off-tackle play is one of the simplest in football. But when ran to perfection, the results can be electric.

Case in point, Brett Krupp and company.

With only two starters returning from last year, the Columbian staff figured a more paired down version of its offense would be the best course of action.

Tailback Brett Krupp turned those simple plays into touchdown runs of 42, 29, 25 and 2 yards during the Tornadoes' 37-8 victory over Fostoria at Memorial Stadium.

"If it wasn't broke we weren't going to fix it," Columbian coach Steve Gilbert said. "What we were trying to do was pick up their (defensive line's) slant and angle. Once we got it going, I think our kids were really comfortable with it.

"We felt coming in that if we could get something going, we were going to stay with it," he said. "There was no sense in putting any pressure on our kids. There's some things we have to work on, but this gets us going. It puts a little zip in our step and really helps out mentally."

Krupp terrorized the Redmen with 200 yards rushing on 22 carries, but he delivered the kill shot as a defensive back.

With the score 24-8 in third quarter, Fostoria was driving and threatening to put some pressure on the Tornadoes.

Fueled by a roughing-the-punter penalty, the Redmen marched to the Columbian 40.

But on third-and-5, quarterback Treyvon McBeth lofted a pass toward Micheaux Robinson on the right side. McBeth got too much air under the ball, giving time for Krupp to step in front of Robinson and sprint 66 yards for a touchdown and a 31-8 lead.

"That hurt, but I really don't think we were ever in a position, not even at that point, to get into the game, because we just didn't make the plays," Fostoria coach Tom Grine said. "We dropped some passes that were right in our hands, and we didn't convert on third-down situations. And they did.

"We had them in third-and-11 or third-and-15 I don't know how many times, and they'd just run an off-tackle play, and they'd get 15, 16 or 20, whatever they needed."

Surely, bread and butter never tasted any better.

Of Krupp's 18 first-half carries, eight were right over (or around) 6-0, 304-pound left tackle Dave Sauber and went for a total of 137 yards.

The play usually went like this: Sauber took out the tackle, fullback Steve Lee took out the end and wide receiver Drew Hanley sealed off the corner. From there, Krupp was free to roam wherever.

"First of all, Tiffin's wideouts did a heck of a job stalk-blocking our defensive backs," Grine said. "And then it was a situation where the fullback's a heck of a blocker and he just took out our ends. And their big tackle was just blocking down and sealing off our tackles. There was a definite crease there, and our linebackers didn't get there and he was off to the races. He doesn't even need a step. If he gets within a step of you, he's gone."

Krupp's first score came just 1:03 into the game. Lee carried for 2 and 5 yards on the first two plays. Then Krupp broke a tackle at the line and motored 42 yards (off left tackle, of course) to break the ice. Adam Oster knocked in the first of four PATs and TC led, 7-0.

"We knew we had to run the ball if we were going to win this game, because we didn't want to put pressure on (quarterback) Mike (Buckner)," Gilbert said. "Mike can throw, but we didn't want to force anything. He forced one pass, but overall I thought he did a real good job with the offense."

Meanwhile, Columbian's defense was giving the Fostoria offense fits.

The Redmen went three-and-out on their first three possessions, and after the first series, Columbian's Brett Matthews hurried punter Josh Dawson, who was dropped for a 4-yard loss on fourth-and-5.

Columbian couldn't move the ball, but Oster nailed a 35-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 7:26 left in the first.

Fostoria got things going on its third possession, thanks in large part to its fullback play.

Starting at the 50, fullback Jeremy Bennett ran for 3, then 22 yards. Fellow fullback Pedro Campos took over and went for 3 yards, setting up his own 28-yard scoring rumble. Dane Bringman hit Bryce Moore for the conversion to trim the deficit to 10-8.

But the Redmen, who had just 148 yards of offense, never mounted a serious threat.

In addition to Krupp's pick, TC's defensive effort was highlighted by sacks from Oster, Craig Spader, Adam Powers, Corey Spencer (two) and Luke Runion.

Krupp closed the first half with scoring runs of 29 and 25 yards, and had 191 on 18 carries by halftime. His final score was a 2-yard plunge with 10:54 left in the game.

"I'm just so excited for the kids," Gilbert said. "The staff worked so hard, and the game plan was good. It was a matter of not getting too uptight and just playing the game they love to play. And I thought they did. They went out and had fun, got after it and just played good football."

Simple, but effective. Very effective.