Fresh off an epic blowout to close out the regular season, the Exeter football team began the District 3 Class 5A playoffs with another dominating victory as the eighth-seeded Eagles defeated ninth-seeded South Western in an opening round game 56-3 Friday night at Reiffton.
A week ago, Exeter won 71-0 in the season finale against Elizabethtown after a heartbreaking 28-27 loss to Conestoga Valley for the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 title in Week 9.
By beating South Western, the Eagles (10-1) advance to play top-seeded New Oxford (10-0) in the quarterfinal round.
“I don’t know much about them but I know they (the Colonials) were here watching us tonight,” Exeter senior running back Jayden Zandier said. “So I hope they see how we disrespected this team and how we’re going to come to their house and destroy them.”
A standout rushing performance by Zandier, who became the school’s all-time leading rusher on Friday night, as well as a shut-down night from the secondary that included four interceptions, allowed the Eagles to establish a 35-3 lead in the first half that would prove insurmountable for the Mustangs.
“He’s done so much for this program and he’s such a special young man,” Exeter coach Matt Bauer said. “I can’t say enough about him and what he can do with a football; it’s not nothing short of amazing. Some of these colleges better come knocking because they’re gonna get a gem in that one.”
Zandier rushed for 206 yards in the game and now has 3,036 for his career, breaking the old school record of 2,876 held by Jesse Reider.
“It’s just a blessing,” Zandier said on breaking the record. “It’s really what I worked for since I was a little kid and I’m glad the work is paying off.”
Zandier went to work early and scored on rushing touchdowns of 56 and 5-yards to give the Eagles a 14-3 lead after the first quarter. Zandier had 150 rushing yards on five carries in the first quarter.
A 28-yard field goal by Gavin Fraim midway through the first quarter would be South Western’s only points.
After going three-and-out on its opening possession of the game and then forcing a Mustangs (7-4) three-and-out, Zandier took two plays to get 63 yards for Exeter. He had a 56-yard rushing touchdown on the drive to make it 7-0.
In the second quarter, Exeter junior quarterback Jake Hafer threw an interception which was then followed by a South Western turnover as Jayden Ware picked off the Mustangs’ senior quarterback Bryce Graham.
“It feels great, especially since it came in the playoffs,” Ware said. “We’ve really been working in practice all season and it really helped because the preparation led to the big plays. Without our defense, our front line, our linebackers, those plays would never happen.”
The play not only sparked a one-play drive and a 47-yard touchdown run by Zandier, but also a defensive explosion by the Eagles.
With the score 21-3 and 2:58 remaining in the opening half, Ware intercepted Graham on the first play of the ensuing South Western drive following Zandier’s third score. This time, Ware returned the interception 36 yards for a touchdown making it 28-3. He finished the night with two interceptions.
“Jaden just seems to make plays,” Exeter defensive coordinator Rob Ford said. “He always seems to be where the ball is.”
The strong play by the Eagles’ secondary continued and thwarted South Western’s best drive of the first half just before halftime. After starting at their own 18, the Mustangs advanced all the way to the Exeter 21.
At the 21 and threatening to score with less than two minutes to go, the Eagles tipped a pass by Graham at the line of scrimmage and Carter Redding came up with the interception before returning it 79-yards for a touchdown, breaking tackles and outrunning those in pursuit along the way.
“We knew he wasn’t gonna look anybody off,” Ware said of Graham. “He was pointing out his receiver before the play, so you kind of knew where he was going. Our coaching staff did a great job this week with being able to run the plays during the week and figure out what they’re gonna do, figure out their schemes and stuff like that. It played right into our hands.”
With the score Exeter led 35-3 at the half.
At the end of the first half, Zandier had six carries for 197 yards and three touchdowns. Graham was 14-for-23 passing with three interceptions and 121 yards passing after two quarters. The Eagles’ defense held South Western to 29 rushing total yards in the first half. Austin Rollman had 34 rushing yards in the first half for the Mustangs and a team-high 59 overall.
“The staff does an excellent job and Coach Bauer allows us the freedom and the latitude to do the things we want to do,” Ford said of the defense. “And then the credit goes to the boys. They work real hard. They work on getting turnovers and everything that we’ve been preaching since February is starting to come together. Tonight was a real fantastic showing of that.”
In the second half, South Western started with the ball and went for it on fourth down from their own 42, but a deep pass from Graham fell incomplete.
Exeter wasted no time in putting on the running clock as it took just four plays to make it 42-3. On second and seven from the Mustangs’ 23, Hafer rolled out left and connected with Genuine Stutzman for a 23-yard touchdown pass.
Graham threw his fourth interception on the following drive, once again to Redding. On the play, Graham threw a deep pass on first down from their own 45 that Redding tracked down like an outfielder and caught over the shoulder near the Exeter 20 before returning it all the way to the South Western 36.
“We work really hard on takeaways and winning the turnover differential,” Bauer said. “And we worked very hard this week on getting our hands up in the passing lanes. We tipped a couple balls, guys came down with them and in key opportunities we were able to swing momentum in our favor.
“We have pretty fast kids in the secondary and they can take it the distance on any play.”
Stutzman added to the lead just a few plays later on a 21-yard counter handoff to make it 49-3 with 4:54 remaining in the third quarter. For Bauer, the stellar play of the hardworking offensive line played a vital factor in the dominant performance by the ground game.
“I’m very repetitive and I always say it always starts up front for us,” Bauer said. “And I thought if we could control the line of scrimmage and give Jayden some space, we were going to be effective. We won the battle in the trenches and that’s a testament to how hard those guys work.”
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Leo Brown, filling in for Zandier, scored an 80-yard rushing touchdown and went untouched all the way into the end zone, making it 56-3 with 11:50 to go in the game.
The Eagles finished the game with 333 rushing yards while the Mustangs were held under 100 rushing yards.
“It was an overall team effort,” Zandier said of the rushing attack. “Our trenches were doing their work. Our athletes were doing their work. We’re the most athletic team in the nation.”
Despite the loss to the Buckskins that ultimately cost Exeter a Section 2 title, the Eagles are steadfast in their abilities going forward in the playoffs and have shown no signs of slowing down since the controversial Week 9 loss.
“It feels great (getting the win) because Conestoga Valley was a heartbreaking loss, but it gave us that chip on our shoulder and we never want to feel like that again,” Ware said. “We never want to be in another close game again so we’re just gonna try to dominate every team that we can.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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