As the Windham Bombers’ football team enters week nine of the regular season, everything is at stake. Windham continued its season of revenge when it thumped Vanlue 48-0 to remain perfect last Saturday evening at Hinkle Field in Hancock County.
“That is something that we mentioned last night to the team after the game, that was one of the first things we had talked about was to be proud,” said Coach Jake Eye. “Who would have thought we would have been 8-0 after the type of season we had last year? We have two more games left and we are hoping to go 2-0.”
In addition to another dominating victory, the Bombers (8-0, 3-0) stay in the chase for the Northeastern Athletic Conference title, with the upcoming game against conference rival Pymatuning Valley on Friday at Laker Stadium in Andover at 7 p.m. to potentially be the deciding game for the conference banner. If the Bombers win, they will be in first place in the conference and need just one more win to snag their first conference banner since the 2018 season.
“Pymatuning Valley is a great team,” noted the fifth-year coach. “They have a lot of size, they have many weapons and have two great backs and we will have to play our best game and the boys know it. They know what is at stake and we are just going to have to go in there and we are going to compete and battle.”
On Friday, it marked the first time in a while that Windham faced an opponent with a smaller roster than its own. Eye acknowledged that it was a rarity for the Bombers to compete in a game where it held a distinct numbers advantage.
“It was kind of odd but again numbers are just a thing that people hang their hat on,” Eye added. “We don’t do that because you still have to go out and play the game and you still have to go out and compete and whether you have 11 kids or 50 kids, it is still: find a way to go out and compete.”
Despite making the long commute to play Vanlue, the Bombers quickly shook off any travel fatigue by scoring on all three of their possessions in the first quarter to build a 20-0 lead.
Senior tailback/strong safety Carlos Bruton scored the game’s first touchdown on a 40-yard run, followed by an 18-yard touchdown scamper by senior running back/linebacker Jack Eye, and added a 57-yard touchdown reception from senior quarterback/free safety Dylan McCune to push Windham out to a fast start.
Coach Eye acknowledged that despite Windham having more players, the Wildcats had bigger players, but while Vanlue might have held a size advantage against the Bombers, Windham’s speed made the difference.
“They did not have a lot of team speed and were not very fast a lot of times,” he noted. “For me in particular, I like a team that has a lot of speed and I think that is one of the weapons that we possess which is the fact that we have a bunch of speed and some good size to go with it.”
The Bombers continued imposing their will on the Wildcats in the second quarter, highlighted by three more touchdowns including a 35-yard yard interception return for a touchdown by the 6-foot-1 Jack, which pushed Windham’s advantage to 40-0 at the half, triggering the running clock in the second half.
Windham’s defense preserved the shutout in the second half, marking the second shutout victory for the Bombers in their last five games. Over the course of the season, the Bombers have allowed more than 20 points only twice and have limited their opponents to less than 15 points in six of eight games.
“Our defense has really come to life this year and has shut down our opponents for the most part,” Coach Eye said. “We are a bend-not-break defense. There have been times where teams will move the ball on us, but we also know that if we give up a touchdown and or even get behind in a game, like we were against Jackson-Milton or St. John, we are confident in our offense so as long as we can bend not break, I think we are fine.”
With a conference banner still up for grabs, the Bombers also have postseason implications to play for as they still have a chance to secure at least one home playoff game if they qualify for the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division VII, Region 25 postseason, which would be the first time since 2018 that the Bombers hosted a postseason game.
