By Phil Keren

Correspondent

A short-handed Aurora team on Friday lost to a big-play Tallmadge squad by a score of 24-14.

Aurora (1-2) head coach Bob Mihalik said his squad entered the game with five two-way starters out due to injury and then a few more starters got hurt and had to leave during this contest.

“It was a tough, hard-fought game,” Mihalik said. “We came into the game with a lot of guys out, short-handed. We had about four more guys go down in the second half. We were just kind of out of bullets, but the kids that were left played hard.”

Mihalik praised the play of Luke Hilditch and Carter Romancak, and tipped his hat to sophomores Connor McLendon and Tommy Stenger, who were among the young players who saw playing time due to the injuries.

“We’re playing a bunch of guys both ways and there were more guys getting hurt,” Mihalik said. “I know other teams deal with this all the time, too, but this is new for us, having so many guys hurt. We might be dressing 37, 38 guys next week after the dust settles.”

Tallmadge (2-1) scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage.

Sophomore quarterback Chase Waller threw the ball over the middle to junior wide receiver Brenden Conley, who broke away from the Aurora defenders for a 78-yard touchdown.

On its first two possessions, Aurora punted and turned the ball over on downs.

Early in the second quarter, the Greenmen put together a seven-play, 70-yard scoring drive that concluded with junior quarterback Mathew Huth scoring on a 24-yard keeper.

On the preceding play, Huth completed a pass along the sideline to Hilditch for a 32-yard gain.

“Matt’s a young quarterback, junior, first-year starter, who’s getting better every week,” Mihalik said. “We got to keep trying to surround him with good guys so he can make plays. We’re happy with his progress.”

With the game tied at 7, Aurora found itself starting a drive from its own 18-yard line with about a minute left in the first half.

Huth’s long throw down the sideline was intercepted by Conley, who returned the ball 50 yards to the Aurora 10-yard line. On second down and goal, Waller tossed a screen to Conley, who evaded some defenders and went into the end zone to give his team a 14-7 lead at halftime.

Aurora opened the second half with an 8-play, 70-yard scoring march to the tie game at 14.

The key play of the drive was a 37-yard run by Huth.

On third-and-goal from the 16-yard line, Huth dropped back and fired the ball to Hilditch, who snagged it, cut back to the middle of the field and fought through a couple defenders to score.

“He caught a little tunnel screen and broke a couple tackles, (and made) good cuts to get into the end zone,” Mihalik said. “We were back in the game after that but they just wore us down in the second half.”

Hilditch caught four passes for 80 yards, scored one touchdown and recorded seven total tackles on defense.

“He was all over the field on both sides of the football,” Mihalik said. “He’s not 100 percent either but he’s playing hard. I’m real proud of him.”

Late in the third quarter, Tallmadge missed a 45-yard field goal attempt and Aurora took over possession on its own 20-yard line. The Greenmen went three and out, and had to punt it away.

Three plays later, Tallmadge junior running back Angelo Gotto sped through the Aurora defense en route to a 44-yard touchdown that put the Blue Devils ahead, 21-14 at the 9:15 mark of the fourth quarter.

On Aurora’s ensuing possession, the Greenmen picked up a first down, but soon found themselves facing fourth down and 2 from their own 41-yard line. The Tallamdge defense held junior running back Jayden Orr to a 1-yard gain and the Blue Devils took over on the Aurora 40-yard line.

Tallmadge then executed a methodical 9-play, 33-yard drive that chewed up more than 5 minutes of game time. Blue Devil kicker Ben Bucur made a 29-yard field goal to give Tallmadge a 24-14 advantage with 2:21 remaining.

On its final drive, Aurora moved the ball from its own 12-yard line to the Tallmadge 36 in 10 plays, which included a 25-yard reception by Hilditch, a 13-yard catch from sophomore Connor McLendon, and a 12-yard reception courtesy of junior Jack Rachel.

The drive ended when Aurora fumbled the ball that was recovered by Tallmadge senior defensive lineman Daron Clark.

Mihalik said his team will prepare to face a 3-0 Mayfield team this coming Thursday.

“No one’s going to feel sorry for us, so we can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Mihalik said. “We just got to be resilient and bounce back.”