By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The Rootstown Rovers fell behind 21-0 by the second quarter on Friday and could never recover in a 33-14 non-league loss at Conneaut.

In their first loss of the season, the Rovers trailed 21-6 at halftime and were outscored 12-8 in the fourth quarter in a game they were unable to find late-game heroics like they did in Week 2 at Champion (25-22) and Week 3 vs. Field (27-21).

Hurting those comeback chances were four turnovers — three of which coming in the red zone.

More stinging was that two are fumbles at the 1-yard line and 2-yard line.

An additional touchdown for Rootstown was called back on a penalty.

“Overall, we tackled poorly and turned the ball over, which are recipes for disaster against good football teams,” Rootstown coach Chris Knopick said. “Hats off to (Conneaut). They outhit us, controlled the clock, controlled the field and ball for four quarters.”

Conneaut, which is now 4-1 and won its fourth straight game, plays out of Ashtabula County and is in Division V, Region 17.

The Spartans controlled the time of possession for nearly double that of Rootstown’s (28:11 to 16:38), while also converting on 10-of-15 third- and fourth-down conversions in the game.

Conneaut ran for 317 yards on 54 attempts and also had 135 passing yards for 452 yards of total offense.

Quarterback Max Gleason accounted for much of it for the Spartans. He had 166 yards on the ground and completed six of his nine passes for the 135 air yards.

Zack Rice added 90 yards on 13 carries and Wyatt Payne also had 68 yards on 20 attempts for Conneaut.

Rootstown’s offense was led by senior running back Cody Coontz, who finished with 175 yards in 34 totes.

Coontz scored both of the touchdowns for Rootstown (4-1).

Conneaut stretched its first-half lead to 21-0 on a 8-yard run by Gleason with 9:13 left in the second quarter before the Rovers finally got on the board.

Coontz scored from 4 yards out with 6:05 showing on the second-quarter clock.

The scoreless third quarter set the stage for a back-and-forth fourth quarter.

Conneaut struck first in the game’s final 12 minutes with a touchdown pass from Gleason to Bryce Spurlin from 28 yards out that gave Conneaut a 27-6 lead.

Coontz’s second touchdown of the game, with 4:43 to play, got the Rovers as close as they would get at 27-14.

Gleason scored the Spartans’ final touchdown, at 3:11, on a 25-yard run.

Rootstown returns in Week 6 to host St. Thomas Aquinas (0-5) in its first Portage Trail Conference game of the season.

“Our response to tonight’s loss will determine the trajectory of our season,” Knopick said. “I am confident we have a good group of men that will hold themselves accountable and learn and grow from this loss.”