DUKE CENTER - This one is going to sting for a while.
Despite four rushing touchdowns from quarterback Shequan Wright, Sheffield fell to previously-winless Otto-Eldred, 52-38, on Friday at Otto-Eldred High School.
The Terrors jumped out early with two first-quarter scores, but Sheffield answered. Wright ran in his first TD with 53 seconds left in the first quarter, and added another four minutes into the second.
Sheffield soon fell behind for good. Otto gave itself some momentum before the half when Dakota Vaughn hit Jake Wichert for a 26-yard touchdown pass with only 21 seconds left.
The third quarter was dominated by the Terrors as Sheffield's Adam Higby threw two interceptions and Otto added two scores to put the game out of hand.
Sheffield would make the game appear closer with a late-game run. Wright ran for his final two touchdowns in the last six minutes of the game and Dylan Smith plunged in from two yards out with 39 seconds remaining.
"All week we preached about how even though they're 0-5, they always play us tough here and we always play them badly," said Sheffield coach Dave Fitch, whose Wolverines are 2-4 overall. Otto-Eldred is 1-5. "I take a loot of the blame as the coach; it falls on my shoulders that we were not fully prepared, but we'll come back on Monday and start working for next week."
Otto-Eldred outrushed the Wolverines by 301 yards, and had two hundred-yard rushers with Sam Colebert and Wichert. Colebert scored four rushing touchdowns for the Terrors and Vaughn ran for two and threw for two. Wright had 86 passing yards for Sheffield and 84 receiving. Higby led Sheffield with 170 yards passing in the two quarterback system.
The Wolverines forced four turnovers and recovered three, but it didn't turn the tide.
Sheffield hosts Port Allegany on Saturday.
Sheffield-Otto Eldred Stats
Sheffield77024-38
Otto-Eldred1461220-52
First Quarter
O-Dakota Vaughn 1 run (Vaughn 2-pt. run), 8:20
O-Sam Colebert 6 run (2-pt run fails), 2:35
S-Shequan Wright 3 run (Wright kick): 53
Second Quarter
S-Wright 1 run (Wright kick), 8:16
O-Jake Wichert 26 pass from Vaughn (2-pt run fails), :21
Third Quarter
O-Colebert 8 run (2-pt. run fails), 4:43
O-Coy Hoffman 9 pass from Vaughn (2-pt. run fails), :38
Fourth Quarter
O-Colebert 18 run (2-pt. run fails), 9:43
O-Vaughn 32 run (kick fails), 7:48
S-Wright 4 run (Noah Heeter 2-pt pass from Wright), 5:41
S-Wright 4 run (Mister Ussery 2-pt. pass from Wright), 3:37
O-Colebert 10 run (Wichert 2-pt. run), 1:39
S-Dylan Smith 2 run (Wright 2-pt. run), :39
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ShefO-EOffensive Plays6656
First downs1718
Rushes-yards30-4346-344
Passing25647
Total Yards299391
Comp-Att-Int15-36-23-10-0
Fumbles-Lost0-04-3
Penalties-Yards9-655-47
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-S-Smith 8-10, 1 TD, Wright 10-19, 4 TD, Brandon Johnston 8-19, Adam Higby 3-(-19), Dylan Reynolds 1-14; O-Colebert 19-127, 4 TD, Vaughn 17-84, 2 TD, Wichert 9-129, Seth Digley 1-4.
PASSING-S-Wright 5-of-16 for 86 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, Higby 10-of-20 for 170 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT; O-Vaughn 3-of-10 for 47 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT.
RECEIVING-S-Brendan Winslow 1-16, Dylan McNeal 2-45, Ussery 1-27, Tyler Fitzgerald 4-62, Wright 5-84, Johnston 2-22; O-Hoffman 1-9, 1 TD, Colebert 1-12, Wichert 1-26, 1 TD.