Yellow Jackets cruise in 55-10 road win over Wildcats to stay atop NLL

Perrysburg's Kyle Recker sacks Northview's Brendan Pierson as Matt Mesker moves in. The Yellow Jackets are 6-2, 5-0 in the NLL.

Perrysburg scored, and scored, and scored Friday in the first half at Northview, keeping firm grip of first place in the Northern Lakes League with a 55-10 victory.

In the first half, Gus Dimmerling threw for three touchdown passes and ran for another to help Perrysburg (6-2, 5-0 NLL) build a 48-0 lead. The Yellow Jackets put up 374 first half yards and held Northview to 31.

“We’re a young team and we see a team like Perrysburg with a lot of athletes and size — mentally I’m not sure we were prepared to compete,” Northview coach Marek Moldawsky said.

The defensive line for Perrysburg pushed Northview (2-6, 1-4) back 22 yards rushing in its 15 first half attempts. The Northview passing game helped the Wildcats pick up three first downs in the first half as quarterback Brendan Pierson was 3 for 10 for 50 yards before the break.

PHOTO GALLERY: Click here to see more photos from the game

“Our defense did a great job,” Perrysburg coach Matt Kregel said. “Andy Brungard, our defense coordinator, always has a great plan.”

The Yellow Jackets scored on every possession of the first half except when they let the clock run out to end it.

On its first possession, Perrysburg scored on a Dimmerling 17-yard TD run after a six play 80-yard drive that only took 57 seconds.

Dimmerling added three touchdown passes in the half — to Scott Freeman for 16 yards, Zach Warner for 27 yards, and Seth Durham for 5 yards. Zach Hansberger scored Perrysburg's only second half TD on a 16-yard run in the third quarter.

“We wanted to work on throwing the ball but when your up four touchdowns in the first quarter it is hard to justify,” Kregel said.

Northview got on the board in the third quarter when Tyler Wynn recovered a fumble and took it 33 yards untouched to the end zone. The Wildcats first drive of the fourth quarter led them to a 42-yard field goal from Ross Hanna.

Dimmerling was 7 of 10 passing for 112 yards. Freeman had 54 rushing yards on three carries and three catches for 81 yards.

“We knew coming into this we couldn't have a let down, we had to play hard,” Dimmerling said. “It was good to get some of the younger guys in. They practice their butts off during the week.”

Contact Matt Thompson at: mthompson@theblade.com, 419-356-8786, or on Twitter at @mthompson25.