Gill puts charge in Wildcats
Westerville South running back and Ohio State recruit Jaelen Gill didn’t waste any time in proving the broken leg that cost him much of last season was fully healed.
The senior had 138 yards rushing and four touchdowns against host Dublin Scioto before his offensive output was slowed by darkness.
An electrical problem forced officials to delay the second half for nearly two hours because the stadium lights wouldn’t come on. They began to glow around 9:30 p.m. when some fans began to file back into the stadium. From there, the Wildcats finished off a 50-14 victory.
“It was very important to have a start like that and remind people that this is what I can do, and this is what I can bring to the next level,” said Gill, who was injured last season during week two. “I’m just blessed to be back out here. I’m excited.”
Coaches debated finishing the game Saturday morning, but an electrician was able to fix the problem.
“I was happy with how we responded for being down that long,” said first-year South coach Matthew Christ. “We thought we might be coming back (Saturday), so it was a good way to start the year.”
The Irish had no solutions for stopping Gill, who scored on touchdown runs of 8, 41 and 6 yards and caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Max Barber with 6 seconds left in the first half to make it 36-7.
Gill, who committed to Ohio State in March, ran untouched on the 41-yard touchdown with 7:53 left in the first half to make it 29-0. He also caught two passes for 67 yards.
South’s offensive eruption accounted for more
touchdowns than its offense scored all of last season when it finished 1-9 with just four offensive scores.
Barber, who completed 4 of 8 for 119 yards, concluded his night with two
touchdown passes, including a 43-yard throw to Michael McLemore to make it 22-0 with 11:53 left in the second quarter.
Gill wasn’t the only Wildcat to manufacture big plays. Michael Mansaray’s 50-yard run put South up 15-0 with 4:10 left in the first quarter.
Scioto was held to two yards rushing in the first half and didn’t score its first points until late in the second quarter when Jaden Penn found Tobias Thomas open for a 26-yard touchdown pass.
Penn was starting at quarterback in place of junior Kyron Rogers, who is out with a hand injury sustained during preseason conditioning.
The Irish were missing three other injured starters.
“We had a lot of kids get their first varsity start tonight, and they’re going to get better” Scioto coach Karl Johnson said. “We can’t define a season by where we are in week one.”