MINFORD – Curtis Glenn picked off Oak Hill counterpart quarterback Eddie Abele at midfield with a minute-and-a-half left in the game — to preserve Minford’s first win of the year — in the opener of Southern Ohio Conference Division II play with a 22-21 victory at Minford High School on Friday night.

The interception stymied Oak Hill’s final drive, and secured the win for Minford.

“I just read (Abele) like a book,” Glenn said. “I saw he was going to throw it deep, and I was just on that.”

The Falcon defense picked off Abele two times and recovered two fumbles in the win, both recoveries made by Nicolas Gilliland.

“Our defense played great,” Minford first-year head coach Jordan Michael said. “And Curt made a huge play at the end. He has big-play ability and he’s the epitome of the next play. If he makes a bad play, then he makes a good one. He came up and played well when we needed it.”

Minford (1-3, 1-0 SOC II) posted two players with over 100 yards rushing on the night.

Glenn, the Falcon quarterback, led the ground attack with 131 yards on 18 carries, while Mason Bradley rushed for 101 yards on 14 totes with three touchdowns.

Bradley’s 10-yard scamper into the end zone with 11:54 to play in the fourth quarter gave Minford a 22-21 lead.

The three-play drive covered 73 yards, and featured a 50-yard sprint by Bradley to the Oak Hill 10-yard line.

“The line did their job and opened up the hole for me and I just ran as hard as I could,” Bradley said. “I did everything I could to get to the end zone.”

The Falcon defense forced an Oak Hill punt on the next drive, and then both teams exchanges fumbles.

Gilliland recovered an Oaks fumble at the Falcon 49-yard line with seven minutes to go in the game.

Minford ran off 10 plays and chewed up 5:53 on the clock, before it turned the ball over on downs at the Oak Hill 18 with 1:47 to play and with a one-point lead.

Abele fired downfield on the first play from scrimmage — when Glenn snagged the ball out of the air to save the win for Minford.

“Just great execution in the second half,” Michael said. “We love adversity here at Minford. We embrace it and that’s why we came out in the second half and pulled this thing out. We played the worst football we ever played in the first half. These guys came out and battled.”

Oak Hill (1-3, 0-1 SOC II) grabbed the 7-0 lead when Abele darted into the end zone from 11 yards out with 5:48 to play in the first quarter.

Gilliland made the first of his two fumble recoveries with 1:07 to go in the first, and gave his Falcons the ball at the Oak Hill 46.

Four plays later, Bradley scored from four yards out — and added the extra-point kick to tie the game at 7-7.

On the next drive, the Minford defense forced an Oak Hill punt from its own end zone.

The ball was snapped over the Oak Hill punter’s head, and went through the end zone to give Minford the safety and the 9-7 lead with 9:53 to play in the first half.

The Oaks responded with an 11-play drive that resulted in a 13-yard touchdown pass from Abele to Andy Meldick and a 15-9 lead with 5:27 left in the second quarter.

Minford countered with a four-play drive — that culminated with a Bradley two-yard touchdown run and kick to give Minford a 16-15 lead with 3:03 before the break.

The Oaks took a 21-16 lead into the half — when Abele scored on a two-yard run.

“Their quarterback was getting outside the pocket in the first half, and we made sure that didn’t happen in the second half,” Michael said. “We put our defensive ends on the outside in the second half and made sure they didn’t throw the ball to 12 (Ethan O’Connor).

After a scoreless third quarter, Bradley’s 10-yard touchdown run in opening seconds of the final quarter was enough for the 22-21 win.

Minford was flagged 17 times for 145 yards, while Oak Hill had only four penalties for 35 yards.

“First half, any positive play it was penalty, penalty, penalty,” Michael said. “We will have to watch the film and maybe we were lining up wrong. I’m sure some of it was on us, but we cleaned it up in the second half. What a great feeling to get this first win.”

The Falcons return home, and return to SOC II action, on Friday night (Sept. 20) against Northwest.

* * *

Oak Hill 7 14 0 0 — 21

Minford 0 16 0 6 — 22

OH — Eddie Abele, 11-yard run (Sam Gentry kick), 5:48, 1st (7-0 OH)

M — Mason Bradley, 4-yard run (Mason Bradley kick), 11:56, 2nd (7-7 tie)

M — Safety (ball snapped out of end zone on punt attempt), 9:53, 2nd (9-7 M)

OH — Andy Meldick, 13-yard pass from Eddie Abele (Andy Meldick pass from Eddie Abele), 5:27, 2nd (15-9 OH)

M — Mason Bradley, 4-yard run (Mason Bradley kick), 3:03, 2nd (16-15 M)

OH — Eddie Abele, 2-yard run (pass failed), 2:40, 2nd (21-16 OH)

M — Mason Bradley, 10-yard run (pass failed), 11:54, 4th (22-21 M)

Team Statistics

OH M

First Downs 13 11

Scrimmage plays 56 48

Rushes-yards 42-134 32-232

Passing yards 112 64

Total yards 246 296

Cmp-Att-Int. 4-14-2 6-16-2

Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 4-35 17-145

Punts-Ave. 3-30.7 5-35.4

Individual Leaders

RUSHING —Oak Hill: Eddie Abele 28-113 3TD, Blaise Ford 8-10, Andy Meldick 5-8, Mason Saunders 1-3; Minford: Curtis Glenn 18-131, Mason Bradley 14-101 3TD

PASSING — Oak Hill: Eddie Abele 4-14-2-112 TD; Minford: Curtis Glenn 6-16-2-64

RECEIVING—Oak Hill: Ethan O’Connor 2-91, Andy Meldick 1-13 TD, Joseph Anteby 1-8; Minford: Mason Bradley 4-33, Colt Donahoe 2-31