Hyde, Fostoria slips away from Ottawa-Glandorf

OTTAWA - Fostoria quarterback Micah Hyde let the ball slip out of his hands on the first play of the game, but after that it was Hyde who slipped out of the hands of the Ottawa-Glandorf Titans.

Hyde ran for two touchdowns and passed for another as Fostoria defeated O-G 21-7 in season-opening action.

"He's just a tremendous athlete and a great player," Fostoria coach Tom Grine said. "He's our engine. He made a mistake early in the game, but he came right back at it."

Hyde finished with 23 carries for 114 yards while completing 14 of 18 passes for 104 yards. As a team, Fostoria had 249 total yards.

On the first play of the game, Hyde rolled to his right and bobbled the ball which was recovered by Titan defensive lineman Cody Warnecke. It took three plays for the Titans to score as quarterback Taylor Kuhlman snuck in from 1 yard.

The Titans offense mustered 200 yards, 184 on the ground. Leading the charge was Logan Kaufman with 161 yards on 28 carries.

"We made too many mistakes, and we have to be able to throw the ball," O-G coach Ken Schriner said. "Logan is going to be our hammer and we tried that, but we have to back them out of there with some throws."

Fostoria answered on the next drive as Hyde showed his skill. A 14-play, 81-yard drive was capped off when Hyde scored from 1-yard out to tie the score at 7-7.

The teams battled back and forth throughout the remainder of the first half until the Redmen scored just before halftime. With 3:11 left in the half, Hyde found Jordan Bulkowski for a 14-yard completion. Consecutive runs by Hyde of nine, 13, and 10 yards put the ball at the Titan 12-yard line.

Four plays later, on 4th-and-4 from the O-G 6-yard line, Hyde scrambled to his left, bought himself the necessary time and found Derek Pullom in the back of the end zone to give the Redmen a 14-7 lead at halftime.

"You get him in your sights and get him in our grasp and the defense works so hard to get to him and he sidesteps you and makes us look like dummies at times," Schriner said. "They had some nice long drives and that is offense at its finest."

The game's final score was set up by Hyde's 46-yard punt that pinned the Titans on their own 1-yard line. After gaining one first down and moving the ball the 12-yard line a Titan fumble was recovered by the Redmens linebacker Jon Ramirez.

"Our nose guard made a heck of a play, caused a fumble and we got the ball on the 7-yard line," Grine said. "I felt a whole lot better when we got up by two touchdowns."

Three plays later Hyde dove in from one yard out to give Fostoria a comfortable 21-7 lead.

"(Hyde) makes a whole lot of things better," Grine said. "He just made plays and kept us in the game."