“Not in the least bit. The defense was out there the whole time,” he said. “I think we had three 3-and-outs the second half. The offense has got to play better. They can’t leave the defense out there.”
Lem Grayson scored twice, Alex Ritzie connected with Carson Cheek on a long touchdown pass — all in the first half — and the Rams built enough momentum from that to secure a 24-6 Division III, Region 12 quarterfinal victory Friday night at Fairfield Alumni Stadium.
“A win’s a win,” Yordy said. “We will watch it. We addressed it. We will watch the film and get it cleaned up. That’s not going to be good enough.
“We want to keep playing another couple weeks. We just got to get a little bit better. The kids kind of let up a little bit, and that’s the most frustrating part.”
The Rams (12-0), who snapped Bellbrook’s six-game winning streak, move on to face Wapakoneta next Friday in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. at a site to be determined. Wapakoneta beat Vandalia Butler 42-7.
Ritzie dropped a dime of a pass to a streaking Cheek, who took a 76-yard reception for a score that put Badin on top 7-0 with 7:30 left in the first quarter.
“I was pretty wide open,” said Cheek, senior wide receiver. “We knew that coming into the game that they were going to give us some cover-one, cover-zero type looks. I saw the play, and we called W-fade. I ran a pretty good route, the corners fade on the outside receiver, and I had a walk in the end zone.”
“That was huge,” Yordy noted. “I think we were in a third and long situation. We saw some stuff on tape that we thought we had some skilled guys that could maybe run past them.”
Grayson, a sophomore, scored on 6- and 7-yard runs to give Badin a 21-0 advantage later on in the first half.
“That’s not what you can do in a second-round playoff game — especially against a team like Badin,” Bellbrook coach Jeff Jenkins said. “I was very happy with the way we moved the ball. It seemed like we were quickly getting in the red zone. We just hit reverse or shot ourselves in the foot. Not coming out with any points against a team like Badin, that’s just not going to work.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing knowing that we had quite a bit of offensive success as far as moving the chains and getting big yardage plays. But we were not converting when it mattered most.”
Senior Nick Warner booted a 31-yard field goal with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter to provide the Rams with a 24-0 lead.
Luke Benetis hit Johnny Descz on a 2-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds left in the third quarter, which was all the Eagles (8-4) would muster up offensively.
Badin’s defense found itself on the field more than Yordy would have liked down the stretch, but the Rams were able to hold off a couple more Bellbrook offensive surges.
“Bend don’t break,” Yordy said. “Our guys saw a coach’s quote in the paper, and they were a little bit fired up and had a little extra energy there. They played well enough to get out of here with a win. We will take that and get to play another week.
“The second half, we just came out and thought the game was over, and we can’t do that. You can’t do that at this point in the season. What it is, Week 12? You can’t do that. And the kids need to know that. Hopefully they know now.”
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