Whippets 'turn the page' after early River Valley score, pick up win to remain undefeated

SHELBY — Shelby quarterback Brayden DeVito didn't even need to wet his finger to get a grip on the page.

He and his Whippet teammates flipped it with ease.

After River Valley came out and punched the Whippets right in the mouth with a 52-yard touchdown just 25 seconds into their Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference clash on Friday night, Shelby didn't dwell on it and let it give the Vikings momentum. It simply forgot about it and moved on as the Whippets cruised to a 55-21 win to remain undefeated and in control of their league championship aspirations.

"That flip-the-page mentality took over," DeVito said. "We knew we had to go execute offensively to respond and we had to take the energy and momentum back. We executed the plays and came up with a big answer."

Several big answers.

DeVito finished his night completing 18-of-22 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns while running the ball 12 times for 116 yards and five TDs as he accounted for seven of the Whippets' eight scores and led his team to six touchdowns on six drives in the first half.

"DeVito is a great football player and athlete who makes a ton of plays out there," River Valley coach Matt Waddle said. "We didn't get any stops and put ourselves in some bad situations that we just couldn't battle out of."

DeVito connected with six different receivers as Nic Eyster led the way with seven catches for 92 yards and Brady Bowman had four catches for 82 yards and a score. Karsen Homan had the other receiving TD on an 11-yarder and Denny Lafon scored on a one-yard TD run. Marcus Gumbert had 130 yards rushing on 18 carries. All of that came after River Valley's Chase Ebert hit Eli Snyder on the Vikings' first drive for the opening score.

"Our kids did a great job of responding," Mahaney said. "Chase Ebert is a very good football player and we tried to get after him a ton tonight and he battled until the end. We had a breakdown in the secondary and he didn't miss the opportunity to exploit it. But our kids turned the page and understood the game is four quarters. We knew they would make plays but we also knew we had to make the next play."

Shelby finished with 532 yards of total offense and piled up 30 first downs. The Whippets turned the ball over on their first possession of the second half but scored on their next two giving them TDs on eight of nine possessions.

"You want to talk about an executed first half of football," Shelby coach Rob Mahaney said. "Boy, did we execute. Our offensive line played extremely well and it was nice to scheme things up and rely on them blocking up front. Brayden was awesome. Brady made plays, Nic made plays, and Marcus ran well. It is pretty cool to get your two senior captains touchdowns in a game like this."

DeVito gave credit to his offensive line as well after it paved the way for 253 rushing yards on the night.

"It was really their game," DeVito said. "They dominated up from and our entire offensive success is because of them. I had the easy job of sitting back there and feeling comfortable as I ever have been while they did all the hard work tonight."

Ebert attempted 40 passes completing 17 of them for 232 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with seven different receivers with Snyder being his main target with 64 yards and a TD. The Whippets allowed a couple of big plays, but overall, defensively, they were happy, especially with three interceptions, one apiece from Cole Dorsey, Lafon and Brock Fisher.

"Defensively, we knew they were high-powered with a great QB and they love to pass the ball," DeVito said. "We hung our hats on the defensive backs to stay in coverage and we did a great job executing and flipping the page when we gave up an explosive play."

The Whippet defensive line was instrumental in only allowing 124 rushing yards for the game and making things very difficult on Ebert as the RV offensive line was penalized seven times.

"They played their butts off and knew the challenge this week was going to be to bring pressure," Mahaney said. "We dropped eight in coverage all night and those three up front were great. They double-teamed (Brayden) Schartiger in the middle all night, but he never stopped and Homan did a great off of the edge. Our secondary made Ebert earn everything tonight."

Ebert still ran for 123 yards on 14 carries and a score.

"We ask a lot out of Chase for a reason," Waddle said. "He is going to be a four-year starter in basketball as a point guard and we know how reliable he is. We trust him to make a play with the ball in his hands and he played pretty well. We put a lot on his shoulders and he handles it tremendously because he is such a great football player."

River Valley falls to 4-3 on the season and 2-2 in the MOAC and will need a lot of help over the final three weeks of the season to compete for a league title. While those hopes may have been dashed on Friday night, they vow to stick to the game plan for the season instead of turning a focus to the postseason.

"All season, we have always had the mindset of being 1-0 at the end of the week and we aren't going to change that now," Waddle said. "We have two home games in a row and hopefully, playing at home will help us out. We were a goo road team before tonight, we just have to bounce back."

River Valley hosts Highland in Week 8. Shelby (7-0, 4-0) heads to Clear Fork.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Whippets 'turn the page' after early River Valley score, pick up win to remain undefeated