In a meeting of two winless teams at Rogers High School, the host Rams cruised past Woodward in a 46-0 victory on Thursday night in City League football action.
Rogers had the upper hand from the start as Gilvarion Smith came up with an interception against the Polar Bears on the opening drive of the game. Dav’Vion Sanders scored on a long catch and run on the ensuing Rogers possession for a 6-0 lead.
The Rams blocked a Woodward punt on the next drive, setting up a 1st-and-goal at the Polar Bears’ 1-yard line. Marcus Ayers punched in a touchdown run that was shorter than his two-point conversion that followed to make it 14-0.
Special-teams problems continued for Woodward as a long snap over the punter’s head led to a safety. Rogers led 16-0 after the first quarter.
Rogers elected to go for it on a fourth down at the Woodward 30 early in the second quarter. Leon Brown completed a pass to Jakai Hudspeth in first-down territory, but Hudspeth went for even more. He was tackled, but landed fully on top of the defender without touching the ground. He was back up and running to the end zone before the Polar Bears realized the play was still live.
Another Ayers two-point run made it 24-0.
In another punting mishap, the Polar Bears mishandled a long snap at their own 5, setting up another quick Ayers score and conversion to extend Rogers’ lead to 32-0.
Brown then threw his third touchdown of the half, this time to McKinley Minor. Dae’Twan Allen ran in the conversion for a 40-0 advantage.
The Rams gave LeBron Jones a shot at quarterback at the end of the half, and the sophomore was stopped by an impressive Woodward interception in the end zone. But Jones came up with an interception of his own on the ensuing Polar Bear drive on what turned out to be the final play of the first half.
The scoring slowed down in the second half, which was played with a running clock. Smith made his second interception of the game, this time on a ball that bounced off the receiver’s chest.
Brown threw for one last touchdown, this time to Marcellus Land, who entered the night leading the Toledo area in receiving yards with 540.
Rogers (1-4) picked up its first win since last year’s season finale, which was also a shutout of Woodward. The Polar Bears (0-5) suffered their sixth straight shutout loss dating back to that Rogers meeting, and are still in search of their first victory since the 2020 season.
First Published September 15, 2023, 1:31 a.m.
