Hudson welcomes back Ian Ludewig and picks up road win over Twinsburg

TWINSBURG, Ohio - The Hudson Explorers used a perfect balance of run and pass yardage in a 30-21 road win over Twinsburg on Thursday night.

Hudson, ranked No. 9 in the latest SBLive Ohio Power 25, ran the ball 50 times and threw it just 15 times, but ran for 158 yards and threw for 159 yards.

Senior running back Ian Ludewig led the rushing attack with 116 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries. Ludewig, who missed last week's win over Stow with an injury, scored the first touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run in the first quarter and then put the game away with a 4-yard touchdown run in the game's final minute.

“I didn't feel 100%, but I would do anything for these boys out here,” Ludewig said. “I'm going to compete no matter what and keep fighting.”

Quarterback Peyton Neher completed 12-of-15 passes for 159 yards, including a second quarter touchdown pass for 40 yards to Trey Sharp to give the Explorers a 13-7 lead with 1:43 left in the second quarter right after Twinsburg had tied the game.

“There was a (coverage) breakdown,” Sharp said. "(The defender) came up and he probably thought it was like read or something flat. He got flat and then we just took advantage. It was originally a comeback but me and Peyton Neher, we’re just like a duo and he just adjusts.”

Neher threw one interception, but it went off the hands of his receiver into the waiting arms of a defensive back. His head coach was excited to see the strides the senior has made.

“He worked really hard all week long and he had been working all summer,” Hudson head coach Jeff Gough said. “He was on tonight. It was awesome to see him be confident and make plays off schedule and on schedule. I'm excited for that growth.”

With Hudson holding a 16-7 lead after a Brad Masiella 33-yard field goal in the third quarter, Twinsburg answered right back just a couple plays later as quarterback Joey Pollock threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage to wide receiver CJ Lyden, who then turned and fired downfield to Jaden Dye for a 61-yard score to cut the lead to 16-14.

It was the second touchdown of the game for Dye, who finished with nine catches for 197 yards while Pollock was 23-of-32 passing for 269 yards.

After a bad snap on a Twinsburg punt gave the ball to Hudson at the Twinsburg 4-yard-line late in the third quarter, Ludewig's second touchdown of the game - a 1-yarder - gave Hudson a 23-14 lead.

Pollock scored from 10 yards out for Twinsburg with 4:57 left to cut the deficit back to two again but Hudson went 10 plays and 80 yards in 4:17 on the ensuing drive to close out the game when Ludewig scored from four yards out.

After missing the last part of Hudson’s Week 3 loss to Cleveland Heights when he suffered the injury and then last week’s game, the decision to play for Ludewig was left up to him by his head coach.

“I kept asking him ‘are you playing this week’ and he said, ‘yep, I'm playing, I'm good,’” Gough said. “I trust our kids. It's their high school senior season so if you want to go play, go for it.”

As for letting Ludewig get his normal workload – 31 carries is a new season high for the senior – Gough said he left it up to his running back as to how much he wanted to play. Gough asked him after each drive if he was doing okay and the running back kept answering in the affirmative.

“(I said) sounds good, we’re just going to keep rolling with it,” Gough said. “With our offensive line, we love the way Ludewig runs behind it.”

Three takeaways

Unsung heroes

While Ludewig and the running back corps get the headlines, it’s the big boys up front who lead the way for the Hudson offense. Behind the starting offensive line of senior Tommy Ricard, juniors Jackson Babitsky, Jake Clapper and Parker Jenks and sophomore Andrew Lanham, the running game averages more than 5.6 yards per carry despite seeing many 8- and 9- man boxes from the defense. They have a high-water mark for yards in a game coming in a win over North Canton Hoover when the Explorers ran for 444 yards on 49 attempts.

“I mean, it's awesome,” Ricard said. “The offense that we have in is super tailored to our strengths. So obviously it's really fun and we have a tradition for a great running game and great O-line play.”

A lot of the credit goes to offensive line coaches Mike Sheridan and Matt Margida, something not lost on the senior offensive lineman.

“Just to be a part of that (O-line tradition) and coach Sheridan and coach Margida, just the way they coach us up (is great),” Ricard said.

He’s also happy to have his starting running back behind him again and has also enjoyed watching his quarterback make a name for himself as well.

“Obviously having (Ian) back was huge for us,” Ricard said. “And Neher, he's really coming into his own and he showed us his his abilities tonight, so that was pretty awesome.”

The running back likes running behind the offensive line just as much as they like blocking for him.

“(They are) very important,” Ludewig said. “There are a bunch of great guys on the line. It’s great running behind them and it's really fun.”

Next man up

When Ludewig was injured against Cleveland Heights in Week 3 and then not able to go last week against Stow, senior Teagan O’Guinn stepped in and kept the ship steady for the Explorers.

He ran for 60 yards and a score on 12 carries against Cleveland Heights and then got 12 more touches in the win over Stow and turned them into 115 yards and four touchdowns.

If Ludewig wasn’t able to play against Twinsburg, O’Guinn would have been ready to fill that role once again.

“Teagan’s a great kid,” Ludewig said. “I've been playing with him since I was in fourth grade. We were always in the backfield together, he would be the fullback and I was the running back. I have a great love for that kid. He's really just a competitor. He steps in where he needs to be and he just fights.”

Closing it out

When Hudson got the ball on its own 20-yard-line with 4:57 remaining and leading 23-21, the Explorers made the decision to go with their heavy package to try to close out the game with their running attack.

“I have to give credit to our O-line coaches Mike Sheridan and Matt Margita,” Gough said. “They had the idea to come out in our heavier personnel and just try to go at at their defense and that paid off for us.”

Hudson opened the drive throwing the ball to Ludewig out of the backfield for eight yards and then two straight running plays to Ludewig for a total of two yards followed by a 2-yard run for Neher before a pop pass from Neher to Sharp netted 18 yards.

Ludewig ran the next two plays for three yards each and after a timeout by Twinsburg, he broke off a 38-yard run to the 6-yard-line and went down inbounds to keep the clock moving.

“(Ludewig) broke a long one and I told him good job staying inbounds and going down,” Gough said. “Only he knows if he actually did that on purpose.”

Ludewig took a handoff on the next play and went two yards before Gough decided to let the play clock run all the way down and call a timeout with 43 seconds left on the game clock. On the next play, Ludewig scored from four yards out to ice the game.

“It was great to see us just finish and execute,” Gough said. “Any time you can run clock (is great) and we were just trying to keep the ball out of (Twinsburg’s) hands. That was the gameplan.” 

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh