By JOSH BROWN

OCM News Service

Bethel may have had a hard time containing Mississinawa Valley quarterback Gary Pearce.

But there was simply no stopping Jordan Holtvogt.

Holtvogt scorched the Mississinawa Valley defense for 212 yards and scored four touchdowns, helping the Bees (6-3, 5-3 Cross County Conference) pile up 449 yards on the ground as a team in a 42-16 rout at L.F. Slagle Field.

"I'm not going to quit until the last minute runs out," Holtvogt said. "I just love the game too much."

The first few minutes, though, didn't go so well.

Pearce hit Dane Blumenstock for an 82-yard touchdown on third-and-10 on the 'Hawks' first possession to shock Bethel and put Mississinawa up 8-0. Blumenstock got behind everyone on a play-action pass, and Pearce scrambled to draw the defense in even more before dropping it over everyone's head, and Blumenstock took it the rest of the way.

"That was a big blow," Holtvogt said. "We expected to come out and, well, not have that happen, but it did happen."

It may have been surprising, but it didn't do anything to shake Bethel's confidence.

"Oh, we weren't happy," Bethel coach Brad Clendening said. "But we weren't worried, either."

That's because Holtvogt was ready to take over.

He slipped a pair of tackles on the way to a 24-yard touchdown, then - after an interception by Jon Ellerbrock - he took a broken play 22 yards for another score to give Bethel a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Mississinawa (2-7, 2-6 CCC) moved the ball to midfield before being forced to punt and downed the ball on the Bethel 5-yard line. On the Bees' second play, Holtvogt broke a 92-yard touchdown run around the edge to give Bethel a 21-8 edge at the break.

"We've been working on that all week. We knew I could get to the outside on them," Holtvogt said. "The coaches told me to get through and then break it to the outside, and my line did an absolutely great job of opening holes for me to go through."

Bethel had 12 carries for 201 yards in the first half for a 16.8 yards-per-carry average, while the 'Hawks managed only 38 rushing yards on 22 attempts - an average of 1.7 yards per carry.

"We ran the ball real well," Clendening said. "Jordan's gotten stronger as the year's gone on. He's stronger, he's running the ball harder ... and the line has been doing a really good job of opening up holes."

Reed Pelphrey capped off the opening drive of the second half - one that went 80 yards in nine plays - with a 5-yard touchdown, then Holtvogt capped off the Bees' next drive - a 10-play, 61-yard one - with a pretty 16-yard run, diving for the pylon to get in and make it 35-8 at the end of three. Then, after an interception in the end zone and 65-yard return by Matt Bush, Troy Sawyer broke a 27-yard run to polish off the scoring.

Pearce finished the game 16-for-29 with the early touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Blumenstock ended up with four catches for 105 yards - and also threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Cody Evans with 1:50 left in the game. Evans finished with six catches for 84 yards.

"Their quarterback (Pearce) is very good," Clendening said. "He hasn't been playing quarterback - this was only his second game playing it - and we hadn't seen him on film. He was very elusive. We were surprised by how good he was."

Bethel finishes the regular season on the road at Bradford, while Mississinawa Valley hosts undefeated Covington.