Moeller defeated the Winton Woods 24-7 in the 2nd round of the OHSAA playoffs. It was the Crusaders 1st win against the Warriors since 2009. It couldn’t have come in a better time against a team looking to advance past the 2nd round for a third straight year.
Moeller started off strong with a 14-0 lead, courtesy of their QB Hunter Mclaughlin finding Reggie Watson up the middle for a 16-yard touchdown and Juice Glover-Brown with a four-yard run to add more fuel on the fire. Hunter went 16-25 for 187 yards with two touchdown tosses and a 153.2 QBR.
The Warriors would respond with an touchdown of their own on a Josiiah Jones 33-yard scoring strike to to Quinton Simms, to make it 14-7. Unfortunately it would be their only score of the night.
The story of the night was the Crusaders defense playing lights out from start to finish. The unit held Winton Woods to just three yards on 21 carries, 4-12 on third down conversion attempts and forced two turnovers. Highlighting the defenses’ night was a massive goal line stand ending the first half and keeping Moeller’s lead at 10 points.
Julian Dwyer had a career night on the line with 8 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1.5 sack, and 3 QB hits; giving Jones a night he’d rather forget . The highly recruited junior now has 8.5 sacks on the season with 7.0 of them coming over the last five games.
With no signs of progression, Moeller pulled away with the victory in the second half by chewing clock and dominating the line of scrimmage. which was a major point of emphasis by head coach Bert Bathiany during the week. McLaughlin found Jayden Davis for a 6 six-yard touchdown in the third quarter. It would be last score of the game.
Moeller advances to the semifinals where they’ll face Princeton coming off their victory against Middletown. Big Moe fell to the Vikings in the season opener at Paycor Stadium, 31-24. It will be the fifth meeting between the two schools since the beginning of the 2024 season.
SCORING BY QUARTERS
Winton Woods 0-7-0-0-7
Moeller 14-3-7-0-24
SCORING PLAYS
M: Reggie Watson 16 pass from Hunter McLaughlin (Jack Mallabar kick)
M: Juice Glover-Brown 4 run (Mallabar kick)
W: Quinton Simms 33 pass from Josiiah Jones (YaYa Guisse kick)
M: Mallabar 35 FG
M: Jayden Davis 6 pass from McLaughlin (Mallabar kick)
RECORDS: Winton Woods (9-3); Moeller (8-3)
NEXT UP: Winton Woods, season complete; Moeller at Princeton (11-0)
