For the Bradford seniors, it was their last home game at Parkway Field.

For the Conneaut Eagles, it was a chance to show why they sit alone atop the District 10 Region 5 standings.

Hunter Merritt and Elijah Anderton each rushed for over 100 yards and combined for five touchdowns as Conneaut eased to a 57-0 win Friday.

“To quote Dennis Green, ‘they are who we thought they were,’” said Bradford coach Jeff Puglio.

Indeed they were, as Merritt showed his dual-threat ability, throwing for a pair of touchdowns and rushing for a 77-yarder on Conneaut’s second offensive play to give them a 7-0 lead.

As it turns out, that was just the beginning for the Eagles (7-1 overall, 4-0 Region 5), as they scored 44 first-half points.

Bradford (1-7, 1-4) did have a bright spot defensively, however, in the opening 24 minutes, as Kyle Langdon intercepted Merritt, who was hit as he threw by Brandon Hughes.

Merritt made amends, however, connecting with Henry Litwin on an 8-yard touchdown at the 2:27 mark of the first quarter to put the Eagles up 14-0.

Offensively, Bradford looked to go to the air early.

Kyle Kirk connected on his first two passes of the game to Zach Bartlebaugh and Mitchell Vleminckx, but would complete just 1-of-9 the rest of the game.

“I thought Zach was open, Kyle just has to settle down,” Puglio noted. “He’s young, he’s only a sophomore and sometimes he gets a little happy feet and wants to get rid of the ball. Zach’s shown him that when the ball’s around him, he’s going to catch it. Kyle will mature, though. He just has to make the throws and I know he can do that. I’m not worried about that at all.”

Anderton got in on the act late in the first quarter, scoring on a 38-yard touchdown run that was immediately followed by a pick-six by Justin Ledford and, just like that, it was 28-0 Conneaut.

After a three-and-out by the Owls, Anderton struck again on the first play of the ensuing drive, racing 40 yards for a score and a 34-0 Eagles’ lead.

Merritt and Anderton didn’t need many carries to do their damage, as Merritt’s 108 yards on the ground came on just five rushes, while Anderton needed just eight attempts for his 136-yard effort.

Merritt and Letwin connected on another touchdown, this one from nine yards and Brennon Miller booted a 31-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to give the Eagles their 44-point cushion.

The second half saw Bradford’s JV players get extensive action, led by John Eakin and Bubby Harris, who rushed for 32 and 25 yards respectively.

Justin Fishkin led the Owls with 35 yards on the ground.

“We made the decision at halftime,” Puglio said to play his JV. “I understand it was senior night and they wanted to go out there, but we need them healthy for these last two games. Plus there was no JV game this week, so we wanted to get them some quarters because it would have been two weeks before they played another game.”

Conneaut added second half touchdown runs Bailey Kersnick (1-yard) and Connor Mattera (11-yard) to cap the scoring.

Bradford goes out of region next week for an old District 9 league foe with Brookville, looking to break through for its second win.

“Any time we can play District 9 games, you get excited,” Puglio said. “That’s the old league and a lot of fun to play. We just have to keep moving forward. We have to forget about this one. We have a two-game season from here.”

BY QUARTERS

Conneaut        21 23  13   0—57

Bradford           0       0         0    0—0

TEAM STATISTICS

Conneaut    Bradford

17    First Downs    7

35         Rushing Plays      37

398    Rushing Yards    100

6-13    Passing Comp/Att     3-11

49    Passing Yards    33

48    Offensive Plays    48

447    Total Offense    133

3-20    Penalties/Yards     2-10

1-0    Fumbles/Lost    3-1

1    Interceptions by    1

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

(Rushing)

Conneaut — Elijah Anderton 8-136, Hunter Merritt 5-108, Connor Mattera 7-69, Bailey Kersnick 9-63, Nick Lindsey 3-8, Jack Fitch 3-14

Bradford — Justin Fishkin 11-35, John Eakin 6-32, Bubby Harris 4-25, Dawson Ambrose 2-18, Alex Colosimo 5-14, Kyle Kirk 1-(minus)5, Mitchell Vleminckx 5-(minus)6, Zach McCammon 3-(minus)13

(Passing)

Conneaut — Hunter Merritt 5-of-10, 36 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT; Connor Mattera 1-of-2, 7 yards; Nick Lindsey 0-of-1

Bradford —  Kyle Kirk 3-of-11, 33 yards, 1 INT

(Receiving)

Conneaut —Taylor Williams 1-18, Henry Litwin 2-16, Dakota Hill 1-7, Justin Ledford 1-6, Colt Fairbanks 1-2

Bradford — Zach Bartlebaugh 2-27, Mitchell Vleminckx 1-6

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C — Hunter Merritt 77 run (Brennon Miller kick), 8:37

C — Henry Litwin 8 pass from Merritt (Miller kick), 2:37

C — Elijah Anderton 38 run (Miller kick), :22

Second Quarter

C — Justin Ledford 44 interception return (Bad Snap, PAT failed), 11:47

C — Anderton 40 run (Miller kick), 9:22

C — Litwin 9 pass from Merritt (Miller kick), 3:36

C — Miller 31 field goal, :00

Third Quarter

C — Bailey Kersnick 1 run (Connor Mattera kick), 8:26

C — Connor Mattera 11 run (PAT blocked), :54