EAST LIVERPOOL — It was the beginning of a new era for East Liverpool football Friday night when the Potters hosted rival Beaver Local before a huge crowd in the first game on the new artificial turf at historic Patterson Field.

Although Friday’s game provided an evening of wonderful nostalgia for East Liverpool fans, it was Beaver Local which owned things on the new turf as the Beavers rolled to a 65-0 running clock romp over the Potters in the annual Backyard Brawl.

“This is a great team win for us and we’re going to build on it,” said Beaver Local head coach Mike McKenzie of the blowout win.

“We just have to keep working,” said a disappointed East Liverpool head coach Don Phillips. “We have to keep working and focus on the task at hand.”

Heading into Friday night’s 44th meeting between the Potters and Beavers, East Liverpool led the all-time series, 22-21, so with Beaver Local’s win, the all-time series is now deadlocked at 22-22.

“We won this one, that’s all I care about,” said McKenzie.

The 65-point win margin is the largest in school history.

Beaver Local did it all in the first half, scoring on offense, defense and special teams and owned a staggering 58-0 lead at intermission.

With the win, the Beavers evened their record to 2-2, while East Liverpool is now 1-3.

The veteran Beavers’ offensive and defensive lines dominated the line of scrimmage against the youthful Potters which paved the way for the visitors to have success on the ground, through the air and on defense with two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. All four of those East Liverpool miscues ended up in touchdowns for the Beavers (2-2).

The Beavers scored on their first possession and never looked back. They marched 60 yards to score and the march was capped by a 52-yard scoring swing pass from quarterback Austin Cline to running back Caleb White. Caleb Mays added the PAT kick and the Beavers were off and running at 7-0.

White had a huge first half, scoring three more touchdowns on a 22-yard sweep around right end on offense to go along with interception returns for touchdowns of 40 and 85 yards.

White said he’s never scored four touchdowns in a game before.

“The most I ever had in a game before this is three,” he said. “So I have to give all then credit to my teammates with the blocks they were setting and the intensity we were playing with. It was awesome. I just like scoring in general and I was having a blast out there tonight. It was a great game.”

“Caleb (White) obviously had a heck of a game and scored a lot of different ways,” praised McKenzie. “But Caleb will be the first one to tell you, credit to his teammates. Caleb is a very unselfish kid, he just wants to win, but obviously wants to score.”

The Beavers, who led 21-0 after one quarter and 58-0 at half, also got first-half touchdowns on an 11-yard run by Kaydon Bobby, a 25-yard fumble return for a touchdown by linebacker Noah Boyer, a fumble recovery in the end zone for a touchdown by linebacker Jacob Blakeley, a 47-yard punt return for a touchdown by Anderson Fitch and a 26-yard field goal by kicker Caleb Mays.

The first half was one of total domination as Beaver Local led in total offense, 147-48 and had 10 first downs to the Potters’ three.

“We came out and the way our defense and special teams played I don’t know if we dominated offensively because we didn’t run that many plays (due to scoring on defense and special teams),” said McKenzie. “There wasn’t a whole lot of plays and that’s a credit to our defense. It was nice to see them play fast again. I think the first couple weeks we were overthinking things and we’ve gotten back to flying around and being physical and it’s a lot of fun.”

Beaver Local quarterback Austin Cline was two-of-four for 60 yards and touchdown, while White had two carries for 35 yards and four touchdowns at the break, including two on offense and two on defense.

The clock was lowered to two 10-minute quarters in the second half with the running clock and Beaver Local played its backups in the second half.

There was one score in the second half as Beaver Local backup quarterback Taylor Johnson scored on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter and Brayden Hall added the PAT kick.

The Beavers then went on to close out the 65-point win.

“It’s a credit to our defensive staff for their game plan and credit to our kids,” said McKenzie. “They came out and played and flew around.”

“I feel like we’re on top of the world right now,” closed White.

¯ The parking lots were jammed an hour before the start of the 7:30 p.m. East Liverpool-Beaver Local start. One of the largest crowds in recent memory filled Patterson Field for the Backyard Brawl.

¯ The first game ever played between Beaver Local and East Liverpool was in 1962 when the Beavers posted a 16-12 win at Patterson Field.

B. LOCAL: 21-37-0-7 –65

E. LIVERPOOL: 0- 0-0-0 — 0

BL–Caleb White 52 pass from Austin Cline, 6:44 1st (Caleb Mays kick)

BL–Caleb White 22 run, 4:36 1st (Caleb Mays kick)

BL–Noah Boyer 25 fumble return, 2:48 1st (Caleb Mays kick)

BL–Caleb Mays 26 field goal, 11:20 2nd

BL–Anderson Fitch 47 punt return, 8:49 2nd (Kick failed)

BL–Jacob Blakeley fumble recovery in end zone, 7:45 2nd (Keaton Heddleston pass from Austin Cline)

BL–Kaydon Bobby 11 run, 5:24 2nd (Caleb Mays kick)

BL–Caleb White 40 interception return, 5:03 2nd (Kick failed)

BL–Caleb White 85 interception return, 1:13 2nd (Caleb Mays kick)

BL–Taylor Johnson 5 run, 7:35 4th (Brayden Hall kick)

Comp-Att-Int 5-7-105 3-8-30

RUSHING — Beaver Local, Austin Cline 2-24, Blake Lucas 4-17, Caleb White 3-35, Taylor Johnson 1-14, Kaydon Bobby 1-11, Tyler Prideau 4-23, Severs 3-30; East Liverpool, Trent Davis 1-2, Gavin Wright 6-0, Michael Harty 4-15, Jaymin Haney 7-33, Julius Jones 8-2.

PASSING — Beaver Local, Austin Cline, 2-4-60-1-0; East Liverpool, Gavin Wright 2-7-30-0-2 .

RECEIVING — Beaver Local, Caleb White 1-52, Severs 1-8, Micah Jones 1-8; East Liverpool, Anderson Fitch 1-8, Trent Davis 1-24.

INTERCEPTIONS — Beaver Local, Caleb White 2.

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — Beaver Local, Noah Boyer.

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