DOVER - The tone was set early here Friday night.

On the first play from scrimmage, Harrison Central handed the ball to running Ben Palmer, who'd run for 1,400 yards coming into the contest.

However, unlike in weeks past, Palmer was planted firmly behind the line of scrimmage by a swarming Tornado defense.

From that point on it was all Tornadoes during the regional quarterfinal contest in front of a large turnout at Crater Stadium.

With the Dover defense swarming around, the offense went about its business, scoring 42 first half points and spoiling the Huskies' first-ever trip to the Ohio High School Athletic Association postseason with a 42-0 victory.

"Hey, sometimes it takes a butt whipping to make you realize what it takes to win at the state level," said Harrison Central head coach Justin Kropka. "I'm real proud of our kids, but I feel for them because this is the way it has to end, but the score will be forgotten and they'll be remembered as the first Harrison Central team to get to the playoffs."

The Huskies finish the season at 9-2, which far exceeded what many had thought or expected from the Cadiz-based outfit.

"You never want to say things are impossible, but I thought this was improbable because we had all kinds of injuries during the pre-season," Kropka said.

"Sometimes when a lot of people tell kids it can't or shouldn't be done it doesn't. But, these kids didn't listen to anyone and proved a lot of people wrong."

The Huskies - who've been a run-first team all season long as evidenced by Palmer's aforementioned numbers - could get absolutely nothing going against the stiff Tornado winds.

Harrison Central ran 37 plays and finished with a net of 49 total yards. Of those numbers, only nine were through the air. Palmer was held in check to a tune of 58 yards on 19 rushes.

"A lot of things we do are based off of our run and they stopped us," Kropka pointed out.

"They were just bigger, faster, stronger than us up front and they beat us at our own game."

On the flip side, the Tornadoes whisked their way to 293 yards, but had constant field position deep in Harrison Central territory and punted just once during the opening three quarters before head coach Dan Ifft emptied his bench.

"They showed why they are No. 4 in the state," Kropka said.

"We knew all week from looking at films this was a tall task and we came out and tried to do what we do, but they took it away. So we went to Plan B and they took that away."

Senior standout quarterback Marcus Mamarella finished with 42 rushing stripes and just 136 yards passing and three scores.

The Huskies finished the aforementioned opening drive with a punt and from that point on the Tornadoes were cruising.

Dover's Ricky Maz got things started with a 40-yard punt return and a few plays later the highly regarded Dover band was playing loudly when Keith Johnson plunged in from 3 yards out. Zachary Rafter was perfect on the first of his six PATs.

After another three-and-out, Maz and the special teams struck again. Maz made a few moves to the left and was off to the races for a 55-yard touchdown, making it 14-0.

That's how the score remained through the first quarter.

Mamarella found Colton Zahner for a 16 yard touchdown pass early in the second.

On the next possession, Maz was on the receiving end of the Mamarella score. The final score of the contest was a 13-yard pass from Mamarella to Ian Drapcho.

"We had a couple of bad mistakes and you can't afford to do that," Kropka said.

"We probably saved our worst game for that last one, but those things happen. I think we had a little bit of the playoff jitters."

Dover will now meet Canal Fulton Northwest, which ousted the other Buckeye 8 squad in Region 11, Buckeye Local, by a 28-20 count in Yorkville.

The OHSAA will announce the site for next Friday's contest Sunday.

(Staskey can be reached at sstaskey@timesleaderonline.com)