Staff photo / Preston Byers East Palestine quarterback Clark Rutledge throws a pass before Tuesday’s practice in East Palestine.

EAST PALESTINE — Last Friday’s home football game was a good one for East Palestine.

Although the second half left some to be desired, according to their head coach, the Bulldogs cruised to a 51-33 victory over Lisbon to improve to 4-0 on the season.

There was one issue, though.

“Just this last Friday, this place was packed,” East Palestine coach Michael Demster said. “I actually heard a quote from somebody that it was ‘uncomfortably’ packed.”

It’s a great problem for the Bulldogs to have.

Before this year, the last time East Palestine was 4-0 was 2009, when many of the current players were either not born yet or still in the cradle. Sophomore quarterback Clark Rutledge certainly fits in that category.

Taking over the most important position on a varsity football team from an outgoing senior was always going to be daunting for Rutledge. However, Owen Jurjavcic made it especially difficult, because Jurjavcic was not merely a part of the Bulldogs’ 2024 offense – he was the offense.

As a senior, Jurjavcic rushed for 2,147 yards and 31 touchdowns and threw for another 846 yards and seven scores, breaking numerous school records on his way to becoming the first East Palestine All-Ohio selection in more than 30 years and leading the Bulldogs to their first winning record and playoff berth since 2017.

Demster, who also serves as the offensive play caller, not only knew Rutledge could not replicate Jurjavcic’s style, but that it would not make any sense to try.

“We always tailor our offense around what we have,” Demster said. “As great of a leader and rusher as Owen was, Clark is a better passer, more of a pure quarterback. He’s a student of the game, and we knew what we had in him coming up as well.”

The numbers indicate that as well.

Through four games, Rutledge has completed 66% of his passes for 709 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions, about 140 yards shy of Jurjavcic’s season total and already two more touchdowns. Additionally, Rutledge has rushed for 362 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns.

“Owen was a great quarterback last year, and I’m just trying to follow right back in his footsteps, have the same kind of success that he did and just help the team in whatever way I can to win some more games,” Rutledge said.

The wins have, in large part, been decisive so far this season.

During the first two weeks, a 40-7 win at Shadyside and 57-14 home victory vs. Windham, the Bulldogs did not allow a first-half point. The only truly competitive game has been a 28-21 road win two weeks ago vs. Bridgeport, which relies on its ground attack almost as much as East Palestine did last year.

The results, while historic, have not been particularly shocking, Demster said, because the expectations prior to last season’s 6-5 record and playoff appearance are not the same expectations they had before this season, despite graduating their starting quarterback and entire offensive line.

“I think only the people outside of this locker room kind of thought we would fall off,” Demster said. “We knew the hard work that those guys put in the entire offseason. We knew the gains that they had made, both physically, mentally with their football IQ, how much faster we are this year and more athletic we are because of the weight room. So for us, it’s not really a surprise. We expected to be competitive. We expected to win. And I’ll be honest, with this group right here, I do believe the sky’s the limit. They have a very high ceiling, and I’m looking forward to seeing what that entails.”

Getting to 5-0 tonight may prove enormously challenging for East Palestine. To do so, the Bulldogs will have to beat Southern, which has not happened in eight years.

Since the 2009 season, in which the Bulldogs began 5-0 and opened the year with a 12-6 win vs. Southern, the Indians are 11-1 against East Palestine and have outscored their Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference rival 357-70 during the current seven-game win streak.

Having been the head coach at United and an assistant at Columbiana before taking the job at East Palestine, Demster knows Southern well.

“They’ve run that offense there for so long, and I know they’ve run it at every level, all the way down to their little Indians program, through their middle school,” Demster said. “So they’re very proficient with what they do. It’s executed very well at a high level. And those kids know that offense like the back of their hand.

“We got to go down there, and that’s a really tough place to play. They always pack it in. Their fans are loud. It just makes for a great high school football atmosphere. Those are the things that we have to overcome when we get in there. We’ve kind of got to block all that out, put the mind clutter away, and we’ve just got to execute like we’re capable.”

If the Bulldogs win tonight in Salineville, it could set them on a path toward their first EOAC title since the 2017 team won the league’s inaugural championship and unknowingly inspired a litter of pups.

“Everything’s for the community and the school, honestly, because [there’s no] better community to back us up every single game than this,” Rutledge said. “Just from growing up as a little kid, coming to all the games, watching everyone when Parker Sherry played quarterback, watching all the success and how the community backed him. I mean, I just want the same thing for us now.

“I was here when we were winning games with Parker, but then I was also here watching games when we weren’t having our best years. And I took all of that into my brain, and I’ve just been working over the years. And I wasn’t the only one. They were all watching over the years, too. We all just take that into our minds every single day and put in the work. It’s always in the back of our mind.”