BY YANEEK SMITH, BEACON CONTRIBUTOR

VERMILION — Port Clinton continued its winning ways behind a great defensive effort and a passing attack that saw quarterback Cam Gillum throw three touchdown passes and Garrett Cornell rush for 139 yards in its 34-0 victory over host Vemilion on Friday night.

The Redskins (6-1, 2-0 Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division) got on the board in the first quarter, taking the lead for good on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Gillum to Josh Hurst. The first of Andrew Hanson’s four PATs made it 7-0.

It was the sixth straight loss for Vermilion, which is 1-6 and 0-2 in the Bay Division.

Tyler Webb added a score on a 48-yard touchdown run later in the quarter, and Port Clinton went into the half with a 14-0 lead.

Despite jumping out to an early lead, the ‘Skins didn’t score in the second quarter.

“It wasn’t easy at the beginning. We had some tough penalties called against us, and weren’t as focused as we should’ve been. It’s something we’re going to make sure we address in the future,” said Port Clinton coach Beau Carmon. “When we got going, we were able to win the line of scrimmage, and we got Garrett going. That’s important, for us to be more balanced. We only threw the ball 10 times. We’re going to do what we need to do to win the football game. If we can run it, we’re going to keep doing it.”

Cornell scored on a 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to push the lead to 20-0, and Gillum scored on two 20-yard touchdown runs in the fourth.

It was the second consecutive game in which the ‘Skins shut out their opponent.

“Defensively, we’ve shut teams out two weeks in a row. That’s outstanding because it’s very hard to do,” said Carmon. “Vermilion had some great drives, but we were able to stifle them at the end. I don’t want to be known as a Big XII (college) football team where you just have a good offense and don’t play good defense.”

Cornell ran 19 times for 139 yards and a touchdown, and had one of his best performances of the season.

“We went through a tough stretch of games without him and Adam Thorbahn, and Dagan Meyers and Owen Auxter filled in. There’s only one Garrett Cornell. We missed him inside on defense,” said Carmon. “It was great to have him back just in time for Edison.

“He barely played against Perkins, and we sat him down for two games. He seems very upbeat right now. He loves football, and I hate to see a senior miss too much time.”

Port Clinton is third in the Division IV, Region 14 standings with 13.09 points. Bellevue leads with 15.97 points and Van Wert is second with 13.95.

“I’m happy with where we are. We go one game at a time, we don’t look past anybody, we don’t look ahead,” said Carmon. “I do know we’re third in the region. Other than that, I don’t care. Our concentration is Willard — if you take it one game at a time, the rest will take care of itself.”