Great Dane: Toledo Native has Personal Launch Day against Rockets
By Brandon Castel
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohio State wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher was worried he might not be welcomed back to his hometown if he didn?t perform with all of Toledo watching him Saturday.
Now the Central Catholic product might have a whole other reason to worry about going home again after putting it on his hometown Rockets to the tune of five catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns in front of more than 71 thousand fans - most of them cheering for the Buckeyes ? at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Dane Sanzenbacher[/FONT]
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Photo by Jim Davidson [/FONT]
"I don't know what kind of reception I'm
going to get now, but there were plenty of Ohio State fans out there today so it won't be too bad," Sanzenbacher said jokingly after the Buckeyes 38-0 win over Toledo.
"It feels good to be able to come out there after the whole week having to talk about being from Toledo and everything. It was nice to go out there and make a play."
After all the talk of Sanzenbacher nearly being a Rocket out of high school instead of a Buckeye, it took him only three plays to find the end zone for coach Jim Tressel's team Saturday as he found himself on the receiving end of a 76-yard touchdown pass from Terrelle Pryor after the sophomore quarterback checked off his primary target on the play.
"I was dropping back and I was looking off the safety, I got him over way to the right, so I stared at DeVier (Posey). I was intentionally going to DeVier because it was a soft corner, so I was going there," Pryor said.
"Someone jumped in the flat in front of it, but I had the safety over so I checked to see what the post was looking like. It was wide open so I said 'We've got a homerun.'"
The end result was Sanzenbacher running wide open down the middle of the field with both Toledo safeties in hot pursuit. Pryor lofted a perfect pass right into Sanzanbacher?s outstretched finger tips and the sure-handed slot receiver hauled it in for the opening score of the game.
"It felt like it was in the air forever. We got lucky that it opened up like that. Easy pitch and catch," said Sanzenbacher, who now leads the Buckeyes with 241 receiving yards and three touchdowns this season.
Cont'd ...