Big Plays by Northridge Puts Away Covington

 

  

The youthful Covington Buccaneer football played with the Northridge Polar Bears for about a half. The Polar Bears had a big play offense that the Bucc's just could not keep up with.  Covington kept themselves within striking distance for most of the 1st half, but they could not consistantly stop the Polar Bear offense and the Polar Bear defense shut out the Buccs in the 2nd half.

Northridge scored 1st on a 66 yard catch by Brandon Thomas. Covington quickly answered with a big play of their own on the ensuing kickoff as they did a reverse and Daylynn Garret took the ball 82 yards to the house.  Covington made their extra point and briefly held the lead.

Dorreyan Davis found Ja'dynn Martin on a 44 yard completion for a touchdown to put the Polar Bears back on top.  But the Covington team was able to respond again and Garret caught a Landin Cassel pass for a 12 yard touchdown catch.  Early on the two teams were playing even.  It was the big plays of Northridge against the methodical Covington offense.

The 1st time Covington went for it on 4th down, they made it and went on to score a TD.  The team went for it again on a 4th and 5 and this time Northridge stopped them. Once again that big play offense went to bat and Brandon Thomas made a 66 yard catch that put the ball on the 6 yard line where Davis ran the ball in to put Northridge up 22-14.

Covington gave up another big play just before halftime when Tie'on Hill scored from midfield.  It had been a one score game, but now they were down 28-14 at the break.  Coming out at halftime, Northridge had the momentum and the ball.

Both teams had problems holding onto that ball in the 2nd half.  But Northridge seemed to be able to capitalize on the opportunities, while the Covington offense had problems putting together a consistent drive - either a turnover or a penalty would stop their offense.  Covington's Eli Brooks had a fumble recovery and Jordan Miller had an interception.  Meanwhile Northridge's Thomas had 2 interceptions and Hill had 1.  One of Thomas's interceptions ended a Covington drive that had gone to the 14 yard line.

The Polar Bear defense made some big plays too with timely sacks and interceptions to end Buccaneer drives.  Meanwhile the offense kept playing the same tune in the 2nd half.  Chris Evans had a 77 yard touchdown and Emilio Blythe had a 27 yard touchdown run to end the scoring.  It would be a 44-14 Northridge win.

Next week Covington travels to Milton Union and Northridge will host Bethel.

Game pics at Media Fire

Tri-County North Panthers Victors Over Arcanum Trojans

 

The Tri-County North Panthers controlled the line of scrimmage on offense and utilized an opportunistic defense in their 42-20 victory over league rival Arcanum. The team ground out yardage inbetween the tackles where Colten VanWinkle earned the bulk of the Panther gains.  They used a double wing offense for the entire game.  Arcanum, on the other hand, had their quarterback in the backfield most of the game and mixed in the pass along with the run.

Coach Smitherman, "Our offensive line has really done a good job of taking care of business. They come to work with their hard hats on and they try to get after it.  They do what the coaches ask them - and the coaches have done a fantastic job coaching them." 

North's defense was hard hitting and they had the edge in turnovers.They held Arcanum on 3 4th downs and got 3 interceptions (VanWinkle,Mason Givens - 2) and a fumble recovery. North did cough up the ball once, but the Trojans were not able to capitalize.

Coach Smitherman, "I am really proud of the defense. They are behind the 8 ball and they are trying to get better - being at the right spot at the right time. They did what they were supposed and got some turnovers for us. This helped us offensively to punch in the ball [after a turnover]."

The Trojans did put together a few nice drives, but they kept giving North favorable field position.  They also had some problems with snaps - there were 3-4 muffed snaps to the quarterback that put them in long yardage and then a problem with the snap on a punt gave North a short field.  They did keep the game within striking distance for 3 quarters, but North put them away in the 4th quarter.

North struck first as they received the opening kick off and Logan Flory ran around 90 yards to give North a lead that they would keep the rest of the way.  North was up 2 scores when VanWinkle later ran the ball in from about 14 yards out.  

Arcanum's Luceas Midlam put the Trojans on the board with a 69 yard run and now it was a game.  At the end of the opening quarter it was 15-6 North. Givens ran 18 yards for North's next score on a 4th and 3 play on the 18 yard line.  North's offense was also making big plays on 4th down.  

Arcanum made a hard charge at the end of the half.  They scored on a 4th down play themselves. Truman Knaus caught a Bishop Cartwright pass for a 25 yard touchdown towards the end of the quarter.  Coach Macy decidied to go with an onsides kick - this was recovered by Arcanum's MJ Macy with seconds left on the clock.  Arcanum tried for another score before the break, but a Givens interception sent the Trojans to the locker room.  At the break it was a close game, North 22 - Arcanum 12.

The 3rd quarter was scoreless as both teams had turnovers and could not find the endzone.  Although at the end of the quarter, North had driven to the Arcanum 13. And so they completed this drive at the start of the final quarter with a 13 yard TD. 

Down by 3 scores Arcanum now came out firing on their next possession.  But VanWinkle snagged a pass and ended that drive and put the ball on the Arcanum 30. Working with a short field, North slowly punched the ball towards the endzone.  Culiminating the drive with a 2 yard plunge by Garret Hutchison. 

Arcanum's last score was by Dakota Kendig, he ran 6 yards for his touchdown with a little over 5 minutes on the clock.  It was North's VanWinkle who provided the final margin of victory when he rambled for 28 yards for the final touchdown of the game.  The win puts North at 3-2 on the season and Arcanum is 2-3.

North's coach, Trace Smitherman, was still a little gimpy from a hit he took on the sideline when players went out of bounds, "This is a big win, our group of seniors has not beat Arcanum so we are glad that they had this opportunity. The team is really starting to come together defensively. We haven't played our best but we continue to get better every week. We have to continue to do that. " 

Next week North will journey to Tri-Village and Arcanum will host National Trail.

Game Pics at:  MediaFire

Trail - North Game is a Thriller

 

Host National Trail played neighboring Tri-County North in the first WOAC conference game of the season for both schools. It was an opportunity for both teams to get their first win of the season and even better - to get that win against a conference opponent. The teams were evenly matched and it was a close game with several lead changes that was not decided until late in the 4^th quarter.

It was exciting for the fans as both teams reached deep into their playbooks to try and get an edge. Trail went for it on 4^th down on their own 20 yard yard line and made it. While TCN had a halfback pass for their 1^st score of the game. The game had an ebb and a flow as each teams fortunes rose and fell.

Trails coach Hoffman on the 4^th down play,“Both Jamison Watts and Joey Roberts are seniors and have been in this situation before. They have both started since they were freshmen. Roberts is a big time pass catcher.”

Trail struck first as Jody Withrow ran 48 yards to score. But Trail missed their extra point. So when North scored on a half back pass from Garrett Hutchinson to Franklin Filburn and made their point after touchdown, it gave North the lead.

Jamison Watts, who had a phenomenal night for Trail, made a heads up play just before halftime to put the Blazers up at the break. TCN had driven deep into Trail territory. North runs a double wing offense which uses the triple option. Watts was able to make a play on the ball when the option went to his side and run it back about 75 yards for a touchdown. This would not be his only turnover for this night.

Hoffman: “Tonight he was the best player on the field. He's gained 25 pounds and put on 2 inches since last season. He is fast and athletic, but not only is he talented, he is smart. He is like having another coach on the field. On either offense or defense he can tell everybody what to do.”

North tried to answer but a sack by Josh Welz on 4^th and 1 ended their drive. There was still time on the clock and Trail had favorable field position on the North 33. But when Trail tried to add to their lead North's Logan Flory put and end to that threat with an interception. So at the half the score was 12-7 in favor of Trail.

On North's opening drive Watts would strike again and end the Panther threat as he would recover a North fumble at the Trail 38. Once again he would make them pay for their mistake. On the 1^st play from scrimmage he would find a seam and then race 62 yards down the sideline for a score. It looked like Trail had control of the game.

But the North offense got serious and went into a long ball controlling drive. The drive culminated in a score as Colten VanWinkle ran into the endzone from 13 yards out. Trail immediately went to work and drove almost the length of the field. But an injury to Trails quarterback Watts at a critical time would end the drive. It was 4^th down in North territory and a muffed handoff happened with the backup in the game. Watts would sit out a few plays and then re-enter the game.

This gave North the ball with a little over 8 minutes left in the game. North went uptempo with their offense. A catch by Colten VanWinkle put the ball on the 16 yard line where he ran the ball in for the score. North opted to go for 2 and get the lead. Logan Flory was able to convert the 2 point try and suddenly North was cooking again – they were up 21-20 with about 3 and half minutes left on the clock.

“When we scored easily at first I thought what's the deal – I thought they would be tougher than that. But boy did they come back and they fought hard. They had us down and they could easily have beaten us. But we got a couple of good plays when we needed it. The kids did not panic.”

Trail got a good return but North aided them with a late hit that put the ball at midfield. Trail got the ball into the redzone. The Trail staff must have seen something open in the middle of the North pass coverage. On 4^th and 11 they passed the ball into the heart of the North defense for the go ahead touchdown. This made the score 28-21 in favor of Trail with 1:15 on the clock.

North made a last ditch effort to score in final minute. But the Trail defense played with inspiration and turned up the heat, the North quarterback was sacked twice. They had to turn over the ball on downs and so Trail was able to take a knee to seal their hard won victory.

“Their quarterback [Logan Flory] and fullback [Colten VanWinkle] are as tough as players as I have seen. We had trouble stopping them all night long. VanWinkle is a downhill runner and Flory made some plays.

Next week Trail will host Preble Shawnee and North will host Dayton Christian.

Carlisle Upends South

 

Last years match up between these two schools was a close game decided by a touchdown. So fans of both teams were looking forward to a similar back and forth battle to kick off the 2023 season. But Carlisle dominated early on offense while the defense pitched a shutout to put Twin Valley South away 37-0.

The bigger, stronger line of Carlisle took control of the line of scrimmage and the Indians used their running game to control the clock. The time of possession, particularly in the 1^st half, was overwhelming in favor of Carlisle. South's offense may have had 6-7 minutes on the field during that span. Carlisle used a double wing offense and mixed in a 2 back set.

Their offense featured the run and Carlisle passed sparingly through most of the game. But when they did pass, it was effective. They ran a play action to get the TVS to bite on the run and then quarterback Cooper Steckel passed over their heads to score or set up a big gain.

Carlisle was clearly the better team, but TVS did not help their cause with mistakes. In their 1^st drive a run for a 1^st down was called back due to holding penalty. That made it long yardage and they eventually had to punt. Then on their possession, Carlisle went for it on 4^th and 5 twice – and made it both times. The TVS defensive line jumped offsides in the first instance. The Panther secondary bit on the run on the next attempt and Carlisle completed a pass to keep the drive alive and so they eventually scored a touchdown.

The momentum shift was not done, Carlisle did an onsides kick off and Ethan Hamm recovered for the visiting team. That drive ended in a score. A chop block put TVS in a 1^st and 25 in their next possession, which eventually ended with them punting. Carlisle scored on this drive as well.

South did threaten just before halftime but a Silas Borders interception ended the drive around the Carlisle 37. It was 22-0 at halftime.

South had favorable midfield position to start the 2^nd half, but a Cruz Allison fumble recovery ended that drive at the Carlisle 35. Carlisle continued their momentum ending this drive with a 35 yard TD pass. Carlisle would only pass 7 times on the night, but were very effective - 6 of these were receptions and 2 were for touchdowns.

South tried to take to the air themselves to try and score late in the 4^th quarter, but the Carlisle defense remained stubborn. Carson Osborne got a sack on 4^th and 8 on Carlisle's 33 yard line to dash South's last chance at a score.

The victory completed a trifecta start by the SWBL over the WOAC conference on opening day as both Brookville and Madison also won their games. Next week Carlisle will host 1-0 Miami East while Twin Valley South will open WOAC conference play - travelling to 1-0 Arcanum.

Game pics at MediaFire

South Scrimmages Cincinnati Country Day

 

The Twin Valley South Panthers saw some preseason action in their 1st scrimmage under new headcoach Brian Butts. The TVS Varsity scored 3 times and CCD varsity scored twice. The TVS running game was in good shape. Those backs are running down hill and they rarely were brought down on 1st contact. Blocking was good, I thought CCD had bigger kids overall, but South was able to create running lanes. The passing game was spotty at best - but it is still preseason. They probably attempted a dozen or more passes, but only completed maybe a handful. Having said that - their last TD was through the air. 

South ran a double wing offense and also a 2 back offense.  They switched back and forth. 

Defense seemed to bend at times, but got tough in the redzone. The CCD offense spread out the field and ran sets with a single back for the most part. Depending on the situation, they would go to an open backfield or a 2 back formation.  They did a good job of mixing the run and pass.  One of the ref's remarked to me that the two teams were evenly matched, it would have been good to see them play a regular game. I agree with him, it was a good matchup.  Depending on how each team fares in the regular season, they are in the same district so there would be a chance of them meeting in the post season.

 CCD scored twice on the TVS JV's, but they did not have enough kids to field a complete JV squad. So the TVS JV's were pretty much playing the CCD varsity during the series that they were in. 

South Playoff Bound After Win Over North

 

Both North and South entered their last regular season game with playoff hopes. It made the rivalry that much more intense as the loser could very well end up watching the playoffs from home. It was a well attended game and that helped give it a playoff atmosphere. The 2 teams sparred through a scoreless first quarter, but it was South that erupted for 28 points in the 2nd quarter to break the game open. One of these scores was from a blocked punt by Eric Allison that was recovered in the endzone by Caiden Kingsley just before halftime. South's defense was able to pitch a shutout for the 3^rd time this season as they would carry home the Battle of the Panthers trophy with a 42-0 victory.

TVS coach Fogle: “Our defense plays lights out. They have been our mainstay all year. Sometimes we bend, but we don't break. They just keep up the pressure. Our goal tonight was to pitch a shutout and we did that.”

North did make a drive deep into South territory in the 3^rd quarter. A halfback pass from Colten VanWinkle to a wide open Jon Shirley helped to get the ball past midfield. They got all the way to TVS 10 yard line and then began to go backwards. A Caiden Kingsley tackle for loss pushed them back and a 4^th and 25 pass fell incomplete to end the drive.

The win puts TVS in the playoffs and they will have to travel to meet their opponent. At this time, the bracket has not been published. With the loss North's season ends.

TVS coach Fogle: “We had to really fight the 1^st half of the season, but here we closed out with 4 wins in a row. The kids are hungry, they are eager – ready to go and now we want to make a run in the playoffs. Tonight the 1^st quarter was slow but once we got a taste of the endzone we really got it going. It was kind of a playoff atmosphere tonight and I hope that they continue to travel with us where ever we may go in the playoffs.”

Others who scored for TVS: Brayden Koeller 68 yd & 5yd TD runs; Cais Kingsley 6 yd & 3 TD runs – he ends the season with over 1,000 yards rushing.; Cole Bishop 25 yd TD run.  Brayden Koller also finished the season as the all time leader in tackles at TVS.

game pics at mediafire

Arrows Blank Trojans

 

The Arcanum Trojans hosted the Preble Shawnee Arrows this past Friday night for their Homecoming game. The Arrows would end up as Homecoming spoilers as they shutout the Trojans 33-0 on their home turf. This ended a tough stretch of 3 games in a row where Arcanum had to play teams at the top of the conference standings. However even with this loss, if the team wins out their last 2 games they still have a chance of making the playoffs at the end of the season.

The first half was the best half for the Trojans. Shawnee was able to move the ball, but the Arcanum defense was able to get stops when they needed. It was 0-0 at the end of the 1^st quarter. Blake Weaver got a sack that forced Shawnee to punt. Isaac Mills made a timely defensive play when he batted away an Arrow pass on 4^th down that ended a Shawnee drive at the 11 yard line. Zade Shank ended another drive when he picked off a pass just before halftime. So at the break it was a 14-0 game, still within reach of the Trojans.

Entire Story to posted shortly to:  DarkeCountyNow

Game pics at Media Fire

Patriots Pummel Panthers

 

After losing a close game against Preble Shawnee, the Tri-Village Patriots were anxious to bounce back and get back to their winning ways. They hosted the Twin Valley South Panthers this week and after trading scores in the 1^st quarter, the Patriot offense got into high gear and it was all Tri-Village for the remainder of the game. They went on to dominate in all 3 phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. The final score was 48-6.

Coach Hopkins,“I thought it was a really great game by the team. We worked all week long on the game plan, and they executed it just like we asked them to. I am really proud of how we bounced back from last week. We got better this week – and us coaches got better too and good things happened.”

Entire story to be posted soon at: DarkeCountyNow

Game Pictures

Musical Coaches in the WOAC

 Arcanum head coach Schondelmeyer put the Trojans into a bit of a tough spot when he resigned this past spring.  His son, Bryce, who was voted offensive player of the league is leaving Arcanum to play for Springfield his senior year.  Both Schondelmeyers will be part of the program at Springfield is what I have heard.  

So that left an empty seat to fill and spring is generally a tough time to find a coach as most positions are emptied and filled not long after the football season ends as coaches resign or retire around that time. So the pool of candidates looking for a coaching position is very small by the time Spring rolls around. But Matt Macy, the head coach of Ansonia, was an Arcanum alum so when the job was offered to him, he took it.

Next Ansonia was in a predicament.  They saw what Arcanum did and likewise contacted an alum - Adam Hall to come back to coach.  This was great for Ansonia as Hall accepted the offer, but bad for TCN where Hall had been the head coach.   

Now North's AD Tony Augspurger in a pickle.  But he did have a lead with a coach who had been an assistant when he was the AD at South.  Trace Smitherman had been a defensive secondary coach during the Dave Miller era and so Tony gave him a call and persuaded him to come to North.  Leaving Stebbins now without a head coach... and that is where we drop this game of musical coaches.  Situations like these are where Athletic Directors earn their pay.

Dixie will have a new coach as Dave Worley has stepped down.  He had some early on success at Dixie - sending them to the playoffs, but he has decided to move on at this time.  Eric Wolf is taking up the reins in New Lebanon and will be rebuilding a Greyhound program. He has been an assistant at several local programs so he is familier with the schools in the area and of course brings his experience. 

This is all that I am aware of, but as you can see this means a lot of change for many of the teams in the league. 

#WOAC

Covington Struggles with Numbers

 Although Covingtons numbers are not as low as neighbor Bradford, they are struggling with fielding a competive football team.  They notified several of the teams on their schedule that the Buccaneers will not be competive this year and so they would need to find another team to play if they wanted to find a team that could compete at the varsity level.  Several of the teams have already done that.

For the longest while Covington was the terror of the CCC. If they did not win the league outright, you could count on them being the 2nd place team at a minimum. But the Buccaneers fortunes changed when the school went to a new league - the Three Rivers Conference and also got a new, tougher coach. The combination did not sit well with last years crop of players. Only 1 senior bothered to come out and just one starter from last season.  The team is comprised of mostly freshmen and sophomores - so yes basically a JV team.

Second year head Coach Austin Morgan is truly rebuilding and reshaping a football program from the ground up. He is sticking to his guns - instead of bending the program to accomodate the kids, he is bending the kids to fit into his program. Will these younger kids buy in and reconstruct the tradition that has been Covington football for decades, or will they likewise decide that the short term pain is not worth the long term gain like their older classmates?  

Bradford Railroads the WOAC

 Bradford is again struggling to get enough players on the field to have a football team.  The rumor is that only about 12 kids went out this season. And the rumor was confirmed as team after team in the WOAC has announced schedule changes here in the preseason. They are scrambling to find out of conference teams to replace Bradford on their schedule.

Bradford has been having a problem getting kids out for several years now.  They had to cancel a season earlier when they were in the CCC and even when they had teams they had low numbers - once going through a season with like 15 players.   Really a program needs twice that many players - above 30 is best.  That way you can give players a rest, have some depth in case of injuries, and be able to compete.  

Whether the problem is with worried parents not wanting kids to play because of concussions, or just a lack of interest in football (a lot of schools are seeing numbers diminish in all sports, not just football), it seems clear that Bradford needs to take a hard look in the mirror and just end the program.  It is difficult to end a tradition and I am sure there are many in the community that will fight this. But if the interest is not there from the students, then it just needs to be taken off of life support and fade away.

 The other schools can find out of conference games to fill their schedules. They would have an entire off season to pick up games to fill the empty slot.  Franklin and Newton are fellow WOAC members who do not have football, so the precedent is there.  Bradford has shown that they can be competetive in the WOAC in other sports so there are athletes attending this school, just none that care enough to play football.

Having said all this - there is a radical way that Bradford could salvage their football program - 8 man football.  Travel would be a problem as there are not that many teams that are doing this.  But as other small schools reallize that to keep football they need to adjust to smaller teams this division can grow.  As the number of small schools participating grow, then travel times will go down. Not the best solution, but it would be a means to keep football alive in Bradford.

Tigers Tail Panthers in Second Half

 

The Ansonia Tigers fought hard against the Twin Valley South Panthers – who are at the top of the conference. They played well in the 1^st half and had a half time lead against the Panthers who are undefeated in league play. But the Panthers battled back after the break and early in the 3^rd quarter claimed the lead for the first time and would not relinquish it for the remainder of the game. What had been a close game broke open in the last quarter as the Panthers cruised to victory 58-40.

The Tigers seemed to have the Panthers figured out in the first half. Defensively they used a zone to...

Complete story to be posted shortly at Darke County Now

Pics at: Media Fire

Box Score: 

Ansonia: Kadyn Edwards 4, Ethan Reichart 5, Trevor Hemmerich 7, Jacob Creaser 2, Treadon Spence 2, Garrett Stammen 8, Ian Schmitmeyer 12.

TVS: Grant Ulrich 9, Seth Vorhis 8, Jace Thuma 5, Jandon Ankrom 13, Cole Bishop 6, Logan Clark 4, Lucas Sievering 11, P. Mershan 1