North Routs Ansonia

Tri-County North scored 38 first half points and that was all that they would need as they put on the cruise control in the second half and coasted to a 38-0 victory.  North used their running game  effectively racking up huge gains both on the edge and in the middle.   The defense swarmed to the ball and generated turnovers.  North dominated all facets of the game as their special teams likewise performed exceptionally well.

The defense gang tackled Ansonia and kept the Ansonia ball carriers from generating very much yardage.  When Ansonia tried to create some offense with the pass they did hit their receivers a few times for yardage.  But just when they started to move the ball, turnovers stopped their drives.  On a pass play the ball was thrown backwards and went to the ground.  Austin Elmore alertly scooped up the ball and ran about 40 yards for a touchdown.  Next series an Ansonia fumble was pounced on by North and that too became a touchdown a few plays later.  So North made the most of Ansonia mistakes.  North’s Blake Lawson and Kyle Miller both got a quarterback sack.

Special teams also shone in this game – Ansonia started most of their drives in the vicinity of the 20 yard line.  Deep kick’s and good coverage kept Ansonia from getting decent returns.  Although North did not punt much, the times they punted were deep into Ansonia territory.  And North’s Trey Summers easily made a 32 yard field goal , so that is another weapon that the North team can utilize down the road.

Offensive scoring for TCN: Dustin Green 2 TD’s (10 and 55 yard runs), Cody Cordez 11 yard run, Austin Johnson 19 yard pass.

Next week North plays at Arcanum a team that is 1-1.  Their win was against the SWBL’s Northridge and their loss was against Covington.  But that loss was a closely contested game where the Bucc’s escaped with a 14-7 victory.  So this should be a close game for the Panthers.  The other Panther team resumes varsity play after a week off.  They will likewise be road warriors, South will be making a trip to play a 0-2 National Trail squad that is coming off of a 48-32 loss to Miami East.  Trail also scored a lot of points in their first week loss to Shawnee, but their defense is pourous.  So look for a lot of points to be scored at Trail on Friday night. 

Hounds Upended by Ross

An overmatched Dixie team fell to Hamilton Ross 57-13.  Division 6 Dixie simply gave up to much size to Division 3 Ross.  The Ross line was much larger and more physical so it was a simple matter to run the ball almost at will against a smaller Dixie squad.  Still Dixie acquitted themselves somewhat in the second half by airing out the ball and scoring 3 touchdowns after being shutout in the first half. But Dixie has a tough schedule.  9 out their 10 games are against schools that are at least one division larger.  So almost every Friday night they are going against teams that are bigger and deeper.

Dixie’s running game was pretty much non-existent.  They would end up with negative yardage for the night.  And so with quarterback Cody Grubb out with injury, it fell upon the arm of Ethan Arnett to generate some offense.    He responded well in the second half with two touchdowns, Arnett threw for 176 yards and for the night, Dixie would have a respectable 227 yards in the air. One of those touchdowns was a 72 yard strike. Clayton Washington would throw the third Dixie touchdown – a 10 yarder to cap a drive. Shane Hale, Justin Funkhouser,and Nick Adams all scored as receivers for Dixie.  Zach Rader lead the defense in tackles.

Coach Watson, “We were shutout at halftime by a bigger Ross team.  But I challenged the kids at half time to play hard and to play with pride.  To win at the one one game at your position. They responded, we did a better job on defense and our varsity scored two touchdowns – one was a 72 yard pass play.  Grubb was out with a concussion and Arnett stepped up and did well for us.  Although we lost, the yards that we got passing is the most that we have had since I have been here. “

Brookville, “Coach Hetrich has done a great job with their program.  We know that they are going to run the ball and that we are going to have to stop that. They run a disciplined offense and we will have our hands full. We will have Grub back for the Brookville game and we will move him around in our offense.  He is a good athlete and can play running back or receiver.  We have 5 good receivers so we will have plenty of options.“