Friday, October 4th, at New Lexington “Jim Rockwell” stadium was the first in a line of chilly nights at the football field, but that didn’t stop the Scotties from getting “Fired Up” and rolling off to a record-breaking 73 – 24 victory against the New Lexington Panthers.
Just a minute and a half into the game it was clear to see how it was going to turn out when #33 Jordan Pantaleo ran the ball 62-yards for a touchdown and put the first points on the board. The following good point after brought on by #46 Kaden Bay gave the Scotties a 7 – 0 lead. On the next Scottie drive for the end zone #22 Blake Sands made his first of a school record-breaking seven touchdowns against New Lexington with a 30-yard run and with six minutes left in the quarter the Dawgs were up 14 – 0. The Panthers answered back with a 33-yard touchdown pass getting on the board for the first time of the night at 14 – 6 Scotties. Tri-Valley pushed on and just before the end of the first quarter with the help of #4 Morgan Williamson they landed a 35-yard field goal pushing the lead to 17 – 6.
And like the first quarter the second quarter was hastily started by a short run for #33 Jordan Pantaleo gaining a 5-yard touchdown and again lighting the board with the PAT by Bay 24 – 6. Halfway through the quarter #22 Blake Sands punched through the defense for another touchdown and Scotties had the lead up to 31 – 6 against the Panthers. On the kickoff to New Lexington #32 C.J. Ratliff returned the ball for a 93-yard touchdown and a boost to the Panthers score, still down 31 – 12 against Tri-Valley. Just as quickly the Scotties turned around and with a 19 yard return on the kick by Sands, followed by a defense-breaking, tackle-slipping 64-yard touchdown run by Sands shot the score to 38 – 12 Scotties. A penalty negated a 97-yard touchdown return by the Panthers and the Scotties capitalized with their own punch through the end-zone by Sands popping the score to 45 – 12. With just one minute and twenty seconds left in the half #6 Aidan Fritter lands a pass to Sands for a 68-yard touchdown with the good PAT by #46 Kaden Bay the Dawgs were up 52 – 12. The Panthers fought hard to land one more touchdown before the end of the half and managed to pull it off short of the extra point so the half ended 52 – 18 Tri-Valley.
“I think we played really well tonight especially coming back from a loss like last week, we had our backs against the wall, we know if we lose another one we won’t make MVL. We came out, fought hard, and the lineman blocked great !” stated the new school record holder, Blake Sands.
Recharged after halftime the Scotties were back on the path with a 59-yard touchdown carry by Sands that kicked the score up to 59 for the Dawgs. On the kickoff #32 for the Panthers was at it again with a staggering 98-yard touchdown return that narrowed the gap slightly with their final score of the night, and held the Scotties at 59 – 24 to the end of the quarter.
The Scotties, however, were not finished yet. less than a minute into the 4th quarter Sands capped his record-breaking night with his last touchdown run for 16-yards. This time #4 Morgan Williamson stepped in to complete the extra point, and Tri-Valley was up 66 – 24. With just over 2 minutes left in the game, #31 Zach Baker pushed through the Panther’s line for a touchdown that finished off the score for the night with the help of #4 Morgan Williamson, and the Scotties won the game 73 – 24.
“You know, the score is no indication of the worry that we put into this game. The New Lexington team has been scoring 80 points a game and we had no idea if we could stop them or not and we did. We couldn’t stop the kickoff return, but defensively despite what it may look like, defensively is where we made our stand. Offensively I have never seen two running backs run like those two guys. Jordan, was injured unfortunately but Sands ran in 7 touchdowns which is a school record. We are coming around, we had a tough loss last week and now we gotta keep playing. It’s in our hands, and that is all you can ask.” stated head coach Kevin Fell.
