After spending several seasons in the East Central Ohio League the River View Black Bears made their return to the MVL this year to some stiff competition and the Dawgs were happy to show them the ropes in a rough start that turned out to be a late-game battle but Tri-Valley came out on top 35 to 21.
The Scotties have been working hard all season to stay on top of their opponents and this was no exception running the scoreboard in the first quarter starting halfway through the quarter with a 7-yard touchdown run by #2 Jordan Pantaleo followed by the point after by #18 Coleson McCullough to put the Dawgs on the board at 7 – 0 against the Black Bears. River View had the ball back for less than a minute before returing possession the Scotties. Quarterback #19 Aidan Fritter capitalized on getting the ball back with a 71-yard touchdown pass to Pantaleo which McCullough was happy to cap off to bring the score to 14 – 0 Tri-Valley. The Black Bears tried to regain composure and gained a lot of ground on the field before the Scotties got the ball back near the end of the quarter. With 10 seconds left on the clock in the first quarter Pantaleo ran for a 26-yard touchdown and ended the quarter up 21 – 0 against River View.
The second quarter River View definitely stepped up their defense hold back the Scotties as much as they could but 4 minutes into the quarter #22 Black Sands broke through the defense to run for a 73-yard touchdown and for such a small crowd the stadium was roaring with noise as the Scotties now led the Black Bears 28 – 0. The Dawgs continued to punch up the score with 1:25 left in the first half of the game as again Sands ran the ball 8 yards for another Scottie touchdown and crushing 35 – 0 lead that apparently woke up the sleeping Bears as #15 Cal Shrimplin returned the following kickoff for a 79 yard touchdown of their own which put the scrore at TV 35 – RV 7 and was just enough to keep from going to a running clock after halftime.
After the shortened 10 minute halftime the Scotties and the Bears went back at it. Both teams were fighting hard, but the Black Bears were out to prove that they wanted the win pushing through tackles and blocking offensive advances holding back the Scotties as much as they could to try to catch up. With 3:25 left in the third quarter #22 Collier Snow for River View punched in a 4-yard touchdown and with a good PAT pushed their score up to 14 against Tri-Valley’s 35.
The final battle of the game was just as hard as the third quarter with both teams vying for field position and keeping the ball moving closer to their goal. With just over 4 minutes left in the game the Black Bears made one more push into the endzone thanks to a 5-yard run from #2 Cruz Mobley ending their scoring for the night at 21 points. The Dawgs walked away with the victory 35 – 21 and are looking forward to their next matchup on Homecoming night at Jack Anderson Stadium against MVL rivals the Sheridan Generals.
