In what seemed to be an equal matchup between two rivals both at 5 – 1 in the conference, Tri-Valley stepped up to show that they were here to play the game with two early scores in the first two minutes. That momentum would continue to drive them throughout the game to ultimately crush Philo with a decisive 45 – 20 win and new standing in the MVL of 6 – 1.
In the first couple minutes of the game, Tri-Valley came out on fire with a first official play being a massive pass from #4 quarterback Drew Burkhart to #11 Grant Dal Ponte for a 71-yard touchdown putting the Scotties on the board with 7 – 0 against Philo. As Philo gained possession of the ball they made the mistake of passing a ball near Scottie # 3 Jalen Goins-Chandler who grabbed the interception and ran it all the way downfield for a 44-yard touchdown popping the lead to 14 – 0. Philo may have been caught off guard, but they were fighting back as they pushed forward with a successful drive to the goal to close in on the lead at TV 14 – Philo 7. They followed that up with another score just partway through the second quarter to tie the game at 14 – 14. The Scotties, however, were just getting started as Burkhart hit up Dal Ponte again for a 9-yard touchdown followed by #8 Coleson McCullough’s good PAT to take the lead again at 21. And just a mere moments later, Goins-Chandler passed the ball to #5 Alex Williams for a 15-yard touchdown pushing the lead to 28. To cap off the half McCullough landed a beautiful 21-yard field goal and the Scotties walked into the locker room up 31 to 14 against the Electrics.
After halftime, the Scotties were still riding on momentum and Burkhart was able to pop a short pass for a touchdown to #17 Max Lyall to open the second half scoring putting the Dawgs up to 38 after McCullough’s PAT. Burkhart turned around for the next score to carry the ball in himself for a 15-yard touchdown locking in the final score for the Scotties at 45. Philo was able to put one more touchdown on the board but #34 Drake Durst broke through the line to block their extra point and end the scoring for the night at TV 45 – Philo 20.
The October 8th game against River View has been canceled, but the Dawgs will face rival Sheridan Generals next week on the road.
