It was a bittersweet end to the season for the Scotties as they fell to visiting Bellafontane for their first playoff just one week after beating John Glenn for the coveted MVL title.
In the MVL showdown on Friday, October 22nd, the Dawgs met up with longtime rivals John Glenn Lil Muskies to see who would come out on top and get the title that Tri-Valley has been aiming for since the last time they held it three years ago.
The game started as a nail-biter with both teams fighting with everything they had as neither team was able to pull off a score until the last few minutes of the second quarter when #4 Drew Burkhart pulled out a 10-yard short pass to #3 Jalen Goins-Chandler for a touchdown but the PAT just narrowly missed the mark, so the Scotties had a small 6 – 0 lead. The Muskies answered back in literally the last second of the first half with a hail-mary thrown into the endzone for a touchdown followed by a good extra point to take the tightest lead of 7 – 6 as the two teams walked to the locker rooms.
The second half of the game was just as equal of a battle as anyone could make with both teams holding steady defensively and not allowing any scoring until the very end of the third quarter with 1:48 left on the clock as Burkhart again found Goins-Chandler for a massive catch that pushed the Scotties back into the lead with McCulloughs PAT at 13 – 7.
The Dawgs were not finished, however as Burkhart decided to charge straight up the center of the field through the Lil’ Muskies line for a 77-yard touchdown followed by another good PAT from McCullough that rounded out the scoring for the game and the Scotties took the MVL title with a 20 – 7 win over John Glenn.
The following Friday at the Jack was the first playoff game of the postseason as traveling Bellefontaine came to meet up with the Scotties
Proving to be a stronger matchup than anticipated, Bellefontaine held the Dawgs back defensively and were the first to lay down points as they grabbed a touchdown with 7:59 left in the first quarter. Within the next drive, Tri-Valley came back with a short pass from Burkhart to #11 Grant Dal Ponte who ran past defenders for paydirt as he grabbed 6 for the Scotties followed by McCulloughs good PAT tying the game at 7.
The second quarter was hard-fought as both teams tried to hold onto their dreams of going further into the postseason and the quarter almost went scoreless except for a short-yard touchdown by Bellefontaine with just 1:16 left in the half, but they were not able to capitalize on the extra point and ended the half up 13 – 7 over Tri-Valley.
Coming out of the locker room the Scotties were determined to score again but they were facing a lot of defensive opposition as they pushed their way to the end zone as Goins-Chandler finally found his way in with just 3:41 left in the third quarter putting both teams on even ground with 13 points after a missed PAT.
As the game drew to a close Bellefontaine had one more surprise up their sleeve as they punched through the end zone to grab one last touchdown and extra point with just 1:15 left on the clock and that wrapped up not only the scoring for the game but the season for the Scotties as they walked away with a loss of 20 – 13.
The Dawgs had a great season and we look forward to the games to come next season.
