by Gregg Meadows
The Tri-Valley football team is on a steady climb heading into the last three-week – and crucial – stretch of the 2022 regular season. And it’s a climb of week-by-week improvement – which gets a thumbs up from Coach Cam West and his hard-working staff, as the black-and-gold won their sixth straight game last Friday night, Sep. 30 with a 44-14 win over visiting River View at a packed Jack Anderson Stadium.
The victory pushed the Scottie’s record to 6-1 overall and kept them tied atop the MVL ‘Big School’ conference ledger with pigskin rival Sheridan – and a lead as well in the OHSAA D-III, Region 11 playoff standings. Tri-Valley stands as the kingpin in their division with 17.8 points over second place Chillicothe (14.8), heading into Week 8. Sheridan currently sits in fifth place in the same Region 11 standings with 13.8 computer points; the Generals Week 9, Oct. 14 visit to Jack Anderson Stadium should be for all the MVL ‘Big School’ division marbles.
In the River View win, Scottie sophomore quarterback Max Lyall continued his steady improvement as the Scottie’s standout signal caller, connecting on 15 of his 22 pass attempts for 274 yards and an eye-popping five touchdowns. His first-half scoring tosses to running back Jayden Wallace (a late first-quarter 22-yarder) and a second-quarter 13-yard strike to Ashton Sensibaugh gave the hosts a 13-0 lead.
Visiting River View got on the board when Black Bear QB Ethan Jordan found Mark Dickerson for a 6-yard TD pass with 3:00 left in the half. The Scotties added to their lead with a late first-half 33-yard Carter Dinan field goal, and led 16-7 at intermission.
Lyall kept his hot hand going in the third quarter, with a trio of scoring strikes to three different Scottie receivers – first a 35-yard score to Jayden Wallace just two minutes into the second half, then a 54-yard aerial catch-and-run to leading scorer Ashton Sensibaugh at 7:25 of the third quarter, which was followed by a 27-yard scoring hook-up to Scottie sophomore receiver Kade Hindel. Carter Dinan’s third PAT of the third quarter had the home team up 37-14 heading to the fourth quarter. Scottie senior receiver Jayden Walker capped the six-scoring with his fourth-quarter five-yard rushing score, as another Dinan PAT delivered the final point.
The Scotties amassed 530 yards of total offense, as a big 256-yard night in the team rushing department complemented Lyall’s big numbers through the air as well. Super soph’ Jayden Wallace delivered a second-straight 100-plus yard performance overland, with 162 yards gained on 20 carries, followed by Kam Karns who toted the pigskin four times for 66 yards. Wallace also hauled in a pair of Lyall passes for 57 yards and two TDs. In the receiving department, Sensibaugh’s nine grabs for 172 yards and two scores led all receivers. The talented Scottie junior pass-catcher keeps adding to a breakout – and standout – season. Defensively, the Scotties were led by standout starters Mason Prouty Aaron Frueh, Jake Slaboden, Hansel Holmes, Ethan Helms, Kam Karns, Thomas Williams, and Jayden Walker.
Looking back:
Back on September 23 in Dresden, Tri-Valley football earned its fifth straight victory, defeating a solid Morgan squad by a 42-21 count on Homecoming Night at Jack Anderson Stadium.
In the Morgan win, TV scored in each quarter and showed impressive offensive balance, gaining 453 total yards, with 267 in the air (on sophomore Max Lyall’s outstanding 20-25 aerial performance with three TD tosses), and 186 yards rushing, led by sophomore Jayden Wallace’s 153 yards on just 12 attempts and three end zone visits. TV had 11 first downs through air, and 11 on the ground as well.
In addition to Lyall and Wallace’s big offensive night, Jayden Walker led Scottie receivers with nine catches for 122 yards and a score, multi-talented Thomas Williams added four catches for 55 yards, and TV’s ‘Mr. Big Play’ – Ashton Sensibaugh – made his pair of snares count for two scores. Hansel Holmes also added three catches for 22 yards, and Kam Karns added 23 yards on the ground on just three totes of the pigskin.
Week 8: This Friday night, Oct. 7, the Scotties hit the road for a trip to Duncan Falls to face the host Philo Electrics, who were defeated 35-6 last Friday night in Sheridan by the Generals.
