by Gregg Meadows
By all accounts in last Friday night’s 2023 football season opening loss at Columbus Desales, Coach Cam West’s visiting Scotties brought a lot of positives back with them on the over hour-long bus drive home to Dresden, after the black-and-gold’s heartbreaking 21-17 loss to the host Stallions on Friday night, August 18.
On the upside, the visiting Scotties outgained the host Stallions in total yards (343 to 187) and played much better than they did last year in the 2022 season opener against the perennial central Ohio football power Columbus Desales Stallions. Desales blanked the black-and-gold 28-0 in last year’s 2022 season opener at Jack Anderson Stadium, limiting Tri-Valley to just two first downs for the entire game.
Both the visiting Scotties and host Stallions struggled on offense through the first two quarters of play in the 2023 season opener, but the Scotties ‘O’ found their footing late in the second quarter, as a huge Max Lyall to Erik Neal pass, catch, and run down the middle of the field netted 36 yards, and close to the Stallions end zone — setting up a 21-yard Bode McCullough field goal that gave the visitors a slim 3-0 lead heading to the halftime locker room.
A third quarter 32-yard scoring sprint to paydirt by Scottie senior Drake Durst on a nifty end-around play, and ensuing McCullough PAT had the visiting Scotties up 10-0 heading to the fourth period of play.
Things looked good for the boys in black-and-gold heading to the final 12-minute session, but it was not meant to be on this night, as the host Stallions scored their first touchdown, then – thanks to a costly Scottie special teams turnover – got the go-ahead TD within a three-minute span, and led 14-10 with little time remaining,
To their credit, the Scotties dug down deep and marched 84 yards to paydirt – and the go-ahead score – capping a poised late-game drive (aided by a clutch Lyall to Ashton Sensibaugh completion) with a 19-yard run up the middle for six points from junior running back Jayden Wallace. Another Bode McCullough PAT gave Tri-Valley a 17-14 lead with just 1:59 left to play.
But R.J. Day — the Stallions freshman quarterback and son of Ohio State football coach Ryan Day — found Jack Elgin for a 31-yard TD strike with 25 seconds left (after a pair of costly 15-yard Scottie penalties) sending the Stallions ahead to stay, and the Scotties scratching their heads wondering what could have – and should have been, a season-opening win.
Tri-Valley’s Max Lyall was 16-of-24 passing for 236 yards and Wallace ran 16 times for 79 yards, while Ashton Sensibaugh hauled in four passes for 101 yards and Durst and Keaton Hahn had three catches each. TV’s Chris Gargasz punted five times for a 37.2 yard per kick average.
For the victorious Stallions, Day (in a limited role) was 3-of-3 passing for 46 yards and ran 10 times for 22, as the Stallions managed only 195 total yards against the Tri-Valley defense.
This Friday night, August 25 in Dresden, the Scotties try to right the ship and get their first win of the 2023 season, when they host the Licking Heights Hornets at Jack Anderson Stadium.
Last season, the Scotties dusted themselves off from their season-opening loss vs Desales in Dresden at Jack Anderson Stadium, traveling to Licking Heights in Week 2 and bringing a 27-21 win back home with them for their first win of the season.
In that game QB Max Lyall bounced back from a tough season opener with a resilient performance on the road, connecting on 15 of his 22 attempted passes for a hefty 248 yards and even more important four scores.
Scottie junior Ashton Sensibaugh led Scottie receivers with five grabs for 108 total yards and three scores, followed by Jayden Walker with a trio of snares for 105 yards and an end zone visit – one, a big 81-yarder. Jayden Wallace led Scottie rushers with 42 yards on 12 carries in last season’s win vs. Licking Heights.
Kick-off is set for 8:00 p.m. at Jack Anderson Stadium… See you there!
