Sports
Extra Points: South Gallia Wins Big, Saltzman Runs Wild
By: Maggie Shandrick, Russ Heltman
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In his final game as an Athens Bulldog (6-4), Zacciah Saltzman rushed for 361 yards and finished his final season as a Bulldog with 2,113 rushing yards.
Entering the longtime rivalry game, Saltzman needed 250 yards to reach the 2,000 mark and he reached his goal single handedly in the first half rushing for 261 yards and three touchdowns as the Athens Bulldogs went on to defeat the Buckeyes 50-14.
But he wasn’t done yet.
Saltzman finished the game with five touchdowns and the Bulldogs claimed the Doc Kroner Trophy. Sadly, the Buckeye seniors never got their hands on the trophy in their four years at Nelsonville-York.
Athens coughed up a fumble on the first drive of the game and Nelsonville-York (1-9) took advantage scoring and taking an early 8-0 lead.
Tied at 14 with 4:28 until halftime, Athens scores 14 unanswered points and takes a comfortable 28-14 lead at halftime.
The second half was all in favor of Athens as Saltzman and the Bulldogs offense cruised by the Buckeye defense.
Nelsonville- York struggled as key players Noah Andrews and Alex Mount are out for the season due to injuries but they stuck to it and the Buckeyes finished with 442 total offensive yards.
Athens and Nelsonville-York both saw their seasons come to end as neither team will be continuing play next week in the playoffs.
The South Gallia Rebels came into Friday’s game riding a three-game win streak and they kept it rolling by overpowering the Miller Falcons by a final score of 61-26.
The Rebels were led by dual-threat quarterback Landon Hutchinson’s dominant play on the ground and through the air. Miller could not match up with South Gallia’s option offense from the start and the combination of Hutchinson and running back Isaiah Geiger turned it into a long game for the Falcons.
The Rebels began the game with a 51-yard run by Hutchinson, which set up an ensuing three-yard touchdown by Hutchinson on the first drive. The Rebels quickly got the ball back and they executed another scoring drive capped off with a 48-yard touchdown pass by Hutchinson. The South Gallia offense dominated throughout the rest of the game, totaling a season-high 61 points.
Miller was consistently shut down on the offensive side of the ball as the Falcons were unable to get their star running back Kody McKinnis going and the entire offense suffered because of it. The absence of the rushing attack made it especially difficult on quarterback Cole Geil, who couldn’t find any success throwing the ball.
South Gallia came into the game sitting in 11th place in the playoff standings on joeeitel.com. With this victory, they will look to move into the top eight of the standings and qualify for the playoffs. Miller, who held the eighth playoff spot coming into this game, will see its turnaround season end in disappointment, as they will assuredly miss the playoffs.