Sports
Tri-Valley Bested by Akron St.Vincent-St.Mary
By: Connor Martin
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With two minutes left on the clock Thursday night, Tri-Valley found itself with its back against the goal line and Akron Saint Vincent-Saint Mary in front of it. It was 3rd and goal at the one-yard line, down 14-7. Get a stop and keep the hope for victory alive.
The ball was snapped, Terrance Keyes took the handoff from Luke Lindsay and dove over the middle across the goal line, touchdown Irish. The Scotties watched the scoreboard change from 14-7 to 21-7, but they did not drop their heads.
“I thought our kids played incredibly hard,” Tri-Valley coach Justin Buttermore said.
They did not give up.
With just under two minutes left, QB Andrew Newsom led Tri-Valley down the field, repeatedly finding his favorite target, 6’6” Jake McLoughlin.
Newsom took the snap at the 10-yard line with 47 seconds left and launched a pass to the right pylon, McLoughlin rose above an Irish defender for the score. A bad snap on the extra point forced an errant pass and brought the Scotties within eight points, down 21-13.
An unsuccessful onside kick sealed Tri-Valley’s fate, a 21-13 defeat to St. Vincent-St. Mary.
The Scotties were able to rush for 141 yards against the Irish and gained a total of 230 yards, with an average of five yards per play. That was just slightly behind the Irish 5.3 yards per play but accumulated 317 total yards.
Keyes was the work horse for St. Vincent-St. Mary carrying the ball 34 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns, wearing down the Scotties defense. When the Irish did not hand the ball the Keyes, they ran play action to keep the Tri-Valley honest on defense.
Tri-Valley running back Caleb Craig did the best he could on the night, rushing for 86 yards on 13 carries, but was not able to find the end zone.
In fact, the Scotties did not have a single rushing touchdown even though they had to rely on the ground game to move the ball between the twenties. It was a classic game of hard-nose football and Tri-Valley came up short where it mattered most.
Down 14-7, with the momentum on their side, the Scotties faced a 4th and two in Irish territory. Newsom took the snap and ran a sweep to the right side, he dove as an Irish defender took out his legs, and Newsom landed on his head inches short of the first down.
That seemed to be the story for the Scotties all game, just inches short.
Tri-Valley, now 0-1, will be back in Dresden Sept. 1 against Morgan.