Sports
Tri-Valley Seals Playoffs by Beating Maysville
By: Nate Moore
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Tri-Valley did it. The Scotties are in the playoffs.
After Friday’s 30-7 win against the Maysville Panthers, Tri-Valley pushed its win streak to nine games and finished with a 9-1 record. More importantly, the Scotties clinched a bid in this year’s postseason.
With emotions running high due to senior night and it being the last game of the regular season, everyone in the stands was looking forward to see if Maysville could give the Muskingum Valley League champs a run for their money. However, at the start of the game, the Maysville offense just could not get anything going as they went three and out and were forced to punt on their first three possessions.
When it came to offensive side of the ball for the Scotties, it didn’t take quarterback Andrew Newsom long to make his mark as he connected with his first throw of the game with senior fullback Spencer Littik to put the Scotties up early in the first quarter. On the next Scotties possession, Newsom’s second throw of the game would turn into a Maysville interception as cornerback Caden Ashcraft would read the quarterbacks eyes to come up with the pick and give his team momentum in the process.
Although the defense of Maysville was trying everything to give their team the momentum it needed to compete, the Tri-Valley defense would stop the Maysville offense right in their tracks. On the Panthers next possession, Tri-Valley cornerback Bo Buttermore intercepted Maysville quarterback Connor Sidwell’s pass, killing any momentum Maysville defense had built up on the previous drive. Following the interception, the Scotties offense took the ball once again all the way down to Maysville’s two-yard line and appeared to be on the verge of scoring a second time.
However, a bad snap by the Scotties would push them all the way back to Maysville’s 30-yard line, causing the Scotties to kick a field a goal and increase their lead to a score of 10-0.
It wouldn’t be until the second quarter before the Maysville offense finally found the momentum it needed as the Panthers faked a punt early in the quarter to keep their drive alive. Playing off the fake punt, the Panthers took advantage of a shocked Scotties defense as they rumbled all the way down the field and finally put their first points on the board through a two-yard touchdown run by running back Caden Mercer. It wouldn’t take long for the Scotties offense to respond though to the Mercer touchdown as running back Caleb Craig would take the ball 51 yards for the Scotties second touchdown of the game, bringing their lead back up to 10 points.
Throughout the remainder of the game Maysville offense continued to figure out a way to move the ball more effectively, but the Tri-Valley defense ended being too much as they held Maysville to a grand total of zero second-half points.
Newsom would go on to throw two more touchdowns to running back Drew Richert and receiver Greg Nolder for the Scotties as the game ended with a final of 30-7. With the regular season over and the playoffs coming up this weekend, look for the Scotties to rely on their dominant defense and the play of quarterback Newsom as they look forward to making a deep postseason run. They have the talent, they got the quarterback, and they got defense. The only thing left now is to see if the Scotties can pull it all together and make some serious noise in the playoffs.