Sports
Philo Gets Revenge From John Glenn In A Classic MVL Defensive Battle
By: Michael Roth
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Philo and John Glenn battled through a defensive contest, highlighted by turnovers and punts from both sides.
The Electrics were able to take this one 15-13, getting revenge from last seasons playoff loss. The win was sealed when Philo stopped an Evan Williams 2 Pt conversion attempt with 40 seconds left for the tie.
“Last season is over, bury the dead. This year is completely new teams, and there are so many new faces on both sides. We have gone back and forth with John Glenn the past couple times and it’s fun to come over here and get a win. There were so many times where we could’ve handed it away, but we found a way to win.” Said an excited Philo head coach Dirk Lincicome.
Neither team was able to get much going on the ground, Casey Munyan (12 carries, 48 yards) was held in check. While the John Glenn rushing game was stuffed all game only rushing for 22 yards on 16 carries.
Philo and John Glenn fought a defensive struggle throughout the first quarter. The Philo defense was electric in the first quarter, holding the Muskies offense to -1 yard of offense on 8 plays.
The Electrics offense wasn’t much brighter either, as they were held to 2 first downs in the quarter. The Electrics were able to take a lead on a 38 yard field goal from Colton Stotts (3-4 FG long 41) thanks to a short field, making it 3-0 after 1.
The second provided more action though, when Hunter Adolph (3-6 23 yard passing, 31 rush yards) connected with Aaron Phillip (58 total yards, Rush TD) for a 20 yard gain, one of only 3 plays over 10 yards in the whole first half. Philo was unable to convert and after a couple punts, but Joseph Clifford (4 Rec 62 yards) had a big return to set up a 2 Min drill for the Muskies at the Electrics 44 yard line.
Evan Williams looked deep and found Reece Perkins (4 rec 39 yards TD) for a 33 yard touchdown to give John Glenn a 7-3 lead with 40 seconds left in the half. The excitement was not over for the half though, as Marshall Tignor recovered a fumble to give John Glenn the ball at the Philo 22 yard line with 30 seconds left in the half.
Evan Williams (14-26 139 yards 2 TD 3 INT) tried finding the end zone for a second time in quick succession, but he was intercepted by Elijah Preston who returned the ball all the way to the Little Muskies 15 yard line with 3 seconds left in the half.
Colton Stotts put another field goal through the uprights, this time from 33 yards to wrap up the first half. The play happened almost 20 Min after the interception, because of a long delay due to some confusion of penalties on the interception return, making it 7-6 John Glenn at the half.
The third quarter was more of the same from the offenses, neither team was able to score in this quarter, but it was not without action. Philo got stuffed near the goal line, and a Colton Stotts field goal attempt was blocked by the Little Muskies defense.
Philo got 2 interceptions from Evan Williams in the quarter, one by his QB counterpart set up Philo deep into Little Muskies territory.
Philo finally punched it in early in the 4’th quarter on a 2 yard keeper from WR turned wildcat QB Aaron Philip, giving the Electrics a 12-7 lead. Their 2 point conversion attempt would come up short.
Philo would get the ball back and run some clock, giving carries to Brock Luburgh (11 carries 44 yards) and Aaron Philip. Those runs set up a 41 yard field goal from Colton Stotts, which he converted, giving Philo a 15-7 lead.
“Matt McIntyre every day at practice works with Colton, he is really laser focused and mentally tough. He doesn’t want glory and we’ve leaned on him a lot already this year, but I’d rather score touchdowns than kick field goals.” Coach Lincicome said to me after the game.
John Glenn finally got some offense going, a 34 yard catch by Joseph Clifford gave the Little Muskies their first, first down of the half with 3:30 left in the 4’th. This optimism quickly turned when a fumble by QB Evan Williams, his 4’th turnover of the game, gave Philo the ball and the ability to try and run the clock out, needing only 2 first downs.
That plan failed when John Glenn recovered a fumble from Brock Luburgh of Philo with 1:11 left in the game, setting themselves up at the Philo 23 yard line.
Evan Williams had to come up clutch, and the junior QB led his team near the end zone, and when he found WR Ben Larson (4 rec 28 yards TD) in the end zone, he cut the Philo lead to 15-13. The good times would not last however as Philo deflected Williams potential game tying 2 point conversion attempt pass, sealing the victory for the Electrics.
Philo advances to 3-1 and they will take on unbeaten Tri-Valley, while John Glenn falls to 1-3 and they travel to Maysville next week.