Scotties Stunned By John Glenn
By: Joey Madore
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Tri Valley came into this game flying high after a big win overtime over Sheridan, but John Glenn looked to snap them back into reality at Muskingum University on Friday night.
With one-minute left to go in regulation down 14-7, Tri-Valley had their backs against the wall facing a fourth and 23 from their own 26 yard-line. The Scotties needed a conversion to keep any hopes of winning alive. They decided to put the ball in senior Quarterback Luke Fargus’ hands. Fargus dropped back and fired a strike over the middle of the field to the sophomore Aiden Fritter and he pushed his way to the first down marker to keep the drive alive.
The Scotties looked to carry the momentum from this play all the way to the end zone.
After picking up a couple of first downs, Tri-Valley found themselves in striking distance on the Little Muskies 28 yard-line with 32 seconds left in the game. John Glenn’s defense needed to make one last stand to pull out the victory. On the first three downs Fargus could not find any of his targets down the field. So, the game came down to another fourth down play. This time it would be the last play of the game. With three seconds to go, Fargus dropped back once again and riffled a pass down the right sideline to Rob Wachter at the 15 yard-line. John Glenn’s defenders quickly pounced on Wachter and brought him down to end the game.
The Little Muskies team stormed the field in celebration and walked away with a 14-7 upset victory over Tri-Valley.
John Glenn (5-3, 4-2 MVL) came in with the task of slowing down a Tri-Valley team that had been firing on all cylinders throughout this season. The Little Muskies defense gave Tri-Valley fits all night as they forced three turnovers and held the Scotties to just 122 yards of total offense.
Tri-Valley (7-1, 5-1) did not look like themselves and could not get anything going offensively as they did not even register a touchdown on the night. On the other side of the ball, the Scotties defense played solid they also forced three turnovers, held John Glenn to just 125 yards of total offense and only gave up eight first downs.
From the opening possession it was clear that this game would be a defensive slugfest.
The first big play of the game would not come until midway through the first quarter when Joseph Clifford was back to receive a Tri-Valley punt.
Clifford fielded the punt with his back to his own end zone and burst up the John Glenn sideline, and 97 yards later Clifford was celebrating with teammates in the end zone to give the Little Muskies a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Tri-Valley’s defense knew they had to make a play to change the momentum after the offense once again failed to get anything going. On third and nine Cade Sterling gave them that play. He intercepted the ball and took it all the way back to the house to knot the game up at seven.
The game would go into halftime tied at seven.
After forcing an interception on this first drive of the second half, John Glenn had four downs to get the ball in the end zone. The Scotties stood up for the first three plays to bring up fourth and goal from the one. The Little Muskies elected to go for it. Parker Zachrich called his own number and dove across the goal line for the touchdown to give them a 14-7 lead that they would not surrender the rest of the way.
Tri-Valley seemed to over-look their opponents tonight and it showed throughout the game. This game could end up costing the Scotties a home playoff game, or even a playoff stop. They face West Muskingum next week and will look to bounce back.
As for John Glenn, they will certainly jump into a playoff spot after getting a signature win over the top team in the MVL. They will get a big boost for sure after upsetting a division two opponent. They will look to carry this momentum into next week in a matchup with New Lexington who is also on the brink of a playoff spot.
There are five MVL teams that are either in or on the brink of moving on to the postseason, so these last two weeks will be absolutely pivotal for both these teams.