Athens’ Season Ends with Loss To Top-seeded Bishop Hartley
By: Bryan Kurp
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One week after winning the TVC-Ohio title, the Athens Bulldogs’ (9-2) season came to an end Friday night as they were defeated by four-time state champion Bishop Hartley (9-2) in the Division III, Region 11 quarterfinals.
Athens forced Bishop Hartley to punt on their opening drive, but were unable to handle the punt and George Dunor recovered the ball for the Hawks. This led to the first score of the game, which was a 31-yard touchdown by Hawks’ senior Philip Cole to give Hartley the 7-0 lead. Jalen January found the end zone for the Hawks with an eight-yard touchdown run four minutes later.
The Bulldogs were able to get on the scoreboard with 4:56 left in the first quarter with a Clay Davis 30-yard touchdown pass to Nate Trainer. After Miles Fleming found Philip Cole for an 82-yard Bishop Hartley touchdown, Davis added another touchdown pass to Logan Maxfield for 19 yards to make the score 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Bishop Hartley added a 25-yard field goal from senior Matteo Agriesti and a 38-yard touchdown run from Fleming in the second quarter. The Hawks went to the locker room with the 31-14 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, junior running back Mason Sawyer found the end-zone for Bishop Hartley, however, the Hawks did not convert on the 2-point conversion. Sawyer added a two-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Bishop Hartley went on to win 51-14, ending Athens’ season. The Hawks remain undefeated in nine playoff games at Jack Ryan Field.
Bishop Hartley had success running the ball, as Miles Fleming ran for 98 yards on nine carries, junior Kiron Anderson ran for 92 yards on ten carries, and Jalen January had 11 rushes for 40 yards. Philip Cole led all Hawks’ receivers with 129 receiving yards.
For Athens, Clay Davis completed 9 of his 22 pass attempts for 114 yards and two touchdowns in his final high school game. Trainer had seven receptions for 115 yards. Evan Adams, also in his final game, ran for 35 yards on three carries.
Bishop Hartley advances to the Region 11 semi-finals and will face Eastmoor Academy next week.