New Lexington shuts down Tri-Valley’s star running back in dominant victory
By: Luke Ream
Posted on:
NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio (WOUB) – The New Lexington Panthers dominated the Tri-Valley Scotties with a final score of 42-19.
New Lexington and Tri-Valley have a storied non-conference rivalry that has become almost equal in record. New Lexington leads with a record of 30-28 over Tri-Valley, but the Scotties had won 15 consecutive matchups against the Panthers until New Lexington’s 29-7 victory last year.
New Lexington’s opening drive was quickly ended by a three-and-out, but an excellent special teams play forced Tri-Valley to begin their drive at their own one-yard line. The rough field position for the Scotties did nothing to deter the team’s running back, Leevi Wade, who took nearly every snap on the drive.
Defensive mistakes allowed for the Scotties’ drive to continue with the Panthers committing an offsides penalty on fourth down. However, an offensive holding penalty shut down the Scotties’ momentum, leading to a long fourth down attempt that was batted out of the air.
New Lexington started to get their own run game going on their next drive, bringing the ball back into Tri-Valley territory. A run by quarterback Lane Ratliff ended that life in their run game after it was stripped from behind him and recovered by the Scotties’ secondary.
In the second quarter, Tri-Valley was unable to capitalize on the turnover, quickly going three-and-out and having the punt blocked in their own territory. New Lexington, however, was able to capitalize on their special teams victory, with a shifty run by Ratliff giving the first points of the game, redeeming himself after his earlier fumble.
The ferocious ground game by Wade continued to carry the offensive drives of the Scotties, along with more automatic first downs on defensive penalties. It was the arm of Stone Spiker that brought them into the end zone, however, on a 23-yard passing touchdown. The extra point would be blocked, leaving the game tied at 6.
The Panthers were unable to escape the yellow parchment as they opened their next drive with a first-and-23 after two consecutive penalties. Two excellent runs were able to get the Panthers out of their predicament and quickly into Scotties’ territory.
The run game continued to overpower Tri-Valley’s defense, with a run by Colton Mathias bringing New Lexington their second touchdown of the game. Again, the Panthers’ 2-point conversion would fail, and they would only lead by 6.
More special teams excellence by the Panthers forced the Scotties to begin their next drive inside their own five-yard line. The Scotties were unable to overcome the field position and were forced to punt from their own end zone, which was blocked, leading to a safety.
The Panthers’ following drive would finally be a showcase of their offensive capability. The drive, led by the arm of Ratliff, concluded with a 33-yard passing touchdown to Tanner Toth to extend the Panther lead to 14 at the end of the half.
The beginning of the second half produced much of the same offensive woes for Tri-Valley, starting the half with a three-and-out in less than a minute. New Lexington’s drive was highlighted by a screen pass to Tyson Spicer, who avoided a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and took the ball all the way to the other sideline, taking it inside the Tri-Valley 10-yard line before being taken out of bounds.
The drive was capped off by a dominating four-yard touchdown run by Ratliff, further extending the lead. The game was all but over when Carson McCoy took an interception 42 yards to the end zone, bringing the score to 34-6.
The remainder of the game would be back-and-forth scoring, ending with a final score of 42-19. The heroics by New Lexington’s special teams, which had two blocked punts and a blocked extra point in the first half, helped allow the Panthers to pull away by the end.
Ratliff finished with a dominant performance of four touchdowns, two rushing and two passing. The Panthers’ defense was able to contain the Scotties’ star running back, Wade, who only got a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
New Lexington remains undefeated, rising to 6-0, and will face off against Meadowbrook on Friday. Tri-Valley falls to 3-3 and will play at home against Maysville on Friday.