Heavy Rain Dampens Crooksville Offensive, New Lexington Prevails
By: Hailey Hollinger, Noah Bowman
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NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio (WOUB) — Travelling Crooksville Ceramics brought the rain with them this week against the home New Lexington Panthers in their beautiful Jim Rockwell Stadium.
Leading into Friday night both teams were looking to end their losing streaks and gain some momentum heading into the final weeks of the season.
Starting out the night the rain rapidly took its effect on the players, the ball, and the overall atmosphere of the game. But New Lexington didn’t let that affect them as they had the home field advantage to give a little boost in their rear end. This is exactly what propelled them to their first quarter scores.
The Panthers and the Ceramics quickly recognized the rain made throwing the ball almost impossible as both teams could not create any big plays in the air.
After an early interception both team coaches recognized the weather caused some of their troubles and changed their game plans. New Lex’s offensive coordinator started feeding their young RB Hunter Rose, and the youthful junior understood the assignment and took it to the house on not one but two different drives, finishing out the first half with 20 carries and 99 yards.
After a lightning delay 3 minutes into the second half both teams had to take a second halftime to reevaluate their squads and make any necessary adjustments.
The Panthers stayed true to their first half mindset and swam through the Ceramics defense causing problems into the remainder of the night. Finishing out the night New Lexington came out with two more TD’s and ended their losing streak with a shutout win, ending the game with a score of 34-0.
The Panthers look to keep this momentum heading into the next week against travelling Sheridan Generals, and the Ceramics look to rebound and gain their first win against the Morgan Raiders.