Millersport wins during the Sweet Corn Festival
By: Caiel Woody
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WALNUT TOWNSHIP, (Ohio) – Federal Hocking makes their way up to play Millersport during their very own Sweet Corn Festival. Head coach Jack Treinish said that when a Lakers team wins during the festival, they get their picture taken, and it goes up on a wall after the team signs it along with every other Millersport team that won this game, so it just means more.
Fed Hock would start receiving the ball, and Anthony Dotson would take it all the way to the crib, but due to an illegal block, the score would not count, and the Lancers would be walked back to start their drive. Beginning turnovers early, both teams would exchange four fumbles with each other on four straight drives, then Owen Everitt of Millersport would get a pick, but the Lakers fumbled two more times right after. Although they would recover both, the first quarter would end with both teams tied 0-0.
The Lancers opened up the second quarter with the ball, and very similar to the beginning of the game, they would fumble on the very first play. Alder Beha was the one in the backfield for the Lancers, and he would get sacked once and sacked again, where ladder of which was a safety, making the first points of the game very odd as Millersport would have a 2-0 lead.
Dotson would play some strong air defense, batting down passes and putting a good stop to Millersport’s air attack, but the Lakers would anchor down, giving the ball to Jackson Rawlins, who outran his way to a 24-yard paint toucher, putting them up 8-0 after a failed two-point conversion. A muffed kickoff would result in a re-kick because of a penalty, and the re-kick would be dropped by Fed Hock as well; 12 men on the field pushed them back even further before they could start their drive.
Although they were backed up to their own 32, Tristyn Bowers would put the team on his back, ducking, diving, dipping, and dodging his way to a 68-yard touchdown run, and with a successful two-pointer, the game would be tied eight apiece with 3:21 in the half.
Rawlins ran for another big one, hitting a 34-yard dash to the goal line; on the next play, Mason Coleman would be hit in the legs, sweeping him over a defender into the end zone, and for the two-pointer, Rawlins barreled through the line of scrimmage to take the lead back 16-8 with just over a minute left in the half. While on defense, Cash Inman broke hard on a bubble route, and it was worth it because he nabbed a pick-six, putting the Lakers up further, 22-8, with 54.7 in the half.
With Fed Hock having the ball in these last few seconds, Braeden Hill would fumble the snap, then pick it right back up, running 62 yards to the end zone, and now it’s 14-24 with 33.5 seconds left in the half. Making use of a quick offense, Millersport managed to run down and score, with Wiseman getting a sizeable 30-14 lead going into halftime.
Opening upsecond-half play, fumbles made their return as both teams would stall on offense after letting the ball get loose, eventually ending up in a field goal third and 35 that was somehow converted because, after sacking the quarterback.
Millersport got an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Lancers an automatic first down. Everitt put himself in the position to take back the momentum when he dove all out for an interception, giving the ball back to the Lakers.
After finding the chest of gold, Millersport would run away with it, hitting a nice 69-yard run by Rawlins that put them on the goal line for an easy punch-in by Wiseman, putting the Lakers up 36-14 on their way to a 44-14 victory over Federal Hocking.
After the game, an opportunity to speak to Millersport Head Coach Jack Treinish revealed that the Lakers’ game plan was to take advantage of the numbers they had over the Lancers. They would do this by rotating their defensive linemen in and out to let them rest, while the same five guys had to play the line on both sides all night for Fed Hock.
This difference in rest showed itself more and more clearly as the night progressed, and with the lack of ball control, Fed Hock was simply not playing well enough to get a Sweet Corn Festival win.