Utica ends six-year conference drought, tops Lakewood 31-0
With many battles for the playoffs in progress, a game involving two winless teams took center stage as it ended a long drought and gave senior athletes their first program win. Utica (1-9) topped Lakewood (0-10) in a battle of the winless, 31-0, ending a 30-game winless streak for the Redskins, whose last win came against Lakewood (non-conference), 28-21, on October 26, 2018. Utica’s last conference win came against Northridge, 57-16, on October 30, 2015.
The Lancers, now on a 12-game winless streak, fell behind in the first quarter on a 3-yard run by senior Brock Wygle. In the second frame, a 3-yard pass from senior Seth Miller to senior Jordan Riley made it 12-0. The Redskins missed both 2-point conversion tries. In the third quarter, sophomores got into the act when Justin Griffin hauled in a 21-yard pass from fellow soph Tyler Collura and a third 2-pointer failed to make it 18-0. In the fourth quarter, Wygle scored again on a 4-yard run, and senior William Kaufman made it 30-0 on a 45-yard pass from Miller.
Wygle was determined not to end his four years at Utica without a win, and he was a force on both sides of the ball. He carried 22 times for 90 years and two touchdowns and scampered for 47 yards on one carry. He caught two for 20 yards, and on defense, he was a one-man wrecking crew with 14 tackles (eight solos and six assists), with four tackles-for-loss.
Utica outgained Lakewood 350 to 74, and other Redskins stars of the day included Collura with 99 yards gained on 17 attempts, Kaufman with two receptions for 58 yards, Miller going 5 of 9 in the air for 105 yards and Collura a perfect 4-for-4 for 46 yards. On defense, Riley was in on seven tackles, Collura was in on six tackles and Gavin Chinn was in on five.
Utica will enter 2022 on a winning streak.
Highland crushes Northmor 38-7, ties for KMAC title
Northmor double-teamed Highland running back Dane Nauman. They shadowed him, they blocked him, they keyed on him and they “held” him to 132 yards on 24 carries with no touchdowns. But the Scots utilized their entire squad to manhandle Northmor and come away with a 38-7 victory and a share of the KMAC title with East Knox.
Taking the lead with a minute left in the first quarter, a 42-yard pass from Cooper Merckling to Layton Shaffer moved the Scots downfield. That was followed by a 30-yard TD pass from Merckling to Jay Melchiori to make it 7-0, and the Scots never looked back, Four and a half minutes later, Cooper found Melchiori again from 17 yards out, and with less than a minute left in the half, a 23-yard field goal by Caleb Hunter made it 17-0. The Golden Knights came right back and got their only score 40 seconds later on a 13-yard Marcus Cortez to Trenton Ramos TD pass.
Spreading it around, the Scots hit pay dirt again on an 80-yard run by Gavin Hankins midway through the third quarter. Merckling took it in himself from 2 yards out a minute into the fourth, and Kolton Stover returned an interception for a score with just over 3 minutes left to make it 38-7.
Highland outgained Northmor 402 to 221, led by Merckling’s 143 yards passing and Nauman’s 132 on the ground, followed by Hankins’ 92 yards. Melchiori caught four passes for 62 yards. Nauman, who picked up 60 yards on a long carry late in the game, now has 2108 yards this season, and 20 TDs on 214 carries 9.9 yards per carry
Highland moves on to the playoffs, hosting Linden McKinley on Friday.
Freddies hold off Trojans 28-25
An 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Centerburg’s Caylen LeMaster with 11:41 left in the game closed the gap to a field goal, but the Freddies held on to beat the Trojans 28-25.
LeMaster scored first and last as he got the Trojans on the board about seven minutes in on a 1-yard run to make it 7-0 Centerburg. The Freddies took the lead midway through the second on a Ben Mast-to-Grant Harley pass of 15 yards and a two-point conversion pass from Mast to Teegan Ruhl.
Dominick Vargo hit two field goals in the third quarter from 25 and 23 yards out to make it 13-8 Centerburg, but the Freddies scored twice within a minute on Mast passes to Kaid Carpenter (17 yards out) and Ruhl from 40 yards away to put the score at 22-13 Fredericktown. LeMaster crossed the goal line again from 25 yards out and closed the third quarter at 22-19 in favor of the Freddies.
Carpenter scored for the Freddies seconds into the fourth on a 2-yard run, and then came the LaMaster kickoff return, but defenses held and the score ended 25-22. The Freddies outgained the Trojans 356 to 207.
Mast led Fredericktown with 174 yards passing and 3 TDs on 12-for-19 in the air, and Ruhl picked up 80 on the ground.
Jack Gregory was 11-for-18 passing for 90 yards, and LeMaster was good for 70 yards rushing to lead Centerburg. On defense, Tanner Holt was in on 23 tackles (seven solos and 16 assists), LeMaster was in on 13 (two solos, 11 assists) and Alex Johnson made four solos and had eight assists.
