Chiefs keep fighting, beat KR in OT
It was a tale of two halves for the Bellefontaine Chieftains Friday night, as they came from behind to defeat the Kenton Ridge Cougars in overtime 21-20 at AcuSport Stadium.
“Momentum is such a big thing in this game, and we didn’t have it for much of the night tonight. But we were able to snatch it and make enough plays to win the game,” said Bellefontaine head coach Jason Brown.
Much of the first half was Kenton Ridge moving the ball up and down the field against the Chiefs, but not having much to show for it, as the Bellefontaine defense made some key stops to keep the contest close.
Despite outgaining Bellefontaine 192-54 in offense in the first half, Kenton Ridge went into halftime only leading 7-0.
Lakers rally past Wildcats, take control in Mad River
Indian Lake showed a lot of heart, grit and character Friday night to jump into the driver’s seat in the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division championship race.
The visiting Lakers overcame a seven-point deficit in the second half, with Elijah Slagle scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 3-yard run with 1:27 left in the game to knock off North Union 28-21 in a battle of the two remaining unbeaten teams in the CBC Mad River division.
“It speaks volumes to have assistant coaches that have the ability to change up the game plan on the fly with the rain, and have the kids to execute it,” said Indian Lake head coach Jonn Rapp. “We’ve talked about giving max effort all year and the kids and assistant coaches both gave max effort tonight.
“We were able to put together an 8 1/2 minute drive in the fourth quarter (to score the go-ahead touchdown). We didn’t have any big plays, it was just chunks at a time.”
Pirates sink Buccs to set up showdown with M-Union
Riverside’s football team has earned an opportunity to play for a league title in the last week of the regular season.
By routing host Covington 41-6 on Friday, the Pirates set up a Three Rivers Conference showdown against Milton-Union next week.
M-Union, which beat Northridge 48-6 on Friday, leads the TRC with a 6-0 mark.
The Pirates and Northridge are one game back at 5-1. A win over M-Union next week would give Riverside a share of the TRC championship.
“We are excited about the opportunity we are in going into the last game of the regular season,” said Riverside head coach Bryce Hodge. “You want to put yourself in a position to be competing for a league title and the playoffs, and our guys have done that. I am extremely proud of them, but we aren’t done yet. We have to have a great week of practice because Milton-Union is an outstanding football team.”
Indians fend off Tigers to remain unbeaten
As it did against unbeaten West Jefferson two weeks ago, West Liberty-Salem’s football team gave undefeated Mechanicsburg all it could handle Friday night.
But it wasn’t quite enough for the Tigers as the Indians were able to come away with a 35-20 victory in an Ohio Heritage Conference North division contest.
The Tigers fall to 1-7 overall and 0-4 in the OHC.
Mechanicsburg piled up 484 total yards, with 424 of that coming on the ground on 46 rushing attempts.
WL-Salem had 241 yards of offense. The Tigers threw for 125 yards and rushed for 116 yards.
Raiders unable to contain Falcons in 47-35 loss
Benjamin Logan had a two touchdown lead on two different occasions in the first half, but was unable to hang onto it as host Graham rallied for a wild 47-35 victory in a Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division football game Friday night.
The Raiders drop to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the CBC. Graham improves to 5-3, 2-2.
It was an offensive explosion as the two teams combined for 917 yards of offense.
The Raiders piled up 471 yards, including 418 through the air.
Graham had 446 total yards, throwing for 313 and running for 133.
Junior quarterback Kam Allen was 27-of-42 passing for 418 yards and three touchdowns for the Raiders.
Senior wide receiver Brady Burrey had a big night with seven catches for 270 yards and two TDs, while senior Alec Rodenberger piled up 12 grabs for 93 yards and one score.
Complete Friday Night Football coverage in Saturday’s Examiner