By George Starks |
ARCANUM- When football season starts, all teams have two goals.
Goal one is to win the conference .
The second goal is to win on homecoming night.
Neither one of these goals will be fulfilled by Arcanum in 2023.
Coming in with a 2-3 overall record, the Trojans welcomed National Trail in on homecoming night in a Western Ohio Athletic Conference battle.
It was a night that started with big dreams, ended in a nightmare as Arcanum couldn’t make it work on homecoming night, falling to Trail, 33-19.
Every time Arcanum got a slight advantage, Trail found a way to take the steam out of the Arcanum engine.
“Every time we would get up, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot,” said Arcanum coach Matt Macy. “I made a terrible call when it was tied at19 and I’ll never get that one back. It’s so frustrating to lose a game like this. We were so close. We have a lot of young kids out there and they’re starting to figure things out. I’d rather be in a game like this than a blowout we just haven’t figured out how to finish with a win yet. “
Trailing 19-12 at the end of the third quarter, Arcanum started the final 12 minutes with a first and goal at the National Trail four, senior Brandon Kendig punched it in. After converting the extra point, it was tied up and Arcanum finally had the momentum in its favor.
That would be very short lived though.
On its next possession, the Blazers would take that momentum away, scoring on a 60 yard play. With the kick being good, it was 26-19 with 6:58 remaining.
That would be the beginning of the end for the Trojans.
Arcanum would go three and out on its next possession and with 2:37 left to play, the Blazers would put the game out of reach when quarterback Jamison Watts would take it in from 16 yards out.
“These kids are learning on the fly,” said Macy. “We had some silly penalties tonight and at this point in the season, we shouldn’t be making them. “
Next week the Trojans travel to New Madison to face the Patriots on their homecoming night.
CNO Photos by George Starks. Featured photo: Senior Brandon Miller wraps up a Trail ball carrier.
