By George Starks |
New Madison- If Tri-Village needed to make a statement, it did it in a big way.
The Patriots welcomed National Trail In.for the final game of the season and rolled the Blazers 45-0 Friday.
While the offense, behind junior Trey Sagester, it was the defense that was doing the talking.
No matter what Trail did, the defense had a answer, stopping the Blazers at every turn.
“Our defense has figured it out,” said Patriots coach Matt Hopkins. “They have came out lately and they’re ready to play. Tonight, I can’t say enough about them. They never budged out there and National Trail couldn’t contend with us. I’m very proud of my defense.”
On offense, Sagester and the Patriots shined.
It didn’t take long for the Patriots to get on the scoreboard. With 39.1 seconds left in the opening frame, Sagester hooked up with sophomore Griffin Richard’s on a 30 yard scoring pass and.the.Patriots held the 8-0 lead.
Be the end of the half it was all but over as the home team held a commandingI 32-0 lead at the break.
“These kids came.out and got after it right away,” said Hopkins. “I thought we were locked in the whole game.”
While Hopkins was pleased with the overall play of his team, there was one aspect he wasn’t happy with.
“We had too many stupid penalties tonight,” quipped Hopkins. “We’ve got to get that cleaned up before next Friday. We can’t live with so many penalties.”
When the third quarter started, thenrest of the game was under a running clock as Trail wanted to get through the game with no one getting injured.
The Patriots will look to next Friday and a first round game on the road.
In other games, Ansonia rolled at Mississinawa Valley 70-6 and will host a first round game.
Arcanum toppled Bradford, 30-0.
Versailles lost at St. Henry 17-10 in the MAC.
The first round pairings will come out either Monday or Tuesday.
Photo by Dale Barger: Junior Noah Finkbine makes a tackle in the National Trail backfield