ASHLAND – Facing a one-touchdown deficit at halftime at Crestview on Friday night, South Central football coach Wayne Hinkle channeled his inner Woody Hayes for his Trojans.
“I got on the guys and told them there were two things an old school coach named Woody Hayes said you had to do to win football games – block and tackle. I told them we didn’t do either one of those things very well in the first half,” Hinkle said.
Though none of his players were even born the last time times Hayes prowled the sidelines for Ohio State, the message resounded as South Central rallied for a 27-20 Firelands Conference victory.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Trojans (2-3, 1-1) and stretched Crestview’s skid to four games as the Cougars fell to 1-4, 0-2.
After allowing Crestview to build a 20-13 halftime lead behind 178 rushing yards, South Central slammed the door and tackled better, allowing the Cougars just 35 yards on the ground in the final two quarters.
At the same time, the Trojans’ offensive line opened enough holes and gave senior quarterback Jacob Carney time to pass to generate two scoring drives of 47 and 53 yards in the final 6:45 of the game.
The first came with 6:45 left when senior running back Michael Jenny dove over from the 2-yard line. The game-winner came on a 3rd-and-goal from the Crestview 12-yard-line when Carney kept the ball and rolled around the left end into the endzone with just 1:54 left.
“I told our kids at halftime the game would come down to heart. If they had the heart, we would win the game,” Hinkle said.
STREAKS: Something had to give in this one. Both teams opened the season with victories and then alternated with narrow losses and painful blowouts. Crestview’s losing streak included a 79-0 loss to Loudonville in week two while South Central has dropped games of 50-7 and 60-0, sandwiched around a 20-16 loss in week three.
“This one was important tonight,” said Hinkle, whose roster includes just 26 players. “We felt we let one slip away two weeks ago and we wanted to make sure we got this one. It’s tough when you have a small roster and some injuries and you just got your butt kicked last week.”
Crestview coach Chad Hoffman conceded it was a painful loss.
“We always feel we can win when we take the field,” he said. “But this was a tough one. We take pride in playing well on our home field, it was homecoming and we felt good coming in.”
SENIOR LEADERSHIP: South Central has just five seniors and Crestview only two. But a trio of Trojan seniors made the difference Friday night. In addition to his game-winning bootleg, Carney completed 13 of 18 passes for 180 yards, including a 23-yard scoring strike to sophomore Aaron Lamoreaux late in the first quarter. Senior wide receiver Stephen Goetz caught nine passes for 134 yards, including a 31-yard bomb down the left hand sideline in the game-winning drive. Jenney rushed for 59 yards on 15 carries and scored two TDs.
Crestview has a larger roster with 45 players, but just four seniors.
“I thought their seniors stepped up in the second half and made the plays for them,” Hoffman said. “We are a young team with 70 percent of the players on our roster in their first year.”
POWER RUNNERS: Junior Konnor Hickey (5-10, 195) and sophomore Tyler Brown (6-3, 225) offer a bright future running the ball for the ground-oriented Cougars. Hickey had 86 yards on 19 carries and an 8-yard TD run. Brown, also a powerful lead blocker, gained 32 yards on just nine attempts, including a 3-yard score with just 54 seconds left in the first half.
Neither were effective in the second half. And the Crestview passing game was not much help as senior QB Dakota Shafer completed just three of 14 passes for 50 yards with two interceptions.
“I don’t think (South Central) made a lot of changes at halftime,” Hoffman said. “We just stopped being consistent in our execution. Ironically, our passing game has been more sound this season and our running game has not done as well. Tonight, our run game stepped up but our passing game regressed.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: South Central had 14 first downs on 107 yards rushing and 180 passing. The Trojans fumbled twice, but recovered both. Crestview had 15 first downs (11 in the first half), rushed for 213 yards and passed for 50. Crestview fumbled once, but recovered it.
UP NEXT: Crestview hosts Western Reserve next Friday in another league game. South Central hosts Plymouth in a FC game that same night.
