ONTARIO — Chris Miller’s first game as Ontario football coach created quite a memory.
The Warriors’ alumnus and former athletics director saw his offense struggle all night, before erupting for 14 points in the final 4:10 to stun Lexington 14-7 in Friday night’s season opener at Copeland Field.
“I couldn’t ask for better,” Miller said. “I don’t think a whole lot of people thought this was possible … But if you had seen our kids at halftime, you would’ve thought we were ahead.”
The Warriors were not. They trailed 7-0 and were in the crosshairs of Lexington’s senior superstar Cade Stover.
Stover, committed to play linebacker at Ohio State but roaming at safety for the Minutemen, caught a couple of passes and carried the ball a handful of times on offense. But the 6-foot-5, 225-pounder plays with a menacing velocity on defense, and his ominous presence thwarted the Warriors’ attack most of the night.
He delivered several thunderous hits, and the Minutemen defense followed his lead in pitching a shutout through the first 43 minutes of action.
“He’s a player, he’s everywhere,” Miller said. “I’m going to enjoy watching him at the next level.”
But a funny thing happened at that point. The Warriors suddenly started moving the ball.
“We didn’t have a penalty or a turnover in the fourth quarter,” Miller said. “We kept trying to run the football and we finally stopped shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Ontario finally broke through when Easton Clifton scored on a 1-yard plunge with 4:10 remaining. The PAT tied the game at 7-7.
“We played like crap,” Lexington coach Taylor Gerhardt said. “They played great. They deserved to win.”
The Minutemen turned to Stover almost exclusively after that, and he made a couple of plays to push the ball out to midfield. Yet on a critical carry, he fumbled at midfield with 2:30 remaining, and the Warriors pounced.
Miller’s squad steadily moved down the field and Garrett Niss finished it with a 3-yard TD run at the 39-second mark.
“We’ve talked to them since February about being gritty,” Miller said. “Sometimes a lot of that stuff is just coachspeak. But these kids are resilient.
Ontario’s defense had a heroic effort, too. The Warriors allowed just one big play. Lexington quarterback Jake Depperschmidt rifled a perfectly thrown 80-yard TD bomb to Josh Aiello with 5:00 to play in the opening period.
That was it for the Lexington offense.
“This is only Game 1, and we have 10 weeks, but we’re going to enjoy this one tonight,” Miller said.
