LEXINGTON — Lexington QB Joe Caudill looked at his coach Friday night with the game on the line in the fourth quarter and promised a touchdown.
Promise made.
Promise kept.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pound junior strong-armed (and legged) the Minutemen down the field as the clock ticked away, scoring the game-winning TD on a 1-yard plunge with 55 seconds left to break a tie and give Lexington a 19-13 win over West Holmes in an Ohio Cardinal Conference football game.
“I told him I’m going to get a touchdown for us,” Caudill said. “I’m going to go win this for us. We deserve it.”
It was the fourth straight victory to improve Lexington’s record to 4-3 overall and tied with Ashland (7-0, 3-0) atop the OCC standings. West Holmes, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped, slipped to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the league.
Caudill’s score capped an eight-play, 44-yard drive that began when the Knights failed to convert a fourth-and-two from their own 43-yard line with 4:58 to play.
Caudill, who connected on a 13-yard pass to junior Brayden Fogle (5 catches, 42 yards) during the drive, kept it himself on four straight plays to hammer out the final 16 yards of the march.
For the game, Caudill connected on 10-of-18 passes for 159 yards and two TDs, both to speedy junior wide receiver Seven Allen on completions of 25 and 52 yards. He also finished with 21 yards on 10 carries.
photo gallery from lexington’s 19-13 win over west holmes
After starting the year with three straight losses, Caudill said it was gut-check time for he and his teammates.
“Our mentality changed. We came together as a team. We looked ourselves in the mirror and said we are all we got. We’ve just got to fight. We gotta keep fighting,” he said.
Lexington coach Andrew Saris has learned to believe in his quarterback, who also starts at outside linebacker on defense.
“I’d love to change Joe on the roster to just say ‘football player.’ I love him. He is quintessential to our team,” Saris said.
“He and I have this thing where he just looks at me and says, ‘I got you you, coach’ and I believe it. I don’t care whether that’s being a quarterback or being on the defensive side.
“I just believe him when he tells me,” Saris said.
Caudill also earned praise from West Holmes coach Keaton Leppla, whose defensive blitzes throughout the night never rattled the QB or his offensive line.
“Hats off to that quarterback. He’s a tough, tough son of a gun back there running the football and throwing the football and throwing under pressure,” Leppla said.
“He did a great job, and hats off to their offensive line for being able to protect him,” the Knights’ coach said.
“We’re a blitzing defense. We bring pressure and that’s who we are. They did a really good job of keeping their quarterback upright,” Leppla said.
gallery: lexington honors homecoming queen and court friday night
It appeared to be the kind of game destined to go down to the final seconds.
After a scoreless first quarter, Lexington took advantage of a blocked punt that gave the Minutemen the ball at the West Holmes’ 25-yard line. The pass to Allen gave the Minutemen a 7-0 lead with 8:46 left in the half.
The Knights scored just six seconds before intermission on a 2-yard pass to Lynn Cline from Morgan Smith. That made it 7-6 at the break when the PAT was blocked.
Lexington took a 13-6 lead in the third quarter when Caudill hooked up with Allen on a go-route down the left sideline for a 52-yard bomb with 8:57 remaining. The PAT failed.
West Holmes tied it at 13 with 10:37 to play on a 24-yard pass from Smith to Logan Zollars.
The Lexington student body raced onto the field at the end, celebrating a Homecoming victory.
“Any win is big,” Saris said. “This is a very difficult sport. It’s a sport where you put everything out there. It’s a physical battle. It’s a mental battle. It’s emotional.
“I tell our kids all the time, ‘I’m proud of you because you’re playing the hardest sport in the world,’ and anytime you can get a win, especially against a great West Holmes team, it’s big for any program,” Saris said.
“I thought our defense came out and played really well. (We) tackled well. We gave up a couple of big plays here and there, but for the most part we rallied to the ball. I thought (West Holmes) didn’t feel super comfortable all night because of that,” he said.
The Minutemen play at Ashland in the final game of the regular season. That contest could potentially decide the OCC title.
Saris is not looking forward.
“All I see is week to week. I’ll be honest with you … we’re not at the point where we can look that far away.
“All I care about right now is New Philadelphia (next week).”
Up next:
— Lexington is at New Philadelphia (4-3, 2-2) next Friday night in an OCC game. The Quakers beat Madison, 35-21, in Week Seven.
— West Holmes hosts Ashland (7-0, 3-0) in Week Eight in an OCC game. The Arrows defeated Mansfield Senior 35-3 on Friday night.
Lexington 19, West Holmes 13
Scoring summary
1st quarter
No scoring in the first quarter
2nd quarter
Lexington — Seven Allen 25-yard pass from Joe Caudill (PAT Jaybyx Mack kick), 7-0
West Holmes — Lynn Cline 2-yard pass from Morgan Smith (PAT kick failed), 7-6
3rd quarter
Lexington — Allen 52-yard pass from Caudill (PAT pass failed), 13-6
4th quarter
West Holmes — Logan Zollars 24-yard pass from Smith (PAT Alex Pringle kick), 13-13
Lexington — Caudill 1-yard run (PAT kick failed), 19-13
