WOOSTER — It was a night of firsts on Friday at Follis Field.
Mansfield Senior’ 34-21 victory over Wooster was the first win for rookie head coach Antonio Fletcher, who is in his initial season at the helm.
The verdict also marked the first victory for the Tygers this year after an 0-7 start. Senior High is now 1-7 overall, 1-4 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Mansfield Senior entered the evening on a 12-game losing streak – its longest since also losing 12 straight during a stretch that spanned the 1978 and 1979 seasons. Senior High has never lost 13 consecutive games at any time in it 127-year history.
The Tygers also snapped a slide of 17 losses in their past 18 games. It took a comeback effort and a dominating third quarter to do it.
The Generals (0-8, 0-5) took a 7-0 first-quarter lead when Griffin Siegenthaler tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Schantz.
Mansfield Senior knotted the game at 7-7 in the second period on Ryan Au’s 41-yard fumble return for a score.
Wooster regained the advantage when Siegenthaler and Schantz hooked up on a 65-yard bomb for a 14-7 edge.
Senior High tied the contest at 14-14 heading to halftime via Sean Tanner’s 20-yard scoring strike to D.J. Corbin.
Then came the decisiver flurry.
Mansfield Senior moved on top thanks to Tanner’s 24-yard TD dart to Au on a 3rd-and-6 situation. Nicholaus Redmon’s third consecutive PAT made it 21-14 with 3:30 blinking on the third-quarter clock.
The Tygers widened the gap to 27-14 courtesy of Tanner’ 42-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Feagin at the 2:18 mark.
Senior High blew it open in the fourth quarter as Tai Picket found Corbin for a 13-yard TD pass and a 34-13 bulge.
Wooster closed to within 34-21 as Darius Howard caught a 20-yard aerial from Siegenthaler with 6:04 to play. But that was as close as it would get.
Tanner finished 9-of-18 passing for 101 yards and three touchdowns. Xavier Taylor flashed for the Senior High defense, recording 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
The Generals suffered five turnovers.
Wooster is on its own streak of futility, having lost 10 straight dating to last year’s 42-24 victory at Arlin Field. The Generals have dropped 15 of their last 16 games.
Wooster plays at undefeated Ashland next week. Mansfield Senior travels to 1-7 Canton GlenOak on Friday night.