LEXINGTON — A victory over New Philadelphia was due for Joe Caudill and his fellow Lexington seniors.
Those seniors finally secured one on Friday night.
Caudill and the Minutemen (7-1, 4-0) got off to a hot start and never looked back, taking down the Quakers (4-4, 2-2) 44-20 in a Week 8 Ohio Cardinal Conference football matchup.
It was the first time Lexington has beat New Philadelphia in the past four years. The Quakers defeated Lex by scores of 10-7, 21-14 and 29-13 the past three seasons.
“It means a lot,” Caudill said. “It’s owed. That’s what we’ve said all week. We owed them one (loss) and it’s nice to finally get it — at home, too.”
The Michigan State commit tossed four TD passes to four different receivers Avery Crawford, Georgia commit Brayden Fogle, Cohen Boozer and Seven Allen.
Minutemen in good position as OCC picture takes shape
There’s still a Week 9 matchup looming, but Friday’s win kept Lex atop the OCC standings — tied with Ashland (8-0, 4-0). Those two will square off in Lexington on Oct. 24 in a game which will likely be for the conference title.
Ashland, which thumped West Holmes Friday night, won last year’s meeting 30-19.
But Caudill and his teammates aren’t getting ahead of themselves. The senior said he’s happy with where the Minutemen are for now.
After a convincing 41-7 win over West Holmes last week, Lex is starting to heat up at the perfect time.
“I think we’re progressively getting better every week,” Caudill said. “They always say, ‘You’re either getting better or getting worse.’
“I think we’ve had to take practice very seriously because we know we have to challenge ourselves and our scout team has done a great job of doing that.”
Lex can’t look past Madison
Before they can get to the Arrows, Lexington must first handle business against Madison.
The Rams (2-6, 1-4) took Lex to the wire last season in a game the Minutemen escaped with a 14-7 win. It was tied 7-7 with only minutes left on the clock.
Several ties between the two schools exist. Lexington coach Andrew Saris left Madison to take the helm for the Minutemen in 2022. Assistant coach Jamie Masi is a former Madison coach who led the Rams for three seasons (2015-2017).
Senior Seven Allen transferred from Madison to Lexington ahead of his sophomore year.
But Caudill and Lex are focused on letting their play on the field do the talking next week.
“We know they’re always going to play us tough,” Caudill said. “They don’t like us. We don’t like them. It’s going to be a tough week.
“We’re going to have to be physical. We’re going to have to do everything right and we’re just going to have to approach it with that mindset.”
Below are more photos from Friday’s Ohio Cardinal Conference matchup between Lexington and New Philadelphia.
Below are photos of the halftime performances from the New Philadelphia and Lexington high school marching bands, as well as the Lexington Middle School marching band.
