NEW MADISON – The Tri-Village football team dominated both offensively and defensively in their WOAC match-up with Mississinawa Valley in a 42-0 victory at home Friday night.
The Patriots utilized a balanced attack in the win with 153 yards on the ground with a TD and 197 yards in the air for 4 TD’s. The defense also came up big keeping the Blackhawks under 200 yards total for the game while registering a shutout.
“Mississinawa has a bunch of tough kids who fought till the end. I was proud of everyone on our roster for executing what we practice and getting the shut out,” Tri-Village coach Robert Burk said after the game.
“We were really happy with the win tonight. I always tell the kids that winning is a precious thing, it’s hard to win games,” Burk added.
It was a big game for sophomore quarterback Braden Keating now in his 3rd start, he had a big night in the air connecting on 7-of-15 passes for 197 yards with 4 completions for touchdowns.
The first was a 15-yard toss to Tanner Printz who caught the ball in the flat where he shook a few tackles to get into the endzone. Keating also does double duty as the kicker and converted the extra point to give TV a 7-0 lead in the 1st quarter.
Early in the 2nd quarter Keating went over the top to a streaking Josh Scantland hauling in an over the shoulder catch without breaking stride for the 2nd score to go up 14-0.
Keating was on fire with the long-ball connecting on another long throw, this time to Justin Finkbine with a 33-yard catch to go up 21-0.
The Patriots weren’t finished scoring once more on a pass to Scantland who avoided a tackle for a 15-yard touchdown.
Mississinawa Valley had some success running the football racking up 131 yards on the ground with Pierce Daniels going for 89 yards … but the biggest play of the game for them was a 30-yard pass from quarterback Malachi Levesque to Matthew Pisano who made a spectacular catch at the 8-yard line with just under a minute to play in the first half.
However, the Blackhawks were unable to take advantage of their best opportunity to score and the Patriots led 28-0 at the break.
Reed Wehr came out running from the locker-room scoring right off on a 47-yard run to run the tally to 35-0.
The final score in the game may have been the most interesting and shocking to many.
Mississinawa Levesque punted the football on the next possession, and it was well covered by a couple defenders waiting to down the ball as it rolled forward – in a strange twist of events it bounded backwards and right into the hands of Patriot Jason Hale. Hale scooped it up and streaked up the sidelines untouched for a 64-yard return and capping the final score at 42-0.
“I was so happy for senior Jason Hale that was a huge 64 Yd punt return,” Burk stated.
It was also a great night for senior Josh Scantland who had 3 catches for 103 yards and 2 TDs.
“Last week he became the all-time touchdown reception leader at Tri-Village surpassing the 13 set by the late Austin Bruner.
“Josh Scantland now has 16 career TD receptions and is part of this senior class who have been instrumental in creating the competitive football program we currently have here at Tri-Village,” Burk praised.
“He has put in the work and deserves all the accolades that comes with it, and I know Austin would be so happy to pass that record off to Josh,” Burk added.
“It was a great night for him and our team in front of all our fans,” Burk concluded.
