Standing tall: Tri-Valley football fends off Jackson rally

DRESDEN — It was exactly the type of game that Tri-Valley coach Cameron West expected on Friday night — a bareknuckle fight until one team was left standing.

Deadlocked in a scoreless struggle with visiting Jackson for 35 minutes, the Scotties finally broke the ice when Ashton Sensibaugh caught a pass from Max Lyall over the middle, split two defenders and raced into the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown. Tri-Valley finally seized momentum — or so it seemed.

This one was just getting started. The teams traded haymakers down the stretch, and the dazed Ironmen were left fighting for their life down a point in the final minute with a chance to escape Muskingum County with a win.

Aaron Frueh had other plans. The Scotties' 6-5, 190-pound defensive end shed a block and delivered the deathblow — a fourth-down sack that forced a fumble and secured a 14-13 win on Hall of Fame Night in the latest thriller at Jack Anderson Stadium.

The school inducted four of its all-time greats — girls basketball stars Hanna Luburgh, Carly Young and Alyssa Miller and legendary football coach Justin Buttermore. Buttermore, who is head coach at Upper Arlington, left a message for the fans on the video board at the field.

Fans were treated to a game cut from the same cloth as some of Buttermore's classics.

Trailing 14-7 with five minutes left, Jackson drove 63 yards for what appeared to be the tying touchdown when Brayden Powell followed a 5-yard keeper from 6-3, 220-pound quarterback Jacob Winters with a 3-yard scoring plunge. All the Ironmen needed was the PAT to knot it with 2:05 left.

But the extra point was pulled wide left. Forced to onside kick with only two timeouts remaining, the Ironmen thought they recovered around the 50-yard line. The officials deemed it happened short of the necessary 10 yards for the ball to travel, and Tri-Valley took over at the Jackson 49.

They failed to record a first down, however, and were forced to punt with a minute left. Frueh's sack, which followed three Winters incompletions, sealed it.

"When it comes down to the wire there is no one else I want out there besides us 11, especially on defense," senior receiver/linebacker Hansel Holmes said. "This is two games in a row now where it's a last-minute drive and we've got to hold firm. We did."

Tri-Valley improved to 2-1 with Muskingum Valley League play looming. Holmes, one of the team's captains, said the group has learned much about itself during a rugged early schedule that included Columbus DeSales and Licking Heights prior to Friday's game.

"We knew when we saw our schedule, especially those first two weeks that we were going to have to come out and fight," Holmes said. "We're so much better than we were going into Week 1. Now we're going into Week 4 and the sky is the limit for us."

The teams combined for 15 penalties — eight were offensive holding calls — for 130 yards, six turnovers and were just 6-of-23 on third-down conversions in a game dominated by defense for three quarters.

Tri-Valley's was especially stout, forcing three punts and recovering a fumble in the first half in building a 131-66 edge in yards. But the Ironmen used a goal-line stand in the first quarter and an interception at their own 15 in the second to turn away scoring chances.

Things opened up considerably in the fourth quarter, however.

With Tri-Valley's running game stymied — it ran for just 34 yards on 29 carries — Lyall carried the offense by hitting 20 of 31 passes for 279 yards and a pair of TDs. Half of those completions went to Ashton Sensibaugh (4 for 119 yards) and Holmes (6 for 78), who accounted for both scores.

It was Holmes' that hit the hardest.

Tied at 7 with 9:20 left after Eli Broermann's 25-yard interception return for a touchdown, Tri-Valley returned the ensuing kickoff to its own 42. Lyall then had completions of 5, 11 and 5 yards, then ran four yards for a first down to reach the Jackson 27.

Two plays later, Lyall found a streaking Holmes in stride on a wheel route for 26 yards down the sideline after he beat his man deep. The extra point made it 14-7.

This came after Jackson, which turned to more spread formations in the second half, saw two scoring chances dissipate after turnovers. The first came on a Holmes fumble recovery in the third, the second on Ethan Helms' interception after Kam Karns pressured Winters into an errant throw. Both came in Jackson territory.

West credited the defense for shouldering much of the load, particularly coordinator Jeremy Cameron, who changed up the team's defense to combat Jackson's high-powered offense.

West said the team practices with high intensity, particularly this past week, especially in defensive pursuit situations. It was something West hammered home again to his team in his postgame address.

"It's hard to convince 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids at practice that you have to run to the ball until it becomes habit," West said. "We had some bad habits, but I think we're finally starting to break some of those habits. We're listening and starting to understand the game plan better defensively. We did some different things this week and we executed the game plan to perfection."

Holmes called Cameron "the best defensive coordinator in the MVL."

"Jackson had 17 different formations and he had a check for every one of them," Holmes said. "He's a great coach to play for."

It was the third time in three years these Division III, Region 11 powers faced off, and the second time the Scotties got the best of Andy Hall's Ironmen. Jackson's veteran defense stonewalled Tri-Valley, 24-3, in 2021, a year after the Scotties earned a hard-fought 14-12 playoff win in 2020.

Hall lamented the loss, and especially his team's missed oppotunities, but praised his team for staying in the game, despite being dominated by the Scottie defense in the first half.

At 1-2, his team still has difficult tests with high-powered Mount Orab Western Brown and Chillicothe, among others, remaining in their quest to return to the postseason. They've now lost two games by four combined points — Division V power Ironton came back for a 29-26 win last week.

This one was another tough outcome in a land far from home.

"Both in the same region in Division III, good storied programs — that's why you play in games like this," Hall said. "You want to be in situations where you compete at the highest level. We may see these guys again in the playoffs. It was two great programs going at it, and this is what happens."

This one was the best game in the series, a game that featured a little of everything. Holmes said it was one of his favorite games.

"That's a community that rallies around that program and they play football the right way," said West, who has coached in all three games. "It's just a shame they are almost three hours away because I wish we could play every year."

sblackbu@gannett.com; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Tri-Valley Scotties football fends off Jackson rally