Article Presented By Chillicothe VAMC
The Zane Trace Pioneers defeated defending SVC champ Piketon 38-20 to open SVC football action Friday.
See game highlights, along with coach and player interviews by CLICKING IMAGE BELOW:
The scoreless first quarter took a turn toward the Pioneers in the second quarter as they scored 13 unanswered points for a 13-0 halftime lead. Those two scores came on a 79 yard run by Blake Phillips at 9:10 to go in the half, with the PAT kick miss making it 6-0 Zane Trace.
The Pioneers made it 13-0 on a Carter Langley 8 yard TD pass to Nalin Robinson followed by the Noah Fetters PAT kick at 4:13 of second quarter to lift the Pioneers to the 13-0 lead at halftime.
The Zane Trace defense had a couple of big stops on Piketon drives deep into ZT territory, that set the tone for the rest of the game.
A play that typified that it was the Pioneers night came when Austen Ison caught a deflected pass from Carter Langley and raced 34 yards for the TD. The PAT kick put Zane Trace up 20-0 over the Redstreaks with 10:04 of third quarter.
Piketon finally got on the scoreboard when Buddy Wilson broke loose up the middle for a 33 yard TD run at 7:13 of the quarter. The PAT 2-point try failed, leaving ZT with a 20-6 lead.
Blake Phillips scoreed his second TD of the game on a 6 yard run at 4:34 of the third quarter. The PAT was missed as the Pioneers led 26-6.
Piketon came. right back to score on a 20 yard pass from Luke Gullion to Alan Austin at 1:47 of the third quarter. The PAT 2-point try was the same combination, cutting the ZT lead to 26-14.
The Pioneers made it 32-14 when Daniel Barnhart ran 50 yards for a score at 11:51 of the fourth quarter.
Piketon’s Brent McGuire cut the deficit to 32-20 on a 3 yard sweep at 7:02 of the fourth quarter. The PAT failed.
Zane Trace added some insurance points on an Aaden Dunn pick-six from 55 yards at 2:40 left. The PAT missed for Zane Trace’s final margin of victory at 38-20.
Zane Trace had 392 total yards, with 333 on the ground. Daniel Barnhart led the way with 130 yards on 10 carries and 1 touchdown, while the McDonald’s Player of the Game– Blake Phillips rushed for 127 yards on 9 carries and scored from 79 and 6 years. The Pioneers were 4/9 passing for 59 yards and a score.
The Redstreaks accumulated 429 total yards, despite the loss. Piketon’s freshman quarterback Luke Gullion threw 13/22 for 105 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception. Buddy Wilson rushed for 160 yards on 23 carries and scored a touchdown.
Zane Trace improves to (1-0/4-0) and will host Huntington next week. Piketon drops to (0-1/2-2) and will host (1-0/4-0) Unioto next week.
Friday was Military Appreciation Night at Zane Trace, where Zane Trace High School Senior Zayden Lutz was officially sworn-in to the U.S. Army, where he will report to the Fort Leonard Wood Bravo Combat Engineering Group in June 2023.
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