ANSONIA — Ansonia scored 22 unanswered second-quarter points to pull away from Arcanum for a 44-6 Western Ohio Athletic Conference football victory Friday night.
The Tigers improved to 8-1 overall while handing the Trojans their first conference loss. Arcanum fell to 6-3 overall and 6-1 in the WOAC.
Ansonia built a 38-6 halftime lead, putting a running clock into effect for the second half.
“I thought that we looked like we were ready to go on defense,” Ansonia coach Adam Hall said. “We got the stop early. I thought we did a good job of playing run defense tonight.”
The Tigers opened the scoring with 3:40 remaining in the first quarter on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Cade Shellhaas to junior Jake Pierre. Senior Lander Shives added the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.
Shives extended the advantage with a 37-yard touchdown run at the 1:36 mark. Ansonia converted another 2-point attempt to make it 16-0.
Arcanum answered less than a minute later when sophomore quarterback Weston Schmidt connected with junior Talan Stone for a 53-yard touchdown pass. The conversion attempt failed, leaving Ansonia ahead 16-6 with 53 seconds remaining in the quarter.
That was the only scoring play the Tigers allowed.
“We know that they have a very good running back, and I thought that we did a good job of slowing him down,” Hall said. “All year we’ve had some struggles with pass defense, and we gave up one big one. But other than that, our defense played well for us tonight.”
Ansonia struck again on the first play from scrimmage of the second quarter, scoring on an 80-yard Austin Tobe run with 11:39 remaining before halftime. Another successful 2-point conversion pushed the lead to 24-6.
Freshman running back Austin Tobe added a 2-yard touchdown run. The conversion attempt failed, but the Tigers had stretched their advantage to 30-6.
Ansonia capped its first-half scoring as time expired when Graham Coppess caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Shellhaas. The Tigers converted the 2-point attempt to take a 38-6 lead into the locker room.
Ansonia added the lone touchdown of the second half, a 17-yard Shives touchdown run to complete scoring on the night.
Hall praised Shives’ tough running and the Tigers’ backfield’s unselfish play.
“We’re very lucky to have as many running backs as we do that we can feel comfortable with carrying the ball,” Hall said. “Those guys, when they’re not carrying it, they block for their teammates, and they do it very well.”
That work helps make Ansonia’s offense successful, he said.
“That doesn’t show up on the stats. You don’t get a lot of publicity for that, but that’s a big part,” Hall said. “Those guys run hard, and then they block hard for their teammates, which is huge for us.”
The victory also gave Ansonia a strong response to an earlier loss to Tri-Village.
“We needed it,” Hall said. “We felt like when we played Tri-Village, we didn’t play our best game, and we knew coming in tonight that Arcanum was another tough test.”
Hall said his players responded to the expectations set during practice.
“We challenged the guys all week. It’s good to see the guys rise to the challenge,” he said. “I feel like we started to show a peek at how good a team we could be.”
Ansonia travels to Mississinawa Valley on Friday, Oct. 23. The Blackhawks are coming off a 37-0 loss to Tri-County North.
Arcanum closes its regular season against unbeaten Tri-Village. The Patriots improved to 9-0 with a 33-7 victory over Preble Shawnee.
