ANSONIA – The Tigers had to wait another week to claim the outright WOAC Football title by going 10-0 in the regular season and 8-0 in the WOAC with their 46-6 win over Mississinawa Valley Friday night.
It also marked only the 2nd time in school history going undefeated in the regular season the last being in 2009 with current coach Adam Hall being a senior on that team.
“These guys wanted to get that 10-0 record, they didn’t want our 2009 team to be the only group to go 10-0 and I couldn’t be happier for them they are a great group of guys,” an elated coach Hall stated after the game.
“We have good football players on our team, but they’re great kids. They’re fun to be around. I think that’s the thing that we sometimes might miss obviously, it’s fun to be in practice. It’s fun to be a part of these games. Fun to be in the weight room. We have great kids we worked really hard, and we have a great coaching staff that do a great job you too,” Hall commented.
The Mississinawa game traditionally has always been a great rivalry, but the Hawks were low on numbers and nursing a number of injuries and it was no surprise the score was 40-0 by the 8 minutes mark of the 2ndquarter.
Senior running back Garrett Stammen had 3 TD runs in the first half as the Tigers scored on every possession.
Quarterback Nick Burns also tossed a 20-yard pass to Wyatt Spencer for a TD. While the Tigers played a lot of guys and got scoring from different players than traditionally in the game including a couple of senior linemen scoring on two-point conversions.
The Blackhawks avoided the shutout with a drive late in the game on a Bryce Watson pass that was deflected over the middle that ended up in the hands of Kyle Wehrkamp in the endzone for a TD.
Now that the regular season has concluded the #2 ranked DVII team in the state and currently #2 in region 28 computer points the Tigers will get to host the first two rounds of the OHSAA Playoffs.
Although official seedings and playoff opponents won’t be announced till Sunday evening it appears the Ansonia could be facing Lockland from Cincinnati. Ft. Loramie still has a game to play tonight.
“We know in the playoffs everything steps up a level we don’t know who were going play but got to earn your way in the playoffs and we feel like we have a team that can compete with anyone and we’re going to take it one week at a time see how far we can go,” Hall exclaimed.
“Right now, we just want to enjoy winning the league title in the WOAC and it was so nice to be able to do it at home. Last year it was we clinched a share with Tri-Village but that was on the road and if you go back to 2009 we actually played at Miami East when we won the league. So, it’s special to do that here on our home field with all our fans here to celebrate and all our guys loved it, what an awesome night,” Hall concluded.
