ARCANUM – The Arcanum Trojans defeated the Dixie Greyhounds 53-13 in Thursday night WOAC varsity football action that saw a little of everything: running, passing, kicking, and defense.
“I think we are capable of winning any kind of game,” said Arcanum coach Matt Macy. “We threw the ball like I would like to, got some playmakers out there we need to get the ball to. We rushed the ball like we normally do. Nice overall win.”
Arcanum junior MJ Macy returned the opening kickoff to the Greyhounds’ 8-yard line, and on the first play from scrimmage, Hudson Knaus carried for an 8-yard touchdown, giving the Trojans a 7-0 lead with freshman Joey Marshall splitting the PAT uprights out of the hold of freshman Weston Schmidt at 11:41 in the first quarter.
Knaus raced for a 64-yard touchdown at 5:46 in the opening period, and the duo of Marshall and Schmidt made good on the PAT kick, giving Arcanum an early 14-0 lead.
Arcanum’s defense held Dixie out of the end zone with a goal line stand in the opening minute of the second quarter with the Greyhounds stopped on a fourth and goal at the two and a half yard line.
Macy sprinted 47 yards for a touchdown at 5:17 in the second. With the PAT kick splitting the uprights, Arcanum owned a 21-0 second-quarter advantage.
With the Arcanum defense holding and turning the ball back to Arcanum, Macy again found the end zone running for a 39-yard touchdown run, giving the Trojans a 28-0 lead with the extra point kick good at 2:39 in the second quarter.
“MJ (Macy) had a good game, and our other running back Hudson Knaus … sophomore and junior there, and those two guys are both good,” Macy said. “They both do a good job.”
Dixie got on the board with 0:24 remaining in the first half on a TD pass from Cole Swafford to Ayden Hipp. With PAT kick through the uprights, the Greyhounds made it a 28-7 game.
With time running down in the opening half, Arcanum took advantage of a 48-yard pass completion on the first play from scrimmage, setting up a 16-yard touchdown pass from Bishop Cartwright to freshman Raysean Miles with no time remaining in first-half play, giving Arcanum a comfortable 34-7 lead at the break.
Dixie got on the board at 8:25 to open the second half with a Swafford to Noah Thompson touchdown pass, and with a failed two-point pass conversion attempt, the score stood at 34-13.
“We struggled a little bit on defense,” said Macy. “Dixie did a nice job; their scheme was good. We struggled for a minute there. Once we settled down, it was fine.”
Arcanum got back in the scoring column with a 3-yard Robert Denniston touchdown run at 5:46 in the third, giving the Trojans a 40-13 lead.
Arcanum took advantage of a Schmidt 4:37 in the third period, setting up a 20-yard Cartwright to Miles touchdown pass at 1:57 in the third, good for a Trojans 46-13 lead, putting a running clock in play.
“He’s tough, Raysean Miles is a good player,” Coach Macy said of his freshman receiver. “He’ll be a good player for a long time here.”
Louie Powers intercepted a Greyhounds’ pass with Arcanum going on offense at the Dixie 49-yard line at 7:21 in the fourth, bringing the Arcanum JV team to the field to close out the game.
Arcanum freshman Kenton Kenworthy answered with a 9-yard touchdown run at 3:24 in the fourth, and with Marshal splitting the uprights out of the hold of Schmidt, Arcanum closed out scoring on the night with a 53-13 conference win to stay perfect on the season with a 3-0 record.
