CAMDEN – It was an early showdown match-up in the WOAC with Preble Shawnee hosting Ansonia in week two of the 2025 season. The show was put on by Arrows quarterback Brody Morton who had 5 TDs and the down was the mood of the Tigers after suffering a 34-8 defeat.
The loss snapped a 22-game win streak in the WOAC for Ansonia going back to the 2022 season against Tri-Village 37-36.
It’s no secret when you play Ansonia it’s going to be a war in the trenches a grind it out game, but Shawnee was more than ready for the challenge and established their own physicality forcing three and out on Ansonia’s first two possessions, the second resulting in a partially blocked punt setting up the Arrows at midfield.
Shawnee took advantage as Brody Morton reeled off a couple long runs and then capped it with a four-yard TD for a 7-0 lead.
It took the Tiger’s three possessions before they were able to move the ball to midfield but eventually stalling out.
Preble Shawnee put together their second scoring drive with Morton scoring again from 6-yards out and with the extra point by senior Colton Schroeder they led 14-0.
Ansonia got a nice return on the ensuing kick-off all the way out to the 50.
The run game started to get a little momentum behind Lander Shives and Jacob Schmitmeyer with Schmitmeyer getting the Tigers on the board with a 10-yard run followed by the two-point conversion to close the gap 14-8 with three minutes to go in 2nd quarter.
Ansonia had Preble Shawnee where they wanted in a 3rd and long … looking to get a big stop and the ball back … but Morton broke contain to pick up a first down at midfield determined to get his team a score before the end of the half.
He would do just that throwing a strike with 34 seconds to go into the corner of the endzone where Caleb Blankenship was able to haul it in and get his feet down for a 21-yard TD giving Shawnee big momentum and a 20-8 lead at the break.
It was a fantastic start and good first half for Preble Shawnee drawing approval from coach Dave Maddox.
“Ansonia always is a very, very tough team, they pound the ball, their kids play hard, and so we knew coming we wanted to be more physical and able to run the ball against them and I thought we matched up well and took it to them early, we were fired up and ready to go,” Maddox exclaimed.
Ansonia is a program that you can’t let up, a team that won’t quit and fortunately for Preble they would receive the ball to start the 2nd half.
Ansonia’s defense did its job stalling the Arrows offense at their own 25. But the Tigers offense still struggled to get going and forced to punt it back pinning Shawnee around the 10-yard line.
Two plays later Morton got the edge slipped a tackle and raced 80 yards up the sideline to increase their lead to 27-8.
Morton wasn’t finished, picking up his 5th touchdown, this time a four-yard keeper for what was the game ending score for a 34-8 Preble Shawnee victory.
When you are the top team in the conference for three years and just one league loss over that time frame expectations are high but for coach Adam Hall it’s early in the season and becoming a well-oiled machine with younger guys on the line is a process that will improve as the season goes along.
“Look, you got to give credit to Preble Shawnee. They’re good every year. We knew coming in they were going to be a good team. Their line dominated up front tonight offensive and defensively. I felt a couple of times we started to get going and had something set us back. So that happens and the only thing we can do now is learn from it and get better,” Hall commented.
Coach Maddox was pleased with his teams execution and the play of his senior quarterback Brody Morton.
“I thought we came out strong and put four quarters together, and we were able to get up on them and once you get up a little bit, you kind of take them out of their comfort zone, to where they’re playing from behind and not no able to manage the clock and control the line of scrimmage and our defense played excellent all night long,” Maddox stated.
“Offensively we made the plays we needed to get the ball in the end zone,” Maddox added.
Those plays were spearheaded by Brody Morton who accounted for all five touchdowns for Preble Shawnee.
“He’s an amazing young man, he works his butt off and very humble. He deserves all the credit for everything he’s able to do on the field, both sides of the ball, stepping up being a great leader for the team as well,” Maddox praised.
It took four years for Brody Morton to be on the winning end of things after falling to the Tigers the last three years and his performance caught the attention of Ansonia coach Adam Hall.
“Their quarterback ran wild on us you know, he’s a very good athlete and been good since freshman year. If you give him a little bit of room, it doesn’t take much for him to make big plays and he showed that tonight,” Hall said.
For Morton it was a great feeling to be able to put together the kind of game he did and get a win over Ansonia his senior year.
“It feels really amazing to get the win tonight. The last two years haven’t been too good, and they have beat us three times in a row. This week, Coach Maddox got us fired up, and I think that helped us a lot, and this was just a great team win tonight, Morton explained.
Their game plan is to control the clock, and our defense was amazing to keep the ball out of their hands, and we did a good job executing our offense,” Morton added.
That offense including two 4-yard, a 6-yard and 80-yard run by Morton for a TD along with a 21-yard TD pass to Blankenship.
And when I asked Brody about scoring five TDs he gave credit to his line and receiver echoing coach Maddox on being a humble kid.
I’m able to run the ball because our offensive line and it helps to be able to run behind Cooper Shrout and Klayton Taylor. They pull and I just follow cutting off their blocks either going up the middle or bouncing it outside and then our receivers did a really nice job blocking so big props to them as well,” Morton said.
Morton might be most dangerous with his feet, but he has shown he can make big throws, and it helps when you have a great receiver like Caleb Blankenship.
“I probably could have thrown a better ball on that late score in the first half to Caleb but he’s a great athlete, very athletic, and made a great catch,” Morton stated.
Getting the win tonight got the monkey off the backs of Brody Morton and the Arrows team winning the first big match-up in the WOAC this year … but they have bigger things in mind going forward.
“It feels great right now, but we can’t be satisfied. We’ve got to go out next week and get the job done all over again,” Brody concluded.
Preble Shawnee improved to 2-0, 1-0 and will host 1-1, 1-0 Twin Valley South next Friday.
Ansonia falls to 1-1, 0-1 and they will host 0-2, 0-1 National Trail next week.
Other WOAC Scores
Mississinawa Valley 34, Dixie 3
Twin Valley South 42, Bradford 8
Tri-Village 42, National Trail 0
Arcanum 34, Tri-County North 0
