GREENVILLE – In a Miami Valley League matchup featuring two long-time rivals, Piqua’s Indians gashed the Greenville Green Wave’s defense for 326 rushing yards en route to a decisive 35-7 victory. Veteran Coach Bill Nees’ team gained their first win of the season, ending a four-game drought that was highly unusual for the tradition-rich program. The young and inexperienced Wave saw their record fall to 0-5 as the regular season reached the halfway mark.
Piqua struck quickly in the opening quarter, scoring two touchdowns within the first five
minutes. Following a three-and-out GHS possession deep in their own territory, junior running back Jericho Burns scored the first of his three touchdowns from seven yards out for a 7-0 advantage with Joshua Heath converting the first of his five extra points. A Wave fumble on the ensuing possession gave the Indians great field position at the Greenville 25, leading to Burns’ second score from five yards and a 14-0 lead with 7:31 to go in the first quarter.
The remainder of the first half was evenly played as neither team could put points on the
scoreboard. The third quarter saw Piqua strike quickly with quarterback Ky Warner plunging in from the one-yard line at the 10:15 mark. Later in the quarter Burns scored again from the five with 2:42 remaining, making it 28-0 and effectively icing the game.
Fourth quarter action saw senior quarterback Cody Sagraves put the Wave on the
scoreboard with an eight yard scamper around left end with Gabe Rammel converting the extra point. Carson Hawk’s twenty-nine yard catch and run of a Warner pass wrapped up the night’s scoring as the Indians broke into the win column.
Burns carried 22 times for 183 yards and three scores with Garrett Brown rushing for 92
yards on 15 carries and Warner adding 53 on 9 runs as Piqua rushed for an average of almost seven yards per carry. Junior linebacker Owen Shawler was a one-man wrecking crew defensively with 8 solo tackles and 11 in all.
Greenville was paced by sophomore Rammel’s 44 yards on 19 attempts while Sagraves
added 41 on 10 tries. Starting QB senior Evan Manix had a 40 jaunt on his way to 60 yards on 6 rushes before being knocked out of the game in the third quarter as a result of a jarring but clean tackle along the sideline. Sophomore John Barr had 3 receptions for 24 yards to lead the passing attack. Rammel had 13 tackles and another sophomore Landon Noble contributed 12 while senior Jack Royer had 7 solo stops. The Wave won the battle of possession time but once again came up short in the final count.
Wave Head Coach Bart Schmitz thought his young team “proved some things to
themselves tonight and played their best game of the season. Some young kids got thrown
into the fire tonight and it will pay off in the future. We still have mistakes to clean up but the kids keep working hard”.
After celebrating their first win of the season the Indians will get to work preparing for next
week’s Battle of Miami County, facing the Troy Trojans in a heated rivalry that is one of the
longest standing series in Ohio. The Trojans suffered their first loss to Tipp City by a 13-12
score Friday, falling out of a first-place tie with the Red Devils in the Miami Division of the MVL.
Greenville next travels to Shelby County to tangle with the Sidney Yellow Jackets, seeking
not only their first win of the season but also attempting to reclaim the Little Brown Jug that traditionally goes to the winner of the contest. The game will mark the beginning of five straight games with members of the MVL’s Valley Division
