ARCANUM — Tri-Village capped a perfect 10-0 regular season with a 33-0 win at Arcanum, finishing 9-0 in Western Ohio Athletic Conference play to claim the 2026 WOAC football championship.
Tri-Village turned early defensive stops into points, then added two interception returns for touchdowns to finish off a dominant road win. The 33-0 victory secured the Patriots’ second consecutive league title and back-to-back undefeated regular seasons for the first time in the program’s short 12-year history.
Kentucky commit Dom Black said repeating as champions and finishing 10-0 again had been a goal all season.
“We wanted to go repeat and go 10-0 again for the first time in school history. It’s something we’ve been working on all season. Win at home is our first goal. Win every game at home and then win every conference game, and to do that is a good feeling,” Black said.
Tri-Village received the opening kickoff but forced to punt to arcanum on a three but Owen Ridout’s punt pinned the Trojans at their own 3-yard line.
On Arcanum’s second play from scrimmage, the Trojans fumbled, and Jake Buckley recovered for Tri-Village. One play later, Staley Colston took a handoff from Brecken Gray into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown. The extra point was blocked, leaving the Patriots ahead 6-0 with 9:12 remaining in the first quarter.
The teams traded possessions before Arcanum was forced to punt again on its third drive. This time Griffin Richards scooped up the bouncing ball and returned it 50 yards into Arcanum territory.
Completions from quarterback Brecken Gray to Kingston Shafer and Richards moved Tri-Village to the 21-yard line. Colston then broke through the middle for his second touchdown. Ridout’s extra point put the Patriots ahead 13-0 with 7:42 left in the second quarter.
Arcanum struggled to establish its running game and turned to the air. Hayden Hunt intercepted a pass near midfield and returned it for a touchdown, extending Tri-Village’s lead to 20-0.
The Trojans responded with a drive, mixing runs and passes to move downfield. With time winding down in the first half, Arcanum for the first time threatened to score with first-and-goal at the 4-yard line. The Trojans ran four consecutive plays but gained only two yards. Tri-Village’s defense held, taking over on downs with 47 seconds left in the half.
The Patriots added to their lead in the third quarter. A 40-yard run by Colt Camacho helped set up a 26-yard touchdown pass from Gray to Shafer, making it 27-0 with 4:39 remaining in the quarter.
Arcanum continued to battle. Late in the game, MJ Macy broke off a 50-yard run into Tri-Village territory. The Trojans looked to score through the air, but Richards intercepted the pass and returned it 65 yards for the game’s second pick-six, sealing the 33-0 win and the outright league championship.
Before the season, the WOAC title race was expected to center on Arcanum and Ansonia, with Tri-Village and Preble Shawnee seen as potential spoilers with both teams graduating a number of skilled players from the previous year.
Ansonia, which lost to Tri-Village in Week 5, needed a Week 9 win over Arcanum to stay in contention for a share of the title—and got it. That left the Trojans needing a Week 10 win over Tri-Village to create a three-way tie for the championship.
Instead, the Patriots went to Arcanum and claimed the outright title, a result that pleased Tri-Village coach Matt Hopkins.
“A lot of people didn’t think that we’d be up here [after] we graduated a lot of really good players last year. We kept plugging away, we kept finding a way to win. Even tonight, it was a super ugly win, but we found a way to win, and that’s the most important thing,” Hopkins said.
Tri-Village has now won nine straight games against Arcanum, a rivalry Hopkins said the team understood the importance of.
“This is a huge rivalry win for our team and program. I thought we were all out of sorts. It was their senior night; we were jacked through the ceiling with emotions because of what this game meant. We never really got our footing offensively or defensively, but we made some big plays when we needed them,” Hopkins said.
“Our goal on defense was to be explosive up front, get hands on, and then have our secondary make plays when they needed to. Hayden Hunt had two big interceptions, and our secondary did a really good job limiting yards after the catch while our front slowed down their running game,” he added.
Tri-Village finishes the regular season 10-0 and is set to earn the No. 1 seed in Division VI, Region 24. The Patriots will receive a first-round bye and host a second-round playoff game.
Arcanum finishes 6-4 overall and 6-2 in the WOAC for third place. The Trojans appear headed for the No. 8 seed in Division V, Region 20, which would set up a home first-round playoff game against the No. 9 seed, likely Dayton Christian.
