NEW MADISON – The Tri-Village Patriots defeated Arcanum 42-0 to go undefeated in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference at 9-0 to win an outright league championship.
It will be a special memory for the 12 senior football players recognized before the game as they became the first team to go 10-0 in the regular season in school history.
In the 10th year of football at Tri-Village, eight competing as a varsity program the PATS have won 3 league championships. They won a title in the old Cross County Conference in 2019, shared a WOAC title with Ansonia in 2022 and now won an outright title in 2025.
Arcanum would win the time of possession in this game having the ball for 32 minutes to just 16 for Tri-Village … but the Patriots were efficient offensively and stingy defensively to take the win.
Tri-Village stopped Arcanum on their first possession, and it didn’t take long for them to put the first points on the board with senior Noah Finkbine breaking a couple of tackles and going 52 yards to go up 7-0 at 6:03 in first quarter.
Finkbine duplicated his efforts on the next TV possession this time going 45-yards and with the extra point kick from Owen Ridout the score was 14-0 with 2:03 left in the opening quarter.
Arcanum put together a methodical drive and crossed midfield on their third possession only to see Aaron Bruner intercept a pass at the 2-yard line to stop their drive. Tri-Village took advantage and eventually scored off sophomore Staley Colston’s 4-yard run to push the lead to 21-0 at 7:46 in second quarter.
It was déjà vu with Bruner intercepting another Trojan pass over his shoulder at the one yard and again Tri-Village would take advantage of the change of possession going 99-yards for another score.
The big play was quarterback Trey Sagester hitting Griffin Richards in stride down the sideline and he turned it into a 64-yard touchdown for a 28-0 advantage at the half.
Tri-Village would receive the opening kick-off to start the second half and scored quickly with on Colston’s second rushing TD of the game to push the lead out to 35-0 and a running clock.
Tri-Village added one more score in the frame on a 37-yard run by sophomore running back Colt Camacho to end the scoring in the game at 42-0 as the Patriots secured their first undefeated regular season in school history.
The Patriots amassed 425 yards in the game: 329 rushing and 96 passing. Noah Finkbine led the way almost all in the first half with 150 yards rushing on 9 carries. Staley Colston had 99-yards on 14 carries and 2 TDs. Colt Camacho had 4 rushes for 77 yards and a TD. Trey Sagester threw 96 yards all to Griffin Richards including a 64-yard TD strike between the two.
The Patriots had 3 interceptions two by Aaron Bruner and one by Dom Black on a ball tipped at the line of scrimmage. Senior Cam Poston also had a fumble recovery.
Arcanum had 45 plays and 134 total yards: 92 rushing and 42 passing. MJ Macy rushed 18 times for 57 yards and Weston Schmidt was 8-for-18 passing for 42 yards.
The Trojans had the ball for 32 minutes to the Patriots 16 minutes in the game.
Tri-Village coach Matt Hopkins would not escape another water shower from the players after the game and once he was able to finish his bath shared with me his thoughts on the conference championship.
“This championship it’s just a testament to our kids, and the work that they put in, and, more importantly, the people that started this program. Josh Sagester (Tri-Village Superintendent) went out on a huge limb and put his neck out there to get football started here, but he knew and believed, it only takes one and then that belief spreads, and it really has. In those early years of this program, we were the whipping boys, right? And we remembered that, we didn’t pout about it. We got better, we learned as each class came through. It’s about the work and the dedication and the commitment and understanding where we came from, you know, and to do what we’ve done in such a short amount of time as a program is really unbelievable.” Coach Hopkins explained.
“I really hope that our kids understand that, and our community understands that just the amount of work that we’ve done and the success that we’ve had in such a short amount of time is uncommon,” Hopkins added.
Coach Hopkins in his fourth year at the helm couldn’t go without talking about his 12 seniors who is his first full group he has coached from freshman through senior years.
“These guys were my first, they were freshmen when I got hired in. We’ve been together through these four years. And the amount of work these guys put in during the off season and when no one’s watching they’ve been very dedicated. We ask a lot out of these kids. It’s a football program and many also in our basketball program. They just live here, and they want to be great, they want to be coached hard and so they work hard, and these seniors, are the epitome of that. They have done everything that we have asked. They’ve shown up to everything even when you know some of these other guys that weren’t playing a whole lot, they kept at it, kept practicing, kept getting guys better, and they’ve seen the rewards,” Hopkins stated.
One such example is senior Cam Poston who hasn’t had a lot of minutes but has put in the work and late in the game with his teammates pushing for him to rush and get a sack on defense. He didn’t get a sack, but he did get a fumble recovery, and he was mobbed by his senior teammates coming off the field and on the sidelines. It’s that kind of reward that makes it worthwhile.
“That there was movie stuff, we can’t write that stuff. That’s a kid who joined us as a sophomore and is here every day, works his butt off comes in gets a fumble and it paid off,” Hopkins concluded.
The Patriots win almost ensures them a #1 seed in the OHSAA D6 Region 24 playoffs which will give them a bye in the first round and home game in the second round on their quest to continue make this season even more historic.
