During round two of the division III state playoff’s, Monroe put the Canal Winchester on ice early. When senior quarterback Tyler Osterman was asked before the game what he believed the keys of the game would be, he replied ”We have to play our game.” Judging from the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter the Hornets were well on their way to doing that. The Hornets had a brief scare in the second quarter when Senior Brett Richter went down with a knee injury. Brett commented after the game saying that his sitting out the rest of the game was only a precaution. Sent in to fill those shoes from that point on was Senior Jake Hofer who was up to the task.
The Indians, led by junior quarterback Travis Stevenson, could not seem to get anything going until late in the second quarter when Senior Tony Davis scored from the 3 yard line on an inside handoff from QB Travis Stevenson bringing the score to 34-7 Hornets. Recovering the onside kick, the Indians went back to work driving down the field only to have a pass picked off by Sophomore Ben Leahy with 3:52 left to play in the half. On the first Hornet punt following a four and out series, Senior Blake Barnhart of the Indians, fumbles the punt, which was covered by Freshman Chris Hammond. The final drive of the half led to a field goal attempt by Junior kicker Pat Black which was tipped and flew just right of the goal post.
Early in the second half the Hornets again found the end zone via Senior Taylor Simpson. Two plays following the kick off Sophomore Ben Leahy recorded his second pick of the night that led to the next Hornet score bringing the score to 47-7 Hornets with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter. The beginning of the fourth quarter brings Canal Winchester to the end zone for only the second time following a fumbled handoff that was picked back up by Senior Tony Davis of the Indians leading to the second Canal score of the evening, bringing the score to 47-14 Hornets.
The Indians found the end zone one final time during the game late in the fourth quarter bringing the score to 47-21 Hornets. The Hornets, led by Sophomore QB Ben Leahy, drove down the field to the 2 yard line where with great style and sportsmanship the Hornets took a knee to end the game.
The Hornets advance to the Division III Regional finals to be held at Kings. They will face Indian Hill.
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Photos by Mike Morris.