Sidney quarterback Ethan New gets a lift from a teammate following his touchdown in Friday’s win over Piqua. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
Sidney’s Speedsters dashed past Piqua to guide the Yellow Jackets to consecutive wins in the Battle of the Battered Helmet for the first time in over 40 years. After leading 20-0 in the fourth quarter, Sidney had to fight off a valiant rally by the Indians to cling on to the 20-13 victory.
By Alan Brads for Press Pros
Between the high stakes and thrilling plot twists, you could say playoff football came two weeks early for Sidney and Piqua.
With the Battered Helmet on the line, and both teams on the playoff bubble, the atmosphere inside Piqua Alexander Stadium felt like a postseason game. Sidney controlled the first three quarters of the rivalry and potential knockout game, and escaped a late Indian comeback with a 20-13 victory, despite never throwing a heavy, knockout punch.
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The win boosted Sidney back above .500 (5-4, 5-3) and marked the first time since the late 1970s that Sidney has won the Battered Helmet in consecutive seasons.
Alan Brads is a contributing columnist and writes sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.
The 1-2 punch of Julius Spradling and Tank Fleming at wide receiver won the day for the Yellow Jackets.
Fleming caught nine passes for 95 yards and Spradling caught six for 71 and a TD, plus an interception.
“We have two of the best skill players that you’ll find in the state,” Sidney Head Coach Dave Taynor said. “Tank Fleming pulls coverage to him all day … and Julius ran right by his man on the touchdown.”
And if Fleming and Spradling are the jab and the cross, quarterback Ethan New is the hook, and running back Isaiah Foster is a vicious uppercut.
Foster ran for 133 yards, and New scored twice with his legs from the goal line.
Piqua’s secondary breaks up a pass intended for Sidney’s Julius Spradling.
Helmets were indeed battered, but the hardest hits actually came from Sidney’s defense, despite its struggles to tackle this season. Linebackers stopping Piqua RB Jericho Burns in his tracks looked like different players than the ones that allowed Xenia’s Deaunte White to rush for 388 yards just six weeks ago … in some cases because they were.
“We played all of our personnel tonight,” Taynor said. “We played Foster and New as outside linebackers. We try not to play New a whole lot on defense but he’s really one of our best defensive players. We’re toward the end of the year and we need to win this one, so we had him out there.
Piqua (3-6, 3-5) normally has physicality to spare, but Sidney’s athleticism on the outside helped mitigate Piqua’s imposing front seven. The pass rush led by senior Isaiah Martin didn’t land even once on New’s 27 pass attempts, including many quick hitters to get the ball in the hands of a playmaker.
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They utilized short passes to Fleming and runs by the speedy Foster on a leisurely opening drive capped by a New QB sneak TD for a 6-0 lead after a blocked PAT.
And when Piqua’s offense took the field, it didn’t take long to tell they couldn’t keep pace. A dropped pass on a rollout, QB Caiden Thomas’ specialty, forced a punt.
Sidney’s Tank Coleman picks up good yardage on a screen pass during Friday’s win over Piqua.
Again Sidney strolled to the red zone but finally ran into an opponent that could stop its offense…themselves!
A trick play had New roll out to the right, turn around, and throw a lateral back across the field to left tackle Luke Carter, who ran it to the pylon for what looked like a 14-yard touchdown, but a holding penalty reversed it. Another TD rush appeared to atone for the error, but yet another hold erased it, and the Jackets turned the ball over on downs.
In the second quarter New took advantage of DBs getting sucked up by repetitive completions to Fleming on hitch routes. Spradling ran a go route from the slot, and New spun it in complete to Spradling for a 13-0 lead.
“I saw he was playing a little bit up and I had a lot of space,” Spradling said. “Coach saw it and made an adjustment and we made a good play.”
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Taynor said he asked Spradling during a timeout right before the TD if he could beat his man, and when Spradling said yes, Taynor responded, “Then you’re scoring on this play.”
Spradling also climbed the ladder to high point and intercept a throw to protect the 13-0 halftime lead.
Piqua’s Jericho Burns breaks a Sidney tackle attempt during Friday’s game at Alexander Stadium.
Piqua’s offense found a heartbeat on the opening drive of the third quarter. But a dropped snap recovered by Sidney’s Demarcuse Fleming killed any momentum they gathered. When New scampered in again from the 3-yard line, all seemed lost for the Indians.
But Caiden Thomas evaded a sack and hit Noah Coleman on 4th & 14 for a 27-yard TD to give the home team life. A fake extra point fell flat leaving the Indians trailing 20-6.
Backed against the ropes for the first time all night, the Yellow Jackets let their guard down just for a second, and the Piqua defense threw a haymaker. A shotgun snap went over New’s head, and Piqua’s Izzy Coleman scooped it up and followed a brigade of blockers for a 64-yard scoop-n-score. With 4:28 left, the Indians trailed by just 20-13.
But the comeback was neither written in the stars nor engraved inside the Battered Helmet. Sidney recovered the onside kick, and milked the remaining four and a half minutes off the clock, converting on fourth down twice in order to do so.
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“This win means a lot for us,” Spradling said. “We started off the season kinda slow, but we kept fighting and kept preparing to come out with this W. Moving forward we just gotta keep that same preparation. Keep working hard, keep working together, and I think we’ll get the job done.”
Letting off the gas in the second half has been a significant issue for Sidney this season, but Taynor took a positive approach on the fourth quarter that Piqua won 13-0.
“I look at the fourth quarter this way: we did what we needed to do in order to win the game,” Taynor said. “They had 4th & 14 and their quarterback is a great athlete, he scrambled and made a play. Joe Boehm, who’s not had a bad snap all year, sends one over the quarterback’s head. But here’s the thing, if you play really good sound football, when a screwy thing happens, you’re able to respond.”
Piqua quarterback Caiden Thomas scrambles for yardage against Sidney.
Sidney moves off the playoff bubble, from 14th in Region 8 up to 12th. Though the Yellow Jackets haven’t officially clinched a bid, they’ll still be on the right side of 16 even with a loss next week barring some major week 10 chaos. But a win (or a loss) in next week’s bout with Troy will play a huge factor in seeding – plus the Trojans will be fighting for their lives, currently ranked 15th in Region 8.
“We’ll be 1-0 until after I finish breakfast at the Alcove tomorrow,” Taynor said. “Then we’re back to 0-0 and we’ll try to get ready for Troy.
Piqua fell a spot in Region 8 from 18th to 19th, and a win next week over Fairborn would far from guarantee them a spot in the postseason, but it would double the win count from last year and set Piqua back in the right direction.
“This is a group of character guys, and they battled,” Piqua Head Coach Bill Nees said. “We’ve played some really good football teams, and they’ve continued to battle. Every Friday night I’ve been proud of their effort.”
The Indians may be down, but they’re not out. A program like Piqua never is.
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