Tri-Village sophomore Colt Camacho ran 13 times for 152 yards and two touhdowns in the Patriots’ 40-7 win Friday over Preble Shawnee. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Tri-Village scored 40 points and rang up 500 total yards in a dominating win over Preble Shawnee Friday to establish the football pecking order in the Western Ohio Athletic Conference.
Camden, OH – The Tri-Village Patriots were tired of being questioned.
One, questioned in terms of the football pecking order in the oft-questioned Western Ohio Athletic Conference – the WOAC.
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Two, questioned throughout the week over their physical matchup with the presumed stronger, and bigger, Preble Shawnee Arrows.
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Three, just how impressive was their scoring average of 57.8 points per game against the likes of Bradford, Mississinawa, Twin Valley South, Tri-County North, and Dixie; and how would they fare against Preble Shawnee, who entered Friday’s showdown averaging 40.7 themselves?
By game’s end, and in front of a packed house at Preble Shawnee, the 9-0 Patriots (Division VI, Region 24, ranked #2) left little doubt and had answered ALL the questions, posting 500 total yards, 266 rushing yards, and 21 of 30 passing from quarterback Trey Sagester (234 yards and 3 touchdowns) in a more-than-convincing win over the previously unbeaten Arrows (Division V, Region 20).
“They were the better team tonight,” admitted Preble coach Dave Maddox. “They’re a good football team. They were the more physical, they were well-coached, and we made too many mistakes, missed too many opportunities, and had too many penalties. They beat us.”
Senior quarterback Trey Sagester lets fly on his way to 234 yards passing and three touchdowns.
All those points, and all those yards, and yes…they answered the question about their ability to defend, as well. Tri-Village hadn’t given up a lot of points through eight games, but they hadn’t played Shawnee, either, with dual-threat quarterback Brody Morton. Morton was held to just 7 of 18 passing for 47 yards, and 52 yards rushing on 14 carries. He was never a factor.
“I’m just so proud of these guys,” said Tri-Village coach Matt Hopkins. “That’s a good football team over there (Preble), they pushed us tonight, and our guys answered the call. That cat running the ball for us, #12 (sophomore running back Colt Camacho), took over like he has all year in our biggest games. And so I’m really happy for the kids, happy for the program, and super happy for the community.
To Hopkins’ points about missed opportunities and penalties, right out of the chute Preble Shawnee took the opening kickoff to the Tri-Village 17 yard line before bogging down, turning the ball over on downs, when Brody Morton and company were stopped on fourth down and two yards for a first down. That stop, alone, seemed to ignite the competitive fuse for the Patriots, who immediately went on offense like an ascending Roman candle. Trey Sagester took them down the field in eleven plays before hitting teammate Griffin Richdards at 5:33 with a 13-yard scoring strike to put the Patriots in front, 7-0.
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Preble Shawnee then took the ensuing kickoff and immediately went three-and-out, and a short punt teed it up for Sagester and crew near the fifty yard line. A pair of offsides calls on Preble helped were enabling as Sagester again marched 56 yards in eight plays to hit Richards with a second scoring pass at 1:44 left in the quarter to go ahead, 14-0.
The Arrows only score…Preble Shawnee’s Andrew Unger clutches this touchdown catch following the recovery of a Trey Sagester fumble in the second quarter.
A fumbled snap by Sagester at 8:39 in the second quarter set Preble Shawnee and Morton up for their only score of the game – a halfback pass from Caleb Blankenship to teammate Andrew Unger for 15 yards and a score to cut the deficit to 14-7.
Sagester wasted no time, driving the Patriots down the field with a combination of pass and run, culminating in his third touchdown pass of the half to Richards at 4:12 to go ahead 20-7. The PAT attempt was no good, and Preble again failed to move the ball, was forced to punt, and Tri-Village ended the first half with an incomplete pass in the Preble Shawnee end zone, coming that close to scoring on fourth down.
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Preble got the ball first in the second half, only to again drive the ball all the way to the Tri-Village three yard line…where they were again stopped on fourth down. The two teams traded possessions until the 3:41 point of the quarter when starting from their own ten yard line after a Tri-Village punt, Brody Morton hooked up with a short pass to teammate Ethan Mauller who turned and started upfield. He was immediately hit around the knees, coughed up the football, and Tri-Village’s Noah Finkbine scooped it up and ran fifteen yards into the end zone to extend the Patriots’ lead to 26-7.
Trey Sagester had thrown the ball 23 times in the first half, connecting on 16 of those throws for 173 yards. But in the second half he had the luxury of turning and handing off to Camacho and Staley Colston, and the two of them began to wear down the Preble defense by ripping off big chunks of yardage behind their offensive line and 6’4″, 270 pound Dominic Black. On the first play of the fourth quarter Camacho ripped off tackle and up the sideline for 27 yards and a score to push the lead to 33-7. And ten minutes later he concluded the night’s scoring with a second sprint – this one for 54 yards – and his second touchdown to send the home fans working their way to the parking lot.
“People don’t think of us as a running team,” said Hopkins after being doused with a cooler of celebratory ice water. “But it was the difference in the game tonight, and something we didn’t have last year. But this year we can give Trey some help with it. He doesn’t have to be the guy every night. He can hand it off, let other guys do the work, and we have a really good offensive line. They’ve got some big dudes over there on the other side tonight – big dudes – and I was proud of the way our guys played.”
The Patriots’ Staley Colston stiffarms a Preble Shawnee defender on his way to part of his 83 yards rushing in Friday’s win.
Camacho is young, athletic, and runs with an attitude…like it doesn’t matter whether he runs over someone, or around them. He along with Staley Colston, are going to anchor a solid run game at Tri-Village for another two years.
“These guys (Preble) were really good, and I got yelled at in the locker room this week for not hitting the holes hard enough,” said Camacho (and how can you not be a tough running back when your name is Camacho). So tonight I came out with a different motor. I knew I had to run hard.”
Pointing to teammate Dominic Black, he added, kiddingly: “That guy really helped me tonight, but he’s got to stop holding people, you know?”
The one obvious asterisk with the Patriots’ performance Friday was their propensity for penalties – four holding calls and a block in the back on a long kick return.
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Dominic Black is the ominous figure as a big man – the leader on the line – with exceptional athleticism for his size, and is getting attention from FBS college recruiters. He took it upon himself to answer the question of how they might measure up physically against those big dudes for Preble Shawnee.
Tri-Village defensive back Griffin Richards punches this pass out of the grasp of Preble Shawnee’s Caleb Blankenship.
“We took it personal,” he said. “All week people have been asking us if we were going to be more physical. They said that Preble had more athletes, that they were going to beat us on both sides of the ball.
“But we took it personal, we locked in this week in practice, and got the job done. I’ve been waiting all year for tonight…for the opportunity to play this week, and next week (Arcanum). That’s going to be a good one, too. Actually, we’ve been waiting since the off-season because they (Shawnee) beat us last year. Like I say, we took it personal, and tonight it paid off.”
They like their basketball in New Madison, Ohio, where Tri-Village is located, and rightly so. The Patriots own a state title in both boys and girls basketball, almost a decade apart.
But now in their eleventh season of varsity football, they’ve warmed to football, and quickly. And rightly so. The Patriots are ranked #2 in the region this week, behind Northeastern, and with a convincing win next week will no doubt qualify as one of the top four playoff seeds.
Griffin Richards tips away a would-be touchdown pass in the second quarter aimed at Preble Shawnee’s Caleb Blankenship.
Ranked #25th in the Max Preps state polls, they’re good enough to surprise a lot of people who aren’t accustomed to seeing the name Tri-Village and football in the same sentence.
Win a couple of playoff games and they’re likely to draw conversation and comparisons to some team from the past. Someone might dub them a Cinderella favorite for the tournament. And don’t take it personal.
It’s a good thing. It’s fun. It’s respect.
And it hasn’t taken them long – not nearly as long as that first basketball title.
Who’da thunk it then? Football and Tri-Village?
Celebrating this weekend with a different title at hand. And who’s questioning…?
They’ve arrived…maybe even the real deal.
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