CAMDEN — Preble Shawnee rallied from a 22-point third quarter deficit to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but visiting West Carrollton scored late to hand the Arrows a 47-42 set back.
“Overall, I am proud of how hard our team played. We kept battling all game long, we just allowed West Carrollton to score on too many big plays,” Shawnee coach David Maddox said.
The Pirates, who led 28-13 at halftime, took advantage of a Shawnee turnover early in the third quarter to go up 35-13.
“When we came out after halftime, West Carrollton went up by three scores after returning a fumble for a touchdown. But our guys didn’t quit,” Maddox said. “Being down by three scores and coming back to take the lead with four minutes left says a lot about the character of our players. Obviously, the end result is not what we wanted, but I am still proud of how hard we played and that we never gave up. We fought all the way down to the final play.”
Trailing 6-0, Shawnee scored when Jake Green threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Singleton in the first quarter and Cody Clevenger kicked the extra point to put the Arrows up 7-6.
WC added 70 and 72-yard touchdowns to take a 22-7 lead after the first quarter.
The Pirates went up 28-7 on a 42-yard TD run in the second quarter.
Shawnee’s Ben Hobbs, who rushed for 179 yards on 23 carries, scored the first of his four touchdowns, on a 1-yard run in the second quarter to trim the Arrows deficit to 28-13.
After WC returned a fumble 30 yards for a score, Hobbs added a pair of scores on runs of 2 and 70 yards to make it 35-28. The Pirates closed out the third quarter scoring with another long TD run, this time 40 yards.
Hobbs scored his fourth TD of the game early in the fourth quarter to make it a 41-35 game.
James Gibson, who rushed for 148 yards in the game, scored a on a 5-yard run with just over four minutes left in the game to tie the game. Clevenger’s point-after gave Shawnee its first lead since the first quarter, at 42-41.
But WC scored on a 4-yard run late to secure the win.
“We cleaned up a lot of issues from the previous week. We didn’t get near the penalties, and we ran the ball very well. I think our offensive line, and running backs Ben Hobbs and James Gibson played outstanding,” Maddox said.
The Arrows (1-2) will host Middletown Madison on Friday, Sept. 14, to open Southwestern Buckeye League play. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
