CASSTOWN — Ansonia (10-0, 9-0 CCC) converted wind-aided turnovers into touchdowns on its first two possessions on Friday night, as it dispatched Miami East, 15-7.
In the process, the undefeated visitors won their first Cross County Conference championship in 22 years.
It was also the MVP Game of the Week for week ten of a remarkable 2009 regular season. Who, exactly, actually picked these Tigers to win it all last August?
Stand up and be counted.
“Who wouldn’t want to win a game like this?” said Ansonia’s 29-year veteran head coach, Eugene Hoening, addressing one the post game media’s least inspired questions.
“It was a tough ball game and Miami East (8-2, 7-2 CCC) is a fine ball club. We knew that we were going to be in a fight from the beginning to the end.”
Meanwhile, the Vikings’ dreams of back-to-back CCC championships and a return to the playoffs have been dashed only to be replaced by someone else’s fantasy sequence.
Such is the nature of high stakes high school football. Such is the nature of life.
“We fumbled in their territory, and then we came right back and threw an interception,” said Miami East head coach, Max Current. “They got two quick scores on us, but the defense played lights out. They kept scrapping and clawing along the way.
“(We) didn’t have opportunities with field position because they played a good field position game against us. We wanted the wind in the fourth quarter instead of the third, so we gambled.”
Without question, the most important factor in this game was the wind. Twenty mph sustained winds were accompanied by 35 mph gusts and, because of that, neither team could pass, and punting devolved into an adventure—a very risky endeavor.
And just to make sure that everyone was having a good time, the weather gods brought driving rain with them for the start of the second half.
Consider this: starting in the third quarter, the Vikings’ Dalton Salyer (who had kicked a 73-yarder earlier with the wind to his back) had 3 ‘attempts’ for an average of only 13 yards per kick.
(See the look of disgust on his face after all three punts on the shot-from-closer-to-the- action-than-usual MVPpostgame video, starting at 3:58.)
Once, on his own five yard-line and with 35 mph gusts in his face, Salyer had a five-yard punt that he had to down for himself because all of the sane people were already down field.
But it wasn’t shanked, it wasn’t even badly executed—it was just ugly, and once again a Viking blunder proved tangibly profitable for Ansonia.
Even Spiderman couldn’t have made those kicks. Write it down.
“Those (punts) weren’t blocked,” laughed Current, rolling his eyes at the thought. “He just kicked ‘em into those hurricane force winds. Then they got the ball on, like the ten-yard line.”
Four plays later, Brandon Liette (with the benefit of having the wind to his back) kicked a 26-yard field goal to make the final score: Ansonia 15, Miami East 7.
The Tigers (10-0, 9-0 CCC) held Miami East to 96 yards of total offense for the evening.
They finished the regular season with their first ever undefeated record, and the OHSAA Division VI (region 24) playoffs await them next weekend.
“This was the first time we have won the conference championship in over 20 years,” noted Hoening. “We’ll try to go as far as we can, the playoffs are a whole’nother level.”
Ansonia, learned on Sunday that they will host their CCC-rivals—the Covington Buccs—next Friday (at 7:30pm) in a first round game. The Tigers won the first match up (held at Covington’s Smith Field three weeks ago), 35-7.
Talented Viking running back, Tyler Dunivan, fumbled the ball on the third play of the game and Ansonia wasted no time in capitalizing on his error.
Dunivan ended the game, and his storied high school career, with 80 yards on 23 carries.
On the very next play, Tiger tailback Brandon Liette took a weak-side option pitch; cut back against the grain; and—36-yards later—dove into the left corner of the end zone to make the score, Ansonia 6, Miami East 0.
Liette had 80 yards (but on 16 carries) in the game. Dylan Bubeck contributed another 70 (on 1 carries). Going into the fourth quarter the Tigers had 300 yards of total offense.
But we digress…
Ansonia kicked off, but on the second play of their second possession a Salyer pass was picked off by Derek Bubeck. Seven plays later, senior QB Bubeck (not to be confused with his brother, senior RB/DB Dylan) scored on a keeper to extend their lead to 12-0.
Things were looking bad for the home boys, but Miami East is a fine football team and they didn’t get to be the defending CCC champions by being quitters.
Moments later, the Vikings proved that when Salyer and friends magically transformed a seven-play drive into a timely touchdown—the score at half time: Ansonia 12, ME 7.
And, only then, did the rains come.
“This was a slug fest,” Henning said. “We knew that Miami East had an outstanding defense—and they proved it down there on the goal line in the third quarter.”
Despite a great record and the presence of a roster worthy of playoff consideration, it is time for the Vikings (8-2, 8-1 CCC) to turn in their uniforms. They were doomed by this year’s unusually deep and talented field (Region 20, Division 5) and a limited number of slots.
“Our guys played hard and I am proud of them,” Current said. “We never thought coming into this season that we would have been in this position. After all of the guys we lost from last year, our team stepped up.
“They have nothing to be ashamed of, they got beaten by a very good football team tonight.”
Sixty degrees at game time, Friday night was a glorious evening for football despite the wind and the rain.
As a side note, only Anna and Northmont defended their home fields effectively this season in the MVP Game of the Week. Every other team that hosted a game lost in the process.
