Correction appended.
CANAL WINCHESTER — Brendan Sano had to line up under center Friday night when Treyce Albin went to the locker room with an injury.
That left Athens vulnerable on the left side defensively, and Canal Winchester took advantage. With 6:55 left in the game, Stanton Smith handed the ball off to Jacob Robertson. It looked like he would stall after two yards. Instead, he went 64 more yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
This is one of three big plays that hurt Athens. The first came on the first drive — a 60-yard TD run — the second a deep pass to set up a one touchdown lead at half, and the last, a 66-yard TD run that led to a 21-14 Athens loss to Canal Winchester.
“You take those three plays out, I think we did a good job at containing them and what they were doing offensively in the first half," Athens coach Ryan Adams said.
Despite the three big plays, Athens defense controlled Canal Winchester’s offense well. The defense forced two interceptions and didn’t allow a score through the third quarter and halfway through the fourth.
The peak in the defense was a blocked punt in the third.
On a fourth and short, Canal Winchester bobbled the snap inside it’s own 10-yard line and allowed Sano enough time to get around the defender to make the play. The ball bounced around in the end zone before Sano fell on it, tying the ball game at 14.
“They brought it,” Adams said of his defense. “They played with a lot of desire and great effort and swarmed the ball all night long.”
The defense bailed the offense out multiple times throughout the game. The problem was the Bulldogs' offense wasn’t able to capitalize on the defensive efforts. Athens didn’t put it’s first points up until 1:26 left in the first half after converting on fourth down.
That momentum was squandered on the following Canal Winchester drive after a 40+ yard pass that set up the games third score.
“If you take out the tow plays that hurt us off the edge in the first half, and one big deep ball,” Adams said.
The defense was led by Sano, who finished with four tackles, a sack and an tackle for loss. Even though he changed his position from quarterback to defensive end, he filled in and almost led the team to a comeback.
“We expect that out of Brendan,” Adams said. “I really commended him in front of the team. It was big of him to step up in that situation, late, high pressure situation.”
ww773412@ohio.edu
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the exact yardage on a touchdown. The article has been updated to show the most accurate information.
