POMEROY — For as many big plays that the Athens defense gave up Friday night, Brendan Sano and his offense had twice as many to even things out.
It looked like Athens would take advantage of yet another lesser opponent in Meigs for the second week in a row. But, after scoring right before halftime, the Bulldogs carried that momentum the rest of the game in its 62-46 win over Meigs.
“Our kids gave an extraordinary effort and faced a ton of adversity and battled all the way through the game,” coach Ryan Adams said.
The adversity started with penalties and then worked its way to big plays — two trends that have been around since week one — both resulting in Athens giving up the most points it has all season.
So how was Athens going to bounce back from a loss to Logan?
The Bulldogs’ offense finished the game with 641 offensive yards, 519 of them coming from Sano.
“Brendan had a fantastic game,” Adams said. “Throwing the ball, running the ball and defense, he did it all for us tonight.”
On the first drive in the second half, Sano hit Nick Barga for a 43-yard touchdown pass.
The next drive, on one play he hit Robert Dickelman for a 40-yard pass — their third touchdown connection of the game.
Sano finished the game with 384 passing yards and four passing touchdowns and 135 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, and Dickelman finished with 180 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
“We knew coming in that they were going to play some press man,” Sano said of the connection he had with Dickelman. “We were pretty confident in all of our receivers in one-on-one, our receivers are better than their corners. We knew we were going to take some shots down the field at Dickelman and Treyce (Albin) and see what happens.”
The offense then carried that momentum for the remainder of the game. But for defense, it needs to thank the offense for bailing them out on multiple occasions.
For the second week in a row, the defense was the weak spot for Athens.
Meigs County’s receiver Zach Bartrum single-handedly ripped apart the Bulldogs secondary. Anything thrown his way, he caught; anytime he got into open space, he was dangerous. Athens just couldn’t find a way to slow him down.
“We did not do a very good job of doing what we were told to do in terms of identifying where one (Bartrum) is,” Adams said.
But the biggest takeaway Adams has for his team ahead of Wellston this week?
“Our kids are going to fight for four quarters, and scrap and claw to win a TVC-Ohio championship,” Adams said.
