CHILLICOTHE — In a meeting of teams both struggling through the first half of the season, something had to give and bring happiness — and relief — to one team while the other, slightly less fortunate team, would have to wait another week to go in search of its first win.
The Washington Blue Lions visited Chillicothe High School to take on the Cavaliers to open play for the eighth season of football in the Frontier Athletic Conference Saturday morning, Sept. 28.
The game was postponed Friday as high winds and lots of rain, remnants of the devastating hurricane Helene, blew through and across southern Ohio.
Both teams were 0-5 coming in and, indeed, something had to give, and it happened to break in favor of the Blue Lions as they held off a late drive by the Cavaliers to post a 28-26 victory.
“I’m very proud of our kids, proud of our coaching staff for staying the course,” Washington head coach David Everson said. “We talk about finding a way and today was a classic example.
“A lot of people have doubted us and it’s been tough, starting out 0-5, but, this was our first league game and our first league win,” Everson said. “Playing on Saturday, right. Our kids are learning how to respond to adversity and I’m proud of them for that and I’m proud of their effort.
“Chillicothe played a great football game, too,” Everson said. “Their kids played hard. It’s a shame anybody had to lose that one.
“We have a big challenge next week, going to Jackson, but at least we have a win under our belts,” Everson said.
On an overcast, drizzly, humid morning with temperatures in the 60’s, Chillicothe’s first possession resulted in turning the ball over on downs.
The Blue Lions were forced to punt after their first series of plays.
The Cavs had to punt after their second possession was unsuccessful.
It appeared the Blue Lions and junior Matt Colflesh were about to punt for the second time.
It was fourth down and five for Washington at its own 43 yardline.
Colflesh received the snap from center, but, instead of taking a couple of steps and booting the ball away, he began to sprint with purpose toward the visitor’s side of the field.
With some timely blocking, Colflesh raced 53 yards to the end zone for the game’s first score, coming with 2:55 to play in the initial quarter.
Senior quarterback Gavin Coffman passed to freshman Sam Pfeifer for the two-point conversion.
No one could foresee at that moment just what a crucial play that was. It proved to be nothing less than the margin of victory in this ballgame.
As the game moved into the second quarter, Chillicothe began to get its offensive in gear.
The result was a 6-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Andrew Hamman.
The extra-point kick was no good, leaving the Blue Lions with an 8-6 lead with 11:12 to play in the first half.
On Washington’s next possession, junior Andrew Young ran for an apparent 30-yard touchdown with 8:31 to play in the half.
However, a holding penalty against the Blue Lions nullified that score.
A quarterback sack by Chillicothe and an incomplete pass and Washington was forced to punt.
The Cavaliers’ fortunes improved after turning aside the Blue Lions’ scoring threat.
Soon Chillicothe was knocking on the door of the end zone.
The answer came with another 6-yard touchdown run by Hamman.
The Cavs tried a running play for the conversion, but were denied and prepared to kick away to Washington with a 12-8 lead with six minutes in the half.
Washington took the ball back down the field and sophomore Aden Osborne scored on a 1-yard run with 2:41 to play.
Due to a penalty, Washington had to go for the conversion from the Chillicothe 18-yard line.
A pass that followed was incomplete, but the Blue Lions had regained the lead, 14-12 with 2:41 to play in the second quarter.
Chillicothe’s next series ended when they tried a deep pass that was intercepted by senior Gabe Perez, who would make another key play at the end of the game.
After the halftime break, the game resumed with Washington holding a 14-12 lead.
The teams exchanged punts — first Washington, then Chillicothe —to begin the second half.
The Blue Lions’ second series began at its own 33-yard line.
Eight plays later it was Coffman to Osborne for an 11-yard touchdown.
The two-point pass was good, giving the Blue Lions a bit of breathing room with a 22-12 lead and 3:41 to play in the third quarter.
The penultimate period ended with the Cavs turning the ball over on downs near midfield.
The Blue Lions lost yardage on the next series and quickly had to kick back to Chillicothe.
The Cavs began at their own 38-yard line.
The series concluded with a 54-yard touchdown pass play.
The Cavs made the extra-point kick to cut Washington’s lead to 22-19 with 6:58 to play in the game.
Washington countered with a touchdown pass play for 71 yards from Coffman to Osborne.
The Blue Lions’ pass for extra points was no good.
Washington led 28-19.
The Cavs were full of fight and took the ball down with Hamman scoring on a 1-yard run. The point-after kick was good and Washington held a precarious 28-26 lead with 3:35 to remaining.
The Blue Lions were certainly hoping to run out the clock on the Cavs, but they could not forge a first down.
Washington reluctantly punted back to Chillicothe with 3:03 to play.
There was plenty of time for the Cavaliers to pull this game out in the early Saturday afternoon dreariness.
Chillicothe had the ball at the Washington 48-yard line; however, they were out of timeouts with 2:51 to go.
The Cavs had a fourth down and three at the Washington 41-yard line with two minutes left.
The first down was achieved and the Cavs had time to emerge with the win and send the Blue Lions home quite disappointed.
There followed an incomplete pass, then a completed one to the Washington 32.
With just about one minute to go, there were back-to-back incomplete passes at the 32 with seven yards needed to sustain possession for Chillicothe.
Both pass plays were close and well-defended. Both were broken up by Washington defenders, including the last one by Perez.
Washington took over on downs at the 32 with 57 seconds to play.
Coffman took a knee twice to run the clock down. With less than 10 seconds remaining, Washington did not have to snap the ball a third time.
The teams began to meet at midfield for the end-of-the-game greeting between the conference rivals after this very close encounter of Blue and White versus Blue and White.
Washington gets to savor the feeling of being tied for first place in the FAC after clinching the victory.
“It’s a great feeling,” Gavin Coffman said. “We’ve been working our butts off in practice. It’s been a rough year, 0-5. Coming out here, fighting through that adversity, 26-28, it was a close game but we came through and it feels great.”
The chemistry between Coffman and Osborne has been refined through repetition in practice, Osborne said.
The victory means so much to the Blue Lions.
“It’s huge,” Coffman said. “Losing this game, we would have been 0-6 heading into a really tough week. It would have been really, really hard and we would have been going into a bigger rabbit hole, but we got ourselves out of it and I think it’s a new beginning right here.”
Keeping the momentum after this win is key, Osborne said.
“Keep that momentum (from) this game,” Osborne said. “Going through practice with the same energy we had today and just keep on fighting; let’s get more wins.
“This feels great, coming out of here with a win, us being 0-5,” Osborne said.
“Having that close game, having it come down to the last play, really kept us all in the game and all focused,” Coffman said.
Also in the FAC Saturday, the Miami Trace Panthers started the FAC schedule at 1-0 with a 44-27 win over the Hillsboro Indians.
The Panthers are 5-1 overall, while the Indians drop to 2-4.
In one other FAC game Saturday, Jackson rolled to a 55-0 win over the McClain Tigers.
The Ironmen are 4-2 overall, while the Tigers fall to 1-5.
Washington will play at Jackson next week, while the Panthers host McClain and Chillicothe takes the bus over US 50 to face Hillsboro.
