The Green Wave put up a fight against the Pirates, but left too many plays out on the field.
Photos by Drew Terhall | The Daily Advocate
Junior Gabe Rammel scored a touchdown in the first quarter.
By Drew Terhall
Dailyadvocate.com
WEST CARROLLTON — The Greenville football team missed out on too many plays during their game at West Carrollton on Oct. 25. The Pirates capitalized on some errors and defeated the Green Wave, 30-8.
Head coach Sean Ford said those missed opportunities come from a lack of focus. Greenville was able to make some smaller plays during the game, but lapses in focus during the games showed up when they could have gained momentum in the game.
“We don’t pay very much attention to the details. We don’t play very focused football. When you have an opportunity, you don’t take it because of lack of focus,” Ford said.
It was a rough start for Greenville as they fumbled on their first possession of the game. West Carrollton recovered it and went on a scoring drive. Senior Nathaniel Roberts scored a rushing touchdown to put the Pirates up 8-0.
There was a penalty on the two-point conversion on West Carrollton that was enforced on the kickoff. Greenville got a shorter field as a result starting at the Pirates 46-yard line.
Greenville went down the field and junior Gabe Rammel scored on a two-yard run to tie the game at 8-8 with 4:04 left in the first quarter.
Greenville had the ball at midfield with a chance to take a lead, but couldn’t pick up a first down. They punted the ball and downed the ball within the five-yard line.
West Carrollton remained calm with their backs to their own endzone. The Pirates went on a 90+ yard touchdown drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from senior Brycen Bauer-Jones to senior Chylan Ingram.
Greenville had their chance to tie the game at halftime. With 1:19 left in the first half, they had the ball at the eight-yard line. West Carrollton got the goal line stand to take their 16-8 lead with them to halftime.
More missed opportunities happened during the third quarter. With West Carrollton in a first and goal situation, the Pirates fumbled the ball but recovered it. On the next play, Greenville dropped an interception with an open field ahead of them.
On the third play, Bauer-Jones found freshman Kenyon Player for a seven-yard touchdown pass to go up 24-8.
Greenville was about to give the ball back to West Carrollton before the ball bounced off a Pirates player. Greenville recovered at their own 40-yard line. They got the ball back with some momentum on their side.
But, Greenville fumbled the ball again and West Carrollton recovered at midfield. The Pirates went down the field and started the fourth quarter near the redzone.
With their bad luck continuing, West Carrollton senior Kenyon Perkins fumbled the ball at the goal line but recovered it for a touchdown.
Greenville made some plays offensively to pick up first downs and get close to the redzone. But the West Carrollton defense stopped Greenville before they could do any damage on the scoreboard.
Greenville finishes the season with an 0-10 record. Ford said in his first year at the helm, he made his expectations for the team clear. He takes the blame for the team not reaching those expectations.
“I feel like I set clear expectations. I failed to get the players to reach those. Ultimately, that’s my responsibility,” Ford said.
The team will graduate six seniors. Ford said even with being in a tough situation for their last year of football, they did a great job for the team and the program.
“This senior class had a lot of great kids in it. We’re going to miss them greatly. It’s tough for them coming in their senior year to a first year head coach with new coaches. They did well for us,” Ford said.
Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].
