Staff report
It wasn’t in a winning effort, but Sidney junior running back Isaiah Bowser stole the show Friday night in a 52-28 loss to Vandalia at Sidney Memorial Stadium.
Bowser set four new single-season school records in the game, including rushing yards, most carries, most rushing touchdowns and most touchdowns overall.
The loss, meanwhile, was Sidney’s fourth in a row and left them at 3-6 on the year with Greenville coming to town Friday to end the season. Vandalia goes to 5-4 after its seventh straight win over Sidney in the series.
The Aviators rolled to a 24-0 lead before Sidney mounted a comeback.
The second-quarter rally was courtesy of Bowser, who ripped off a 58-yard run to set up his own 1-yard touchdown plunge, then added a 31-yard run for a touchdown with 4:07 left in the half to cut the lead to 24-14.
The two rushing touchdowns gave Bowser 22 on the season, and that was a new school record, breaking the old mark of 21 held by former Sidney great John Wiggins 48 years ago, in 1968.
In addition, Bowser set another new single-season mark with 17 carries in the first half. That gave him 234 for the season, and that shattered the old mark of 228 set by Chris Van Tilburgh in 1998.
Unfortunately, the Sidney defense was torched through the air again on a long pass play that set up a 1-yard touchdown run and a 31-14 Vandalia bulge with 2:14 left in the second quarter.
The second half started much like the first, with Vandalia scoring quickly on Sidney’s defense, this time on a 40-yard touchdown pass to make it 38-17.
The Jackets responded with another Bowser touchdown, and the score was 38-20 after a missed point-after, then Bowser led the Jackets down the field again for another score, this one from 6 yards out. The two-point conversion by Conor Beer made it 38-28 in the fourth quarter.
On the touchdown run, Bowser set two more school records. He surpassed the single-season rushing record of 1,551 yards, also set by Van Tilburgh in 1998. And the score was his 27th of the season, breaking Wiggins’ 1968 mark of 26.
He went into the game 203 yards shy of the rushing record.
Again, the Sidney defense failed to hold the Aviators, who scored again following a failed onside kick to make it 45-28 with just 4:41 left. And with 3:09 left, the Aviators scored on a seven-play drive to make it 52-28.
Coldwater 34, Anna 0
ANNA —The Anna Rockets were hoping for a playoff-clinching victory Friday night over 7-1 Coldwater, but they fell behind 21-0 at the half and wound up falling to the Cavaliers, 34-0, in Midwest Athletic Conference play at Booster Field.
The Rockets are now 5-4 and will travel to Minster Friday for another MAC test.
Anna moved the ball against Coldwater in the first half, but not quite far enough, turning it over on downs three times, once on the Cavalier 10-yard line.
Coldwater had a 14-0 lead with time running out in the first half when the Rockets turned it over on downs at the Coldwater 35. Instead of settling for the two-touchdown lead at the half, the Cavaliers went to their bag of tricks and brought out the halfback pass. It went for 65 yards and a touchdown with under a minute to play, and put the Rockets down 21-0 at the intermission.
USV 50, Fort Loramie 29
FORT LORAMIE — After blanking the Lehman Cavaliers last week, the Fort Loramie Redskins were unable to contain a high-powered Upper Scioto Valley squad Friday night in a key Northwest Central Conference game.
The final 50-29 verdict hurt Loramie’s chances of making it to postseason play and leaves the Redskins at 4-5 on the season heading into the regular-season finale at home against Lima Perry next Friday.
The Redskins took a 7-0 lead early when Daniel Berning capped a five-play drive with a 15-yard run. But Upper Scioto Valley came back with touchdown passes of 67 and 68 to make it 14-7.
After the Redskins scored on a Berning 2-yard run to make it 14-14, Upper got a 62-yard touchdown run from Austin Sloan to take a lead it would not relinquish.
Loramie got a 7-yard run from Berning and a 25-yard TD pass from Austin Siegel to Darren Turner for its other scores.
Lehman 42, Ridgemont 0
Lehman went to 6-3 on the year with a 42-0 victory at Ridgemont Friday.
The Cavaliers are at Waynesfield next Friday.
