Miscues cost the Clintonville Truckers dearly Friday night as they lost to the Xavier Hawks, 28-0.
The Truckers received the opening kick-off and were forced to punt after three downs. The punt was blocked by the Hawks which gave them excellent field position. Xavier scored on a 16-yard pass from Max Machurick to Nick Pflum.
The PAT kick by Nate Reynebeau was good and with less than two minutes gone in the game the Truckers were down.
The next miscue occurred when Clintonville stopped the Hawks on their next possession of the first quarter and forced them to punt. With nobody back to receive the punt, a Trucker player attempted to run back and field the ball on the five yard line. He fumbled the ball and the Hawks took over first and goal.
They scored on a three-yard run by Ben Johnson. The PAT kick by Reynebeau was good; Clintonville trailed 14-0 in the first quarter.
A third miscue occurred in the first half when the Truckers again stopped the Hawks, forcing them to punt the ball. Instead of covering the outside of the punt, Clintonville had a lapse and allowed Xavier to fake the punt around the outside, thus giving them a first down.
The Hawks took advantage of this and pushed the ball down the field scoring on a 16-yard run by Jimmy Schmidt. The kick by Reynebeau was good and Clintonville trailed 21-0 at the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, a Clintonville player “froze” on an option play, not tackling the quarterback. Grant Thayer proceeded to run six yards for a score. Reynebeau’s kick was good, ending the scoring at 28-0.
Overall, Clintonville’s defense was outstanding. If it were not for the miscues, the Truckers would have been right in the game with Xavier. The defense, made-up of linemen Jesse Huggins, Marcus Engel, Anthony Conto; linebackers Jared Henschel, John Maas, Brandon Dilge, Joe Hauser, Jamen Pettit; and secondary personnel of Garrick Morgan, Kolin Kubitz, and Trenton Gauthier combined to hold the potent Xavier offense to just 182 rushing yards.
Clintonville managed 119 yards rushing, but couldn’t put the ball into the end zone.
Xavier passed for 61 yards, while Clintonville threw for 78 yards. The Truckers were picked off twice; once in a scoring opportunity on the 11-yard line.
“We simply need to overcome our mental mistakes. We have the talent to play with anyone. We just can’t make those costly mental errors that allow other teams to capitalize and jump out in front on us,” commented Coach Bob Petermann.
The Truckers will host the Freedom Irish this coming Friday, Oct. 15, for Homecoming. Friday’s game is at 7 p.m. at the Clintonville High School Football Field.