Titans show the Lions who the king of the jungle really is with 50-20 win. @Bluegrasspreps @SwitzerHunter @BoggsSports @OfficialLCHS @GoNDTitans

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos-Videos, Gameday Hub

contributor | August 24, 2021

Last night I ventured down to Portsmouth, Ohio to catch the Monday night football game between a very sharp-looking Portsmouth Notre Dame squad and a spunky Lewis County team out of Kentucky. I want to say thanks to @BoggsSports for shooting me a pic of both rosters and to say it was good to see you again, my friend. I also want to thank the assistant coach from Lewis County for giving me a hard copy of their roster. Before I get into the game I wanted to give props out to the P.A. guy. For the most part, he called the name and numbers of the players involved in the play. To me, this is a must that sadly most P.A. guys fail to do.

It did not take long for the Titans defense to get noticed, with Carter Campbell sacking freshman quarterback Ayden Cooper. Cooper got the nod at quarterback because I was told that senior Dylan Hardy was out because of covid protocols. Cooper would hit his first nine passes. The young man looked very good overall for a first-time freshman starting quarterback. The Lions defense was able to roar loudly when Austin Howard got to Beau Hobbs for a big 8-yard loss. Cody Metzler would go 54-yards on a screen pass for the game’s first score, on the run, there were two poorly missed tackles that allowed him to score. Hart would make it 8-0 when he converted the two-point run, with 8:08 left in the quarter. Cooper would cough the ball up at the 5:14 mark of the half and 6-5,295 pound Jarren Edgington came up with it for Notre Dame. Gavin Hart would spring 41-yards for the games next score followed by the point after kick from Ilan Walker to make this a 15-0 game, with 4:28 left in the opening quarter.

The Lions offense would get four straight completions from Cooper, the first two went to Trey Gerikie for 24 yards and then for 17, the third went to Isaiah Bently for 15 yards, and finally a 10-yard strike to Hayden Gibson. A two-point conversion pass from Cooper to Hayden Gibson was stopped by the Notre Dame defense just short of the goal line. Early on in this one to me, it was easy to see the biggest difference in this one was line play, with the Titans being able to do whatever they needed to do to get things done. If the Lions can improve this area of their game in my opinion they will be much improved from the 2020 season. The Titans would use two horrible tackling attempts by the Lions that allowed Dylan Seison to score from 47-yards out the Point after kick made this a 22-6 game with 52.2 seconds left in the quarter.

Hart would cough up the ball and Jentry Thompson came up with it for the lions, with 7:42 left in the half. Ethan Sizemore power through two would-be tacklers to score on a nice-looking 39-yard run making this a 22-12 game at the 7:33 mark of the quarter. Sizemore looks like a player that could have a good season if his line can give him a crease to get through. Wyatt Webb would hit Cody Metzler for 22-yards helping set up a 22-yard touchdown run from Dylan Seison, after the point after kick the score grew to 29-12, with 6:51 left in the half. The Titans quickly stuffed the Lions offense when the offense got back on the field they needed just three plays to go 60-yards for their next score and that came on a pretty 49-yard run from Nolan Heiland. The Titans again elected to go for two and this turned into a wise decision when Beau Hobbs plowed in making this 37-12 game. The two final big plays from the quarter came due to nice line play from the Titans that led to Sizemore being taken down for a short loss when he was tackled by Hobbs, and then it was Cooper being leveled by Hart for a loss of 9-yards.

With 10:06 left in the third this one, John Ball would plant Sizemore for a three-yard loss. The Lions offense had really good moments in this one mainly due to some quick-acting by their skill players. If their line can jell I really think they are going to put up some points this season. With 9:23 left on the clock the Lions, who showed no quit would pull off a sweet-looking sweet punt when Austin Howard took off for a 15-yard pickup. The momentum last but a short time because Cooper was picked by Seison. who made a nice 30 some yard return. The ensuing drive ended on a 1-yard run by Wyatt Webb as his offensive line did their job on the play to make this a 43-12 game. with 6:47 left in the quarter.

Each team scored in the final stanza. For Notre Dame, it came on a 34-yard run by Heiland and for the Lions, it was a 51-yard scoring pass from Cooper to Howard. The final score was 50-20 Notre Dame. The last big play in this one came from the Notre Dame defense with Webb picking off Cooper.

UNOFFICIAL STATS

LIONS

53 PLAYS

253 YARDS

PASSING 13-24 2 TD’S 2 INT’S

TITANS

29 PLAYS

349 YARDS

PASSING 5-6