Braves Snag First and Only Win of Season

OXFORD — On a chilly, rainy evening at Talawanda High School on Oct. 27, 2017, the Braves took on their long time rival the Ross Rams. Coming into the night, Ross had one win with nine losses while Talawanda came in with zero wins and nine losses. This game had no effect on playoffs but was more rather a battle for last place supremacy in the SWOC conference with neither team wanting that dreaded title. The game between the two teams always is an interesting one to watch and always competitive where Talawanda came out on top last season with a 21-14 score.

It was by far the coldest and rainiest game of the season for the Braves and coming into the game you knew there wasn’t going to be much passing going on and the quarterback, Adam Crank’s running stats told that story. He rushed for a game high 71 yards with a long run of 17 to go along with one touchdown on the night. Along with Crank, Blake Bryan carried the ball for 38 yards with a long run of 15 yards. Even though there was not much passing done in this game there was still a total of 27 passing yards that came from the Sophomores Tyler Engelhard and Kyle Campbell with Tyler having 17 and Kyle having his own 10 yard gain. The Braves only scored one touchdown which came in the first quarter, but they padded their lead with a field goal from Tyler Engelhard who was helping the team in receiving and kicking. Talawanda ended with 133 total yards of offense compared to Ross’s 160 yards.

Offense was not the only factor in the win against Ross. The Talawanda defense stepped up big time with Senior Tim Roberts making an interception and taking it for five yards in a crucial part of the game. Lucas Snell also played a role in the defense forcing a fumble which lead to Ross having two key turnovers that played out in Talawanda’s favor which ultimately decided the game and gave Talawanda a hard earned victory that everyone on the team, as well as the fans, deserved.